Gallivanting Geismom: Gallivanting in Cambridge

I'm sitting in the room at the Packhorse Inn, sipping tea while enjoying a piece of salted caramel fudge made by a local artisan in Cambridge, thinking that this is surely the best of what travel has to offer.

Marty told me that I could take the fudge home and freeze it, to which I responded, "I don't really see any need to do that." What do you think?

You've guessed by now that today's travels took us into Cambridge. We were up early, getting breakfast as soon as the restaurant opened, and out on the road by 8:30 headed to Kennet Rail Station. It's only about 4 miles away. Once there, we saw that the parking lot (which is VERY small) was full. So, that plan was altered, and Marty drove to Newmarket Train Station, which actually had been my original suggestion when planning the trip.

Parking there was not free, but it was £ 3 for the entire day, so I'd say that was a real bargain. We managed to purchase our tickets into Cambridge at a machine, and before we knew it, the train was arriving and it was time to board.

We were in Cambridge in about 30 minutes, before the Hop On/Hop Off ticket office even opened. But we only had to wait about 10 minutes, and, soon, we were barreling through Cambridge seeing views from the upper level. Let me just say that the ride was super bumpy!

The architecture in the city is breathtakingly beautiful. Everywhere we looked had some interesting feature to analyze. We decided to stay on the bus as it took us to Cambridge American Cemetery, and it seemed the best idea to just visit this first as it is 3 miles out of town.

The place was pretty much empty save for a few other tourists. It was an absolutely brilliant day to walk through here.

At the far distance from the entry there is a chapel

The mosaic chapel and ceiling were stunning

and represented the airmen who had lost their lives near this area during World War II.

Each state had its own emblem etched in glass along the sides.

Pennsylvania was way up at the top.

The long wall to the right of the reflecting pond has the names of 5,127 men who are missing in action. It is the longest wall of the missing in any of the European cemeteries. The services represented have statues depicting their service: Army, Air Force, Navy and Merchant Marines.

We couldn't possibly see all of this in the 20 minutes between bus arrivals, so we ended up staying for 20 more minutes where we stepped into the visitor center at the cemetery.

It is very well done! It brings to light personal stories and facts of which I was not aware.

There were 123 American air bases located in the United Kingdom during World War II.

I learned that there are seven American civilians buried in the cemetery who were employed as contractors to the military for various jobs. There are also six children of American soldiers buried in the cemetery as well.

Much of the display told the stories of the Merchant Marines as well as the Air Force.

We could easily have spent a lot more time there, but the hop on bus was back, so we headed over to board and make the trip back into Cambridge.

But not before one more photo:

Visiting these hallowed ground sites is always emotional. It's difficult to imagine what these young men endured. Such tragic end of loss to so many that were in the prime of their lives.

We hopped back on the bus and headed into Cambridge, passing the Schlumberger Cambridge Research Center. It had an unusual roof made from Teflon-coated glass fiber fabric that is suspended from a network of steel cables that resemble a suspension bridge-like framework.

Once back in Cambridge, we set out on foot to survey the magnificence of this special city. Unlike Oxford, Cambridge has a canal that runs through the city. There are several significant bridges that cross over the canal, but one cannot access them unless one is a student. There are 31 colleges in Cambridge.

I won't go into detail regarding the buildings as there are so many of them. You can see just how beautiful many of them are.

We spotted this squirrel dress in a window. How funny is that?

This is Kings College.

We enjoyed the view while sampling Chelsea buns

and cream cheese blueberry buns made by Fitzbillies.

Actually, we bought two and shared them so that we could each get a taste.

They were scrumptious!

And, just a few building down the street, we happened upon this fudge maker.

That was not only entertaining, but also resulted in us purchasing some delectable delights for our own enjoyment later.

Continuing on...

This is the famed Mathematical Bridge

and those are punting boats in the background. We chose not to take a punting ride was it was a bit chilly.

We were finally at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Marty was interested in checking out some of their holdings.

I was impressed with the architecture.

Although a couple of items did catch my eye. Don't those two subjects look like they were just popped onto the background?

The painting was actually done by Thomas Gainsborough in 1750, so that couldn't be the case. But the information did state that Gainsborough was known for using mannequins in his studio when drawing bodies, so that might explain the final effect.

There were a LOT of ancient Egyptian items. These are just a few.

Obviously, an art connoisseur could spend several days here, but the weather was gorgeous, so we headed back out.

I loved these stacks of chimneys in a row.

We turned off Portugal street and stumbled upon the Whipple Museum.

The building was built in 1618 as the first Cambridge Free School. I was impressed with the roof which I learned were Jacobean hammer-beam roof trusses.

The museum is named for Robert Stewart Whipple who had collected over 1000 scientific instruments and he donated them to the University. Some of his personal items included this patent temperature indicator. This instrument uses the variation in resistance of a platinum wire to measure temperature across a large range.

A disappearing ailment pyrometer which could determine the temperature of a very hot glowing body from a safe distance.

and a Duddell thermal pointer ammeter.

He had in his possession Charles Darwin's microscope

as well as the silk fabric case that Darwin used to keep it in.

Upstairs there was the Globe exhibit. Here is a globe of Venus

A copernican armillary shpehre with the sun at the center that dates to 1780.

and a Lunar globe that determined from the landing sites of Lunar 2 and Apollo 11.

I'd never seen anything like it.

Continuing down the street, we came to Cavendish Laboratory, which was established in 1874.

ending at the Eagle Inn, where it is stated that Francis Crick and James Watson celebrated the discovery of DNA while enjoying a pint. Marty had mentioned this to me last night but I thought he was just trying to convince me that he needed to stop here to have a beer.

But, sure enough, there was a plaque on the wall.

And he did get his half pint of the special beer.

This was in the RAF room which is famous for allied and Raf airmen gathering and using wax candles as well as petrol lighters and lipstick to write their names and squadron numbers onto the ceiling.