Cambridge > Oxford

Thursday we took a day trip to Cambridge via coach.  It took an hour just to get across town, and another to get there.  Cambridge is in the general direction of the London Stansted airport, so we are grateful to know that it will take a while to get there next Thursday when we fly out.  Why am I leaving London you ask? Well, we have 5 days off to do whatever we please, and I am going to Sweden!!!  Yes, we fly into Stockholm Thursday morning and stay until Sunday morning. I am so excited!  My plane ticket has my name with the umlauts correctly placed in my last name. The locals will think I'm local! Back to Cambridge.  We stopped at 

Yes, this is the only American military cemetery of World War II in the British Aisles. 3,812 Americans were buried here, all from the Army Air Forces, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.  

It was neat to see this in England:

In addition to those 4000, over 5000 Americans whose remains were never recovered or identified, or were lost at sea, are inscribed on the Wall of the Missing. 

I sat down to transcribe what was written on the wall. It is very moving.  "The Americans whose names here appear were part of the price that free men for a second time in this century have been forced to pay to defend human liberty and rights -- All who shall hereafter live in freedom will be here reminded that to these men and their comrades we owe a debt to be paid with grateful remembrance of their sacrifice and with the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live eternally."  

It blows me away to think that so many of these men were my age.  Many youth in my generation hardly know what's going on in politics and world relations, yet these young men cared so much about it that they gave their lives!  I never thought I'd appreciate and love America while in another country (that isn't crazy or poverty-stricken).  

We are in front of King's College.

For lunch we browsed through the open market. I got a couple really cute hats, had Ba Mii for lunch,

and real British ice cream (called "ice").  This is toffee crunch.

Then came the best part of the entire day.

Yes we went punting on the River Cam.  It was pretty dang exciting!!

These are the legs of our punter, George. He was a buff, handsome lad from London who was studying chemistry but really at Cambridge to play rugby.  

Attractiveness aside, he was an excellent tour guide.  We heard the true story and saw the location of Humpty Dumpty (who was a woman).  We saw many of the lovely colleges, 

passed under beautiful bridges, 

and sailed alongside cute ducklings.  George said "The Asians lot" will get so excited about the ducks they just say, "Forget the tour! Follow that duck!" 

 

Here is one of the many willow trees we glided by.  Refer to previous entry.  

Here is Sister Hall and Matt!  Back at school, I will be able to brag to everyone that I went punting with Sister Hall in England!  

 Have you ever seen such lovely Wisteria?

After our leisurely punting adventure, we went to Trinity College to listen to Evensong rehearsal and performance.  Trinity is well known for many scholars, like Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, and Tennyson.  I realized I haven't really explained what evensong is. You can click on the link above. It's basically evening prayer for Anglicans, equivalent to Vespers of the Roman Catholic church.  There's scriptures read aloud, rote prayers, lots of music, and a sermon.  

So, back to the title of this post.  Why is Cambridge better than Oxford?  Okay devil's advocate side first: Oxford is more prestigious, renowned, and ancient!  Well, Cambridge is also ancient, as well as highly respected.  In addition, it's beautiful, the streets are more open and it's so much less claustrophobic.  The river punting is much better than Oxford's, and less touristy.  There is more nature, more open green fields to lounge and read in.  The choirs here (well, Trinity compared with 7 college choirs at Oxford) are much more fantastic.  I would love to sell my car, buy a bike, and go to Cambridge, the end.