A day along the River Cam

I know this is an extremely bitchy note with which to start off a post, but when I saw that poster on the left...I just couldn't hold back this comment.

"Oh! So THAT'S the University that Cambridge is famous for!"

Hurhur.

Oh well, all in all at least its a little prelude to what this post is going to about. I just spent a marvelous Saturday with my 2 sisters in Cambridge. Its really the happiest I've felt for a while, since its been almost 2 weeks since I last saw either of them.

So the day started with me waking up at 5 in the morning, quite a feat considering I was playing Final Fantasy VII till 2am (thank you, bittorrent!). Lugging myself out of bed, to get to the tube down to the train station. One thing about living in Tooting, is that its like going to Orchard Road when you live in JB.

Thats the view outside my dorm, circa 6.30am this morning. The trees are nekkid! The weather today took a sudden dip as well, ranging from 3-10 degrees. It's really beautiful though...the autumn leaves of red and gold. If I could figure only a way to take the beauty without the mind-numbing chill in the air.

If you haven't figured out by now, this post IS going to be just a bit rambly, and ever so long-winded. So anyway, Cambridge! It has the BEST beef hor fun ever!

See what I mean?

Basically the main event of the day was spending 1.5 hours punting along the River Cam. Now for those of you who are new to punting, what it entails is basically you standing on a somewhat flat-ish boat, prodding a long stick into the river bed and propelling yourself along the river that way. It sounds easy, but its really really kinda hard. ESPECIALLY in the mind numbing cold.

Just a little collage of the incredibly beautiful punt down the River Cam.

And if that barrage of absolutely mindblowingly beautiful images hasn't completely blown you away, here are some pictures of the PEOPLE inside the punt!

Just takes your breath away doesn't it? It's like...FWAH!

Now I may have made the mistake of making punting seem like it was the easiest thing to do in the world, just a little idyllic stroll and such, but it really really isn't easy to do in the slightest. For starters, we tried punting from the front, which was damn near impossible. And we really did spend a good deal of time with our single paddle, trying to fight against a really awful downstream current. Furthermore, as demonstrated by my dearest sister, the pole can get stuck in the river bed =P Which sounds funny, until you realise the current carries you AWAY from the pole, and you have to paddle like hell to get back to it. Also, its easy to lose your balance and fall in.

I hope it should be fairly obvious that this last bit isn't taken from the punt. This is the interior of the King's College Chapel. And its absolutely incredible. Its a bit hard to see from the picture, but the pipe organ is actually in the middle of the church, not against the wall. Its a four-sided pipe organ, and the sound from it is unbelievable. The stained glass is perfectly maintained, and the only lighting in the place is from candles (other than the gift shop, of course). The little museum in the alcove also had a section on stained glass that I know Jo would love!

Time to move on to the round-down. A few congrats are in order! Firstly to Shaun and Leanne for finally tying the knot! Next, to the few lucky people who are already done with their A level papers. Don't waste your life away!

Oh well...I guess I'll finish off by saying this:

"I don't have chicken rice or ski mountains, but I have nice scenery."

Pretty stupid thing to say huh?