Tuesday 3 August 2010

Birth-day Away-day

I spent today in the beautiful city of Cambridge, sight-seeing, and threading my way through hundreds of Japanese tourists. Only having been there for church meetings, this was my first chance to take some time to look at the place.


I started with King's College Chapel - where else? - and the fourth most photographed building in the world. Wonderful architecture and despite the visitors, still a place of faith and peace.

Then it was a short walk down to the Fitzwilliam Museum - a venue recommended to me by a parishioner. It was superb. What a collection of art - Pissaro, Monet, Degas, Constable, Picasso, Augustus John, Millais, Holman Hunt, Seurat, Van Dijk.

There were also two special Exhibitions - one of Japanese prints, amongst which was a print from the woodblocks of "The Great Wave" by Hokusai -


and the other, a whole wonderful gallery of oil paintings of wave forms by the East Anglian artist Maggi Hambling.


After all that culture it was time for a ride along the Cam in a punt, passing seven Colleges and under their bridges - including Clare bridge ...


and the so-called "Brideg of Sighs".


And not a drop of rain all day!

4 comments:

  1. No rain? That's just short of a miracle! I love the Fitzwilliam. I've been there every time I've stayed in Cambridge. That's twice. We stayed at Clare College dorm for 5 nights. Walked over the Clare bridge at least twice a day. I love the gardens there. We sang evensong in the Chapel. It was lovely! Thanks for the pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes Happy B/D Old'un.

    The photos brought back student memories. Lovely in the summer, absolutely miserablr in the winter.

    ReplyDelete