Dan is one of the smartest people I know – undergrad at Columbia, with a year at Cambridge, followed by law school at Columbia. He, like me, has an almost obsessive knowledge of popular culture; however, he’s one of the only people that I think could actually put me to shame in an entertainment showdown of trivia. He’s the biggest Ke$ha fan that I know, and knows the whole Rihanna catalogue. He comes here to London to visit friends quite a bit, and I was happy to spend the day with him when he was here this past weekend. We met that morning at Kings Cross station to take the non-stop train to Cambridge for the day.
The day was gorgeous, completely clear and relatively warm for this time of year. We rode 45 minutes through the English countryside and walked around most of the day, heading back to London around 5pm for a few pints and dinner. Cambridge is really a magical place, almost an academic Disneyland, with significant Gothic architecture, in a town center that is managable in a day. The University of Cambridge is a collection of colleges. Names like Bacon, Darwin, Newton, Crick and Watson, and Cavendish are all alumni and are responsible for many of the major scientific discoveries of all time. Being around this sense of history of pedagogy and learning gives me an overwhelming and humbling sense of greatness.
The architecture is purely brilliant, and untouched by any of the WWII bombing that occured in other cities throughouhere are many bridges over the river Cam, many of which are historically significant and date from prior to the 15th century. The town center reminds me of a medevial Ann Arbor or Palo Alto, college buildings sharing the same space with old buildings holding a McDonald’s or a mobile phone store. However, unlike the South University corridor in Ann Arbor, there is almost always a building that is architecturally significant, and the senses of history and religion are at every step. I had forgotten how much the Church of England and the Catholic Church before the early 16th century have had on the physical and spiritual influence of Great Britain. That being said, my tour of the university with Dan was very special. Being an alumni, Dan has access to parts of the campus that visitors do not. And, getting to see the inner Tudor buildings of Queen’s College along with the the Mathematical Bridge, and the bucolic gardens absolutely made my day.
We had lunch at the Cambridge Chop House, a gastropub with homemade ales -(I know, again with the beer) – and roast of the day. This place is fantastic, with all local and organic foods, in a very light filled room on the corner of the King’s Parade, followed by coffee at a nice little café nearby. I do not feel like I had nearly enough time in the town and could easily spend a weekend there. Or a month, or enough time for a Doctorate.
American Expat in London 