Cambridge UK

November 28th, 2017

Creeping vine in the courtyard of King's college

I have referred back to the year thirty years ago that Glenn and I spend in England in several different posts.  This past weekend, we went back to Cambridge.  We got to see how much the city has changed.  When we were there, we joked that it was a place stuck in time because whenever anyone would suggest a change of any kind, people would respond, "We've been doing it this way for 800 years and it's always worked."  Thirty years has made a big difference.

Moss growing in King's College

Door of St. John's (or Trinity, I forget)

First, let me say that we did not go back there primarily as a trip down memory lane.  We were visiting my sister Shannon, her partner Derek, and their son Jack.  Derek owns a house in Cambridge and splits his time between there, Newton, Massachusetts, and Pasadena, California.  (He is a biotech entrepreneur with one successful startup under his belt, working on another, Camena Bioscience.  Camena has their scientific HQ in Cambridge and their manufacturing HQ in Pasadena, and Shannon lives in Newton, which explains his time allocation.)  It was fantastic to see them, and we very much appreciated their hospitality.  We got to see two more of Derek's children while we were there, Lloyd and Adela, as a bonus!  (We missed Eleanor by a day, unfortunately.)  

St. John's Chapel

The biggest change from thirty years ago in Cambridge that I noticed in my weekend there was the food scene.  A really hoky Tex-Mex place, crummy pizza, several Indian restaurants, and a kebab stand exemplified the range of culinary offerings three decades ago.  There was one pretty fancy and high-quality French restaurant---I think it was called Restaurant Angelina---but otherwise lots of pubs.  This past weekend we passed dozens of Asian restaurants, ranging from the swanky to the hipster to the hole-in-the-wall.  There were tons of Italian places of different varieties, hamburger joints and steakhouses, cozy coffee shops with high-quality espresso and avocado toast, and plenty of African and Middle Eastern cuisine.  And still lots of pubs.  We ate extremely well.  My favorite restaurant was a hole-in-the-wall Chinese place in Mill Road south of town that still had the decor from when the space had housed an Indian restaurant a few years ago.  Everything was spectacularly good, but the best and most impressive dish was a white fish braised in chili oil.  It was not particularly spicy but had a rich and wonderful flavor infused in it, and it was served in a huge bowl with the fish filets and sprouts flouting in a sea of hot chilis and oil.

A small pathway off of St. John's Street

Glenn and I took the opportunity to walk around the center of Cambridge and show Kate around a little.  We spend most of our time at King's College, since it is so spectacular, but did walk down King's Parade to Silver Street and up to Bridge Street and checked out the Market Square, too. 

In the courtyard of King's looking out towards the gate

Glenn and Kate approaching the King's College Chapel

 A few shots in the Chapel:

Cambridge is a truly beautiful city.  I forgot how much I loved the buff-colored stone (oolitic limestone, I am told), especially with the low winter sun shining on it.