Cathedrals & Cambridge

I'm back - with yet another swath of pictures from our Thursday, May 4th adventures to the towns of Ely and Cambridge! The day was full without being overwhelming and we all enjoyed our time seeing one of the largest cathedrals in the UK - and getting to see the many colleges of Cambridge University from the river Cam.

 

Ely is a town about thirty minutes from my sister's home and located within the town is Ely Cathedral - and a fun fact here is that while Ely Cathedral is the third longest cathedral in the UK, the town of Ely is the second smallest city in England. The city itself grew up around the cathedral and it's monastery, so that helps make that statistic make a little more sense, ha-ha! The beginnings of what would become Ely Cathedral were started way back in 673 by a woman named Etheldreda (won't be adding that one to a baby name list...)

 

The cathedral as it is today was started in 1083 - and yet again - I marvel at how something this amazing was built that long ago! I mean, the detail! The artwork! The stonework! It's all completely mesmerizing and I cannot fathom how you'd build something so stunning today - much less in 1083! My sister and I were so tickled to see that the cathedral was holding a Story and Song Time for toddlers and we peeked into the session. It was truly wild to see wee little people sitting on a marble floor, surrounded by sweeping arches and columns, while listening to a story about King David. Could you imagine this being the church you brought your kids to for weekly story time?

 

 

After a little over an hour spent exploring the cathedral, we walked through town toward the Peacock Tea Room for our late breakfast/early lunch! This is favorite spot of Lindsey's and I am happy to say this was the second time I've visited this delightful spot! They have tons of teas to choose from and provide a really wonderful traditional English tea experience! The building itself also has the most lovely wisteria blooming down the front walls and I just love spying wisteria here and there when in England!

 

We ambled back toward the car - and passed the cutest post box cover - knit in honor of the coronation, of course! Look at the wee Paddington! He even has a tiny marmalade sandwich! We drove about thirty minutes from Ely to the town of Cambridge for the afternoon and evening, parking and taking in the market in the square before trying to find our way to the entrance of Kings College to tour the chapel.

 

 

The chapel was built by Henry 8th - while he was married to Anne Boleyn - so you can see their initials in different portions of the chapel woodwork! The magnificent organ in the chapel was a gift to Anne from Henry, which is pretty wild considering how that relationship played out... *mimes head getting lopped off* This chapel was yet another gorgeous example of stunning architecture created well before it's time! The chapel had an exhibit that showed how they made the vaults in the ceiling - but my non-mechanical mind had trouble grasping the process...

 

Please note the little sneak in the second picture of Ryan and I - she couldn't resist jumping in for a cheeky smile! Also, you can see below one of the pieces of woodwork that prominently displays Henry and Anne's initials. I found this aspect of the chapel to be absolutely fascinating, since I have always been mesmerized by Tudor England.

After our tour of Kings College Chapel, we made our way down to the pier to book a punting tour on the river Cam! Punting involves flat bottomed boats that are maneuvered up and down the river with a long pole, since for the most part the river isn't very deep. Once we booked our tour, we had to wait about thirty minutes and so we sat along the river, watching the other punting boats cruising along.

 

 

The punting tour is a great way to see some of the colleges you wouldn't normally see because they can only be viewed from the water. The tour lasted about forty-five minutes and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if our guide seemed like a newbie and said "um" a lot. As you can see, I felt compelled to document the tour quite well, ha-ha!

  

We passed Clare College, Kings College and more - I can't remember them all! I do know that the building on the right (above) is a library for one of the colleges and is meant to look like a ship! I think the effect is a little more visible when you are in a boat, on the water - but regardless, it's a very unique building. 

The bridge above is the Bridge of Sighs - named after the original bridge in Venice! In the case of Cambridge's bridge, it's said that students sign in anticipation of exams and then sigh in relief once they've completed them! After our punting tour, we popped into a couple shops en route to our dinner reservation at The Eagle Pub. The Eagle is famous for two things: Watson and Crick discovered the helical structure of DNA in the pub, and the bar has a ceiling that was signed by WWII soldiers - and the walls are now written on by current day pilots. It's called the RAF Bar and my sister will sign the wall before she moves back stateside in a couple months!

 

The meal and the environment of the pub were great - it was another really enjoyable meal with plenty of photo opportunities to take advantage of! The food was also really tasty and when we finished, we popped next door to grab gelato before walking back to the car to head home! It was a wonderful day!