Always Curious: Cambridge

Describing Cambridge in a single word is difficult. It has so much always happening and so many time period and people converging.

Eventually though, after wading through image after image I believe Cambridge is best described by this single photo I took some months back while all but running up and down the streets in a rush to see everything in the eight hour period I had there.

When you visit Cambridge, don't go with a plan in mind, don't go with much research either (unless it's a city you already know inside and out).

Why?

1. It's a small enough town you can see all the corners in a day.
2. It's organised in such a way you can pinpoint all the spots which might be fascinating.
3. Every street holds a unique story since it's packed with literal history and learned history.

Though if you happen to be a stickler for organisation and direction, your best bet for seeing the town is to simply follow the River Cam (which is where the name 'Cambridge' is derived from).

Plus, it brings out the best part of travelling.

Exploration.

Adventure.

Curiousity.

I wouldn't have found the quaint antique shop (nor be fortunate enough to have passed it the moment the owners dog was poking out in perusal of potential customers), had I not decided one weekend I wanted to go to Cambrige, finally. I hoped on a train, was off just an hour later (having come from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk) and found myself in a sea of bicycles parked, tied and leaned up in wait for their owners return between the larger forms of commute such as the train.

Then I was off.

Throughout the day I slowly discovered points which piqued my curiousity (beyond wanting to go punting on the river and see the Christ Church Cathedral, the sole two things I knew about in terms of sights).

The Bridge of Sighs, which happens to share a name with another covered bridge in Venice, Italy.

One of the many colleges in Cambridge, Downing College has huge grounds and is much more open to the public on a regular basis then some of the more well known such as Kings College or Trinity College.

The Corpus Clock, conceived by John C Taylor, an old member of the Corpus Christi College and set in it's street corner location outside the college in 2008. What I love about it, aside from the general mechanics or that it has a Chronophage (Greek for "time eater") on the top who is called Rosalind by the local student populace. The clock is accurate once every 5 minutes and was created to remind people of the inevitable passage of time. 

Lastly, always remember to look both up and down, when entering a building. The Fitzwilliam Museum is a artifact in its own right.

 And that, my friends, is a few of the corners of Cambridge I came across. (To say nothing of the cows which mowed the grass in a park or the glorious view of the town from ontop Castle Hill).

I urge you to stay curious. You'll find some curious sites that way.

Jumping the stars on the back of a cow.
Moony.