Cambridge

Today our group hopped on the train for Cambridge at 9:30am from King's Cross St. Pancras Station. It was only about a 45 minute train ride. We got to see the countryside; including some John Deere tractors and some enormous CAT machinery!

Once we got to the town of Cambridge, we had to walk about two miles from the train station to the actual center of town where the universities are located. Since the town was founded in medieval times; it is for the majority flat. Therefore, many people, including students ride their bikes absolutely everywhere! Instead of looking both ways for traffic, you usually have to watch out for bikes :)

One of the most famous and most photographed campuses in Cambridge is King's College, or sometimes more commonly referred to as Eton College. David Cameron, the current Prime Minster of the U.K. graduated from Eton, as well as many other notable people. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI! 

This is the chapel located at King's College. It is absolutely humongous, but was built for only 12 students; symbolizing the 12 disciples of Jesus.

A mega-tree growing in the front of King's College.

This is the school where Stephen Hawking teaches various forms of physics!

Inside the King's Chapel! It's absolutely amazing! 88 meters long, and the original stained-glass windows tell the stories of the entire Bible! 

Our informative tour guide who was born in France and lives near Cambridge. He taught us a lot about relations between France and England in the past, and in the present.

The lower portions of the windows tell the stories of the Old Testament, while the top portions tell the stories of the New Testament. There are 12 windows on each side of the chapel and 1 at each end; they are the Passion of the Christ and the other end is the portrayal of Parliament and the various kings of the time period. King's Chapel is known for its stained glass windows; they are exquisite and absolutely everyone of them is original. They even took the over 2,000 panels down in 1939 to avoid them being bombed during the war...it took them 5 years to put them all back up!!!

The chapel where Evensong (evening prayer service) is held. The chapel was designed by Henry VI, but took so long to build, that when it was finished, it had been under the construction of five rulers!

Hymn book.

A building around the square of King's College just before the river.

One of the the most popular views of Cambridge University at King's College.

A majority of the walkways are paved with cobblestone, which is definitely not the most comfortable substance to walk on!

This is the restaurant a few of us ate at and warmed up at. It was really cold today...30F! It seemed about 15F though! I had a pot of tea and toasted ciabatta bread with olives, onions, mozerella, and tomatoes! sooooo good!

A little alley with a cute bookshop :)

One of the most famous pubs in Cambridge, where Crick & Watson first publicly announced that they had discovered how DNA carried genetic information!!! 

The official plaque stating that "The Eagle" pub is actually the place where Watson & Crick first proclaimed that they discovered the genetic properties of DNA!

A picture of King's College at night while we were waiting in line for the Evensong. The Evensong was absolutely beautiful. There was hardly any light but candlelight and there was a boy's choir. They sang so beautifully that it gave me chills! Most of what they sang was in Latin, but we had hymn books to follow along with in English. It was incredible to think that I may have been standing in the same spot as Henry VI or perhaps Oliver Cromwell, who knows? Over 500 years of history! 

This is just a little restaurant that we passed :) For you mama, I know you love cows :) Miss you all so very much, but I'm having an absolutely amazing time! Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in and maybe wandering through some markets in the morning. I hope everyone's doing well :)