Cambridge

Today we went up to Cambridge University to see Douglas Stanford and Sarah Brown, both friends of Taylor from Anacortes. Douglas is finishing up a MSc (Master's) in Physics and only has a month or so left so it was good timing to see him. He introduced us to some of his friends there and we went punting down the Cam with them. Punting (a punt is a small flat boat kind of like the ones in Venice) is really awesome and very relaxing.... once you get the hang of it.

We passed most of the different colleges (Cambridge is the university, but each college within it is pretty independent) and it was amazing to see all the amazing buildings as we floated past. We went about two miles down the river Cam to a tea garden that was frequented by some of the "greats" from Cambridge. It was a nice place to take a rest and enjoy lunch, until it started to rain. It did that off and on throughout the rest of the day. Douglas would just say "it's a passing thing" each time it would start raining. On the punt back, we hooked the two punts together and tried to use the combined manpower to get us home quicker....didn't really work that way! It took about 6 hours altogether, but it was a great way to spend the day!!

After getting back, Douglas took us up to the top of St. John's College (that's the one he's a part of) where we were able to see a panoramic view of all of Cambridge; it was amazing! The city has been around for almost a millenium and was originally built to be a fortress - you can really see that when looking down on it as each College has built up fortress-like walls to surround them. We tried to get into some of the other colleges, but they were all closed by the time we finished at St. John's. We spent the rest of the night chilling in the common's room, which looked like it was taken straight out of Harry Potter, with Douglas and his friends and then caught the train back to London.

Speaking of Harry Potter, we found Platform 9 3/4. We left from King's Cross Station, the one used in Harry Potter. An interesting thought is that although Harry Potter was filmed at Oxford (which you get from Paddington Station), the station to Hogwarts in Harry Potter in reality sends you to Cambridge....somewhat playing with the ancient"Oxbridge" rivalry.

Part of St. John's college...gorg eh...

The sister missionaries were able to watch them set up for a filming of the seventh book, "Deathly Hallows" of Harry Potter a few months ago and were chased out by the security guards because they were filming when the cast came in...