Cambridge

My beloved attended a conference in Cambridge.  Cambridge’s claim to fame is its university: supposedly one of the world’s finest, it has produced 83 Nobel Laureates.  It is made up of a bunch of colleges.  The conference was at Trinity College.  (Check out the dining hall where my honey ate.) The photo here is part of Kings College.  Much of the university is hidden away as a result of building a barrier of outer structures that form courtyards, to which non-university lowlings, like me do not have access.   One thing I was able to gain access to was the River Cam.  

This picture is from my “Hey Cram, Get out of the …” series.  While in Cambridge, I visited the site of the Cambridge Castle.  I am told that the mound was built about 2000 years ago.   

As most castles sites of this age, it started its life as a wooden structure, later William I (about 1000 years ago) built a stone structure replacing it.  Apparently, Elizabeth I (about 400 years ago) sold most the stones from the castle to the university and church, so various bits of it are contained buildings around town.  

The nicest part of the trip for me was the dinner we had on Saturday night after the conference.  We ate at this place called Cambridge Chop House.  It claimed to serve traditional British cuisine.  It is difficult to say who is most harsh on the judging of British cuisine, the Brits or everyone else.  Suffice it to say that it is not generally something that is bragged about.  But this was nice.  I had smoked haddock served with smashed swede (rutabaga), fried leeks, and a mustard sauce with a poached egg on top.  It was lovely.  My wife had a sirloin steak with mushroom sauce.  It was only slightly overcooked, but had good flavour.  It came with chips (fries), which I did something to because they had a nice moisture inside that is atypical.  I generally do not care for chips but these were quite good.  The bed and breakfast was OK.  It was a bit weird because the man running it didn’t live there.  Next week, we are going to Canterbury.  No conferences, so it will be a proper holiday (vacation).