UK Trip: Cambridge

Why we have random preferences, I have no idea. Why Chris, for example, who grew up in Lubbock, TX, has been a Red Sox fan since he was five years old.... Or why, for years, I've always liked the sound of Oxford more than Cambridge. Maybe because we had some distant family friends that lived there? Or maybe because I had heard that it was older? Or... maybe because I'm just crazy. In reality, I actually found Cambridge much more appealing than Oxford. The town was smaller, a bit more quaint, and had a less touristy feel. Plus, as icing on the cake, we had a local to show us around (and he had a student ID so we didn't have to pay to visit any of the colleges - even better!).

First stop: King's college. The grounds, the chapel, the river - sheer perfection.

King's College was founded by the pious (yet borderline insane) Henry VI, son of Shakespeare's famous Henry V. The chapel was not finished during young Henry VI's lifetime, though, so its construction continued all the way until the reign of Henry VIII (yes, the one with all the wives). Probably my favorite feature was the ceiling, which was apparently not part of the original plans:

The straight rectangular shape (rather than the cross shape so popular especially in Gothic churches) follows the model of St Chapelle in Paris. I felt right at home. :)

One of the most interesting details I noticed was the half-red half-white roses in some of the stained glass windows. This speaks to the completion of the chapel under Henry VIII as his coming to the throne was finally the end of the War of the Roses - a battle of royal succession between the Yorks (represented by a white rose) and the Lancasters (represented by a red one). Since Henry VII (Henry VIII's father, the first "Tudor" king) was of the Lancaster line and he married Elizabeth of York, Henry VIII was technically a combination of the two - hence the red and white rose:

All the stained glass was stunningly gorgeous, though:

And I loved the site of students just strolling the grounds of their historical college on a Sunday afternoon:

The town itself, though not as impressive as the college's grounds, was charming nonetheless:

But we did spend most of our time admiring the colleges. Oxford and Cambridge are both on the "college system," which simply means (in Rachel's simplified-but-probably-not-totally-accurate description) that there are smaller, financially independent entities that admit individual students and then provide housing and student-life amenities. The studies (nowadays, though this used to be part of the individual colleges, as well) are run through the university conglomerate, but all other aspects of college life take place within the college that admits you. Each college has particular strengths and personalities, of course. For example, King's College is particularly famous (and well known) due to its gorgeous chapel. Apparently, though, according to our guide, it is also struggling financially because of the upkeep of the chapel, so its student fees are higher than other colleges. Trinity College, however, is the wealthiest college, and its beautiful grounds and many accolades attest to its success:

Trinity's chapel (and our tour guide):

My favorite stop on the tour, though, was St John's College. It also happens to be the college of our friend Will, which meant that we could access the entire grounds, not just those open to the public. One of the oldest and wealthiest colleges, St John's was spectacular:

With a beautiful chapel (and apparently doctoral students at the college are actually given a key to access the church bell tower which, as you can imagine, provides breathtaking views of the town... unfortunately, we had Oliver in the stroller, so we declined the opportunity, but isn't that cool?!?!):

Though dark, the chapel had a lovely, intense peace about it - probably due largely to the organ music being practiced while we visited:

In the back parts of St John's grounds is a beautiful gothic building that supposedly was a favorite of Hitler's. Whether that's important because, as St John's students purport, his liking of the building kept him from bombing Cambridge during WWII or, as St John's rival - Trinity - suggests, because it reveals that St John's is akin somehow to Hitler... we may never know. Either way, a gorgeous scene, no?

And, next to the above building, Cambridge sports its own bridge of sighs:

Where my hubby and I snapped a photo:

Honestly, I could imagine living in Cambridge - it was adorable. I'm so glad Will and Vanessa get to enjoy it! Thanks for having us and showing us around!!!

And, just to round out the trip (though some more pictures of Oliver with Will and Vanessa's daughter Karis are coming soon), here's sweet Oliver reading books with dad on the train ride home. Poor thing, it was three hours past his bed time, but he was such a trooper!

Definitely a successful jaunt across the Channel.

UK Trip: Oxford

Stop 2: Oxford. I actually thought at one point in high school that I wanted to attend Oxford... obviously that didn't happen. I did enjoy visiting, though. Unfortunately, the weather and the fact that our reservation (made through booking.com) was not held for us (long story...) made the trip not nearly as enjoyable as it could have been.

Oliver and I caught the train from Slough on Friday morning. Once we sorted out the hotel issues, we visited Magdalen college, where C.S. Lewis studied and taught. It was a beautiful, immaculate place:

With gorgeous views:

And a famous old tree (I can't remember now why it was famous, of course, but at least Oli seemed to like it):

The grounds were absolutely lovely, with long paths through the gardens:

But the old cloister was probably my favorite:

The town itself was charming:

And Oliver and I entertained ourselves after dark by taking a "Ghost Tour" of the town. A little melodramatic, to say the least, but a fun 1.5 hours of entertainment while we waited for Chris to finish work and catch the train into town.

We even passed by the church door with the lion that supposedly acted as Lewis' inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia (there are fawns carved into the doorframe and a nearby lampstand, as well):

The next morning, Chris and I took a walking tour of some of the colleges. We started with Christ Church, home of "Old Tom," the bell tower whose ring can be heard throughout the town:

The Old Tom quad was serene and beautiful despite the rain:

And the cathedral certainly was memorable:

Oliver was a little tired of the rain, I think:

We walked by the Eagle and Child, the pub where Lewis and Tolkien and other "Inklings" (as their intellectual discussion group dubbed themselves) used to meet. We later returned for lunch and really enjoyed it!

We then visited Exeter college:

Which had a beautiful chapel:

And backed up against the famous Bodleian Library:

And its reading room, the Radcliffe Camera:

The next stop was Lincoln college:

Which had a gorgeous chapel:

Although the trip would have been much more enjoyable with better weather, a hotel reservation, and quicker trains (Chris's arrival was much later than we had hoped), the town had an undeniable vigor and boasted spectacular medieval architecture, immaculate gardening, and irresistible charm:

Next stop: Cambridge...

UK Trip: Windsor

I feel the need to confess: after Shannon's sweet comment about my Salon l'Agriculture post, I felt guilty that most of my pictures have not actually been edited lately... How so many mom "hobbyist" photographers manage what they do, I have NO idea. I just feel good if I manage to remember my one-photo-a-week challenge and MAYBE find my cord to upload them before Saturday (which is why I was scouring the house at 10pm last night, only to discover it this morning exactly where I had thought it would be and had looked three times - am I going BLIND?!?!). Anyway, my ramblings are simply my disclaimer that the following posts will not be edited, but I hope you can still enjoy pictures of our most recent adventure.

Since Chris travels to the UK regularly for work, we had been talking for some time about taking Oliver for a few days. Chris' office is just outside of London, near Windsor, so that's where we started. Then, since Oxford is just two stops on the train up the road, we spent one night there and wandered around that great epicenter of learning. And, as a bonus, we have friends who live in Cambridge, so we combined our little trip with a visit to see them. A bit much to cover in four days, probably, but truly a delightful little jaunt across the Channel.

We started with a morning Eurostar through the Chunnel. I have to brag on the Eurostar employees: they have been so kind to us, both in the station and getting onto the train. As we boarded the train, the woman checking our tickets told us that there was a free four-person table at the back of the car that we could have since we had the baby. She even changed our tickets to reflect the change. And Oliver loved the table:

Forgive the poor quality of this photo, but Oliver has been giving kisses recently, and this is our first time to catch it on camera (since I'm the photographer normally)... of course it's with an iphone in a dark, bouncing train. But better than nothing!

Anyway, after arrival in London, a metro ride to another station, a Burger King lunch (since we just missed the train and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one), and a short train ride out to Slough (home of the BBC's "The Office," by the way), and a taxi to the hotel, Oliver and I were ready for a walk. So we decided to take the hour-long walk from Old Windsor (where our hotel was) to Windsor, where the famous castle is. The walk was gorgeous. We passed the Thames:

Then we had a short ugly walk down a little highway... But as we turned, we had the most gorgeous stroll past royal lands, with the castle in the distance:

And gorgeous farmland on the other side:

As we approached the town, the views of the castle and the manicuring of the land became more impressive:

Eventually, we took the formal stretch leading up to Windsor Castle:

Where Oliver humored me by allowing me to take a million pictures of him:

We passed by the castle without visiting, though, because Chris and I visited last time we were in Windsor.

We did, however, wander through the town and enjoy the cute little shops and restaurants while we waited for Chris to finish work. When he did, he met us for dinner at Wagamama's, where they have these really cool high chairs that Oliver loved:

Oliver's first day in the UK was definitely a success!