Quick weekend Getaways: Cambridge

Last month we had made a quick trip to Cambridge and I freaking loved it. Cambridge reminded me of my own university days. In the warm sunshine, the whole place looked idyllic; enjoy a picnic of sandwiches, wash it down with cold beer by the river Cam and then get back into the honey stoned ancient dorms to hit the books. Of course the reality is anything but that. Students have to pay an arm and a leg to get into these hallowed institutions after passing a gruelling screening process.

Anyways, I am not a student, I am a tourist. So let's talk about more touristy things. First if you are going with a male who relies on plastic to buy his milk, do yourself a favour, get some cash. It will save you a 20 minutes walk to the ATM. If the weather is good, leg it to the riverside and enjoy some punting. You can hire the boat and do the navigation yourself or get a professional to do that. Its £10 per head, and your captain will be giving you a running commentary about the colleges, its notorious history and completely wacky stuff which can only be done when you are a student, like the night climbers. Legend has it that once members of the banned night climbers scrambled up onto one of the spires of Kings College and left a santa's hat on top (some accounts say its  traffic signal, but you get the drift). Stiff upper lips staff enlist construction firm to build a scaffold to remove it. Workers build the scaffold tower half way and go home, aiming to complete their work in the next shift. But next morning the offending item has been removed by a climber and placed on the other tower. Of course new age surveillance cameras have put an end to roof top rendezvous, but it makes for a charming story.

weeping willows

The bridge of sighs

At the corner of King's College

Kings' College

Even the weather conspired and I daydreamed away. In Hollywood terms, I would be Winona Ryder (Reality Bites era) and would meet a scruffy Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise era) and we would live happily ever after in a rambling two storied red brick cottage covered with Ivy. I would of course be a very popular teacher, cue Barbara Streisand's The Mirror Has Two Faces. Not asking for much, am I?

Cut to real life, post river expedition, we cut through the park and reached FOPP which I absolutely love. Its a store which sells a mix of movie, music, books and mementoes. Stocked up on Woody Allen DVDs at discount price and then got down to the business of food. My personal experience of using Trip Advisor reviews for restaurants has been dodgy. So I stuck to Byron Hamburgers. It has a couple of branches dotted around England, so yeah it is successful at what it does which is awesome burgers and nothing else. Slim picking for vegetarians, but if meats your thang, then this is it. All hamburgers are cooked medium unless requested with pickles on the side. I went for the Monterey Jack cheese hamburger, home made skin on chips and washed it down with a Byron pale ale. Had to unbutton my jeans after that but so worth it.

Burgers @ Byron

We put up for the night at Premier Inn which is on the outskirts of the city centre. I personally like Premier Inn, comfortable bed, space for your luggage, full length mirror, decent sized bathroom, electric kettle to make tea/coffee in the room (trust me, have lived in hotels where you had to go down to the dining room for your morning tea/coffee). Next morning we legged it to Patisserie Valerie for a sugar hit: chocolate eclair, scones and fruit tart, followed by croque madame and Darjeeling tea. One word: fabulous. 

Fruit Tart

Chocolate eclair

Croque Madame

Systematic demolition in progress

Suitably stuffed we spent the day ambling around Market Street.  If you want you can enter the college grounds and explore certain parts for a fee. I wanted to see the Trinity College grounds but it was closed to visitors that day.

Trinity College

Students, tourists and cycles all crammed into small lanes

There was a convocation taking place in another college so the streets were full of parents with kids wearing the convocation cloaks which of course got me thinking of Harry Potter. Tried to get tickets for the Warner Brothers Studios at Watford but no success, will have to plan a trip there sometime. So yeah, thats about it. If anyone is visiting England, do make a trip to Cambridge. It will remind you of your own student days in the best possible way.