England: Cambridge

Over the weekend Hayley and I decided to take a day trip to visit the University of Cambridge. I had a lot of fun walking around the different colleges and seeing what life must be like for Cambridge students!

Our day started off with an early morning bus ride to Cambridgeshire via the National Express. Our first stop was a pretty little church by the bus stop, which we walked around while we got our bearings.



Our next stop was the University of Cambridge Botanic Gardens! I really, really love flowers so I was super excited to see the gardens at Cambridge (thanks for putting up with my obsession, Hayley!).

Unfortunately, because it was still early in the season, most of the plants weren't flowering yet. However, the winter gardens were really beautiful, and the spring flowers were just starting to come up!

My favorite part of the garden was probably the greenhouse, which housed a lovely collection of plants divided by type and climate. The orchid collection, in particular, was stunning!

After seeing the gardens Hayley and I headed into the center of the city to see all of the different schools (University of Cambridge is divided up into a bunch of smaller "colleges"). We went into a few of colleges, but because you have to pay to enter many of the colleges we decided to be budget-friendly and we just saw a lot of them from the outside.

For lunch Hayley and I stopped by the Rainbow Cafe, a tiny little vegetarian/vegan restaurant. I got the "shepardess pie", a vegan, gluten free mix of brown rice, sweet potato, and beans. The meal was okay (extra points for pretty presentation, though, even if my picture doesn't really show it!), but a little pricey for what I got!

After lunch we walked around the college some more and checked out a few more churches, including the "round church" in the middle of the city! 

One of my favorite spots in Cambridge was Trinity College. The quad was so pretty!

As an afternoon snack we decided to go to Auntie's Tea Shop. Hayley and I planned on getting "high tea", but it looked like it was going to be too much food so we just got a snack instead; I got coffee and a scone with jam. The tearoom was so cute; the waitresses were all wearing aprons and the place was literally packed!

After tea we walked around the town a bit more. When we walked by the river we got some really good views of people "punting", which is when you travel along the river in a flat bottom boat and push yourself along the bottom with a huge pole! It was really fun to see, and I wish we had had time to do it. Maybe next time?









While we were walking we got to see the sunset, and it was really pretty to see the sun go down behind the buildings! We also got to see the "grasshopper clock", a terrifying golden clock (pictured below; yikes), lit up at night.

At six thirty we went to a free organ recital in King's College Chapel. It was a fun way to see the college and listen to the beautiful music. 

We finished up the night with a hurried dinner of mushroom soup and wholegrain bread before running to the bus stop to catch the eight thirty bus to London. I loved seeing Cambridge and I wish we had had more time to do things, but I honestly can't imagine going to a school so many tourists visit!