The Duc Pond

We took a day trip to Cambridge on Friday. They have a very interesting system. If I understood it properly, Cambridge University (and its counterpart Oxford) is comprised of all 33 colleges in the town. You apply to any one of the colleges to be admitted to the whole university, but once you’re in you can attend classes at any of the schools.

It’s a gorgeous town with amazing buildings. The only building we entered was King’s College Chapel, but it was enough. They’ve got an amazing fan-vaulted ceiling and a massive organ. It’s awesome. We spent a lot of time in there, though, so by the time we got out all we could really do is walk around town a bit and then continue our bus tour. There’s a neat American cemetary on land that Cambridge University donated. I’ve always wondered why so many soldiers were left in Europe and not sent back to be buried in America.

The river Cam runs through the town. There are lots of bridges. Get it? Cam — bridge? They’ve got these flat-bottomed boats there call punts. We were told we had to go punting, and I’ll have to agree that it’s something you must do if you visit Cambridge. It’s quite similar to the gondolas in Venice (not that I’ve ever been), as the pilot of the boat pushes us around with a large stick. You can rent your own punt and attempt to do it yourself, but from what I could see on the river, lots of wackiness and crashes can occur. In any case, it’s a beautiful trip and a great way to see several of the colleges.

The guy who took us punting was from Australia and he had pretty strong feelings about American globalization. It all started when he told us this story about how someone started a false rumor that one of the colleges was allowing a punt-through McDonald’s in a new building they were constructing on the river. People were outraged and started a letter writing campaign, so the school had to erect a sign stating that they were NOT in fact allowing a punt-through McDonald’s. Amy asked the guy how he felt about the ubiquity of Starbucks and McDonald’s and that’s how he got started on the destructive nature of capitalism. I’m pretty sure he specifically meant globalization, though, as he later expounded on the evils of communism and socialism as well.

I didn’t disagree with him, but I didn’t feel like thinking too much on this trip. Anyway, he was quite cordial about everything, and it was an awesome ride. Afterwards we went to a Spanish restaurant for some tasty tapas and delicious flan for dessert. Then back home.

By the way, Britain isn’t nearly as cold, wet, and overcast as the stereotype goes. It was hot as hell on Friday and Saturday (mid 80′s in Fahrenheit), and looks to be megahot today too. That brings me to a quick comment on globalization. Yeah, it kinda sucks, it helps destroy small businesses, and eliminates some of the local character of a city or town, but let me tell you, I’ve never been happier to see a Starbucks than lately. I’m a shareholder, so part of that is checking out how well they do overseas (they do quite well indeed), but also, we just really, really needed a cold drink and something familiar.

By the way, we never did run into Stephen Hawking in Cambridge.