Punting on the Cam

July 16, 2005

Hey! Today was another great day! I got up early this morning and was ready when Deann knocked on my door. We got Trisha and went to breakfast. We went to the computer lab and then we all walked to the store together to buy laundry detergent and that kind of stuff. I bought a lot of chocolate. I have to sample it so I'll know what kind of stuff to take home. :) 

Trish had to go do homework and De and I got on a bus tour. It drove us all around and we heard about all the colleges. It's pretty amazing. 

Our super awesome bus

Kings College and St. Johns College (I think!)

We saw a tree that was the off-spring of the tree that helped Newton discover gravity. We saw (from afar) Madingley Memorial to the 4,000 fallen U.S soldiers. We went all over the place. 

After our bus tour we did a walking tour. It was all very interesting. There sure are some interesting tales! 

Gate to one of the colleges

King Henry

 (a mischievous student at some time in the past stole the scepter he held and replaced it with a chair leg- which he still holds)

Gonville and Cauis College exterior

Kings College Chapel

The Round Church- built in the 1100's

We were told it is round because they believed the devil hid in shadow so a round building would not have corners that would make shadows to hide in. True or not I don't know.

After our tour we went to the Ugly Duckling for a nice Chinese Lunch. It was ok. Not as good as Mandarin. And we walked back to our college. We found Trish and started our laundry. It took longer than it was supposed to so we didn't get finished and had to rush to meed the group to go punting. 

This is the courtyard of St Michael's, where we did our laundry.

SO FUN! We got into small flat boats and someone stood on one end and pushed us with a pole. We had a fun boat. It was the 3 of us, Dr Tom Carnicelli, a guy named Mike (our punter) and a weird girl named Bonnie.We had so much fun. I laughed my head off. Tom- I'm not sure if he was having fun or if he was so annoyed he wanted it to be over. 

At first I was a little tense. I didn't care if I fell in- I'm washable- but I had Mel's Camera. I really didn't want it ruined, ya know? But- we didn't fall in. We saw a few other people who did though. mike steered most of the time but Trish gave it a go for a minute. We ended up in a tree and went in three circles before we went anywhere. It was pretty funny. 

The bridge behind Mike is called the mathematical bridge. When it was originally built they used no nails or anything- the bridge simply supported itself. Someone took it apart to study it and they wre unable to put it back together correctly.

(I just looked that up- and apparently it's a myth, but I like it so I'm sticking with it)

When Mike did it again we headed the right way and we stared singing. It was funny. That's when I wasn't sure if Tom was having fun or annoyed. Oh well- we all got a few laughs. We got back and they had ordered pizza for everyone. It wasn't worth the calories! 

King's College from the River Cam

De and I went and finished our laundry and came back to our rooms. We took and hour or two to study. I tried really hard- but I got to the point that I wadded up my paper and almost threw it out the window! Grrr... I'm just stupid! I really dont' know why I'm here. Anyway, Deann came to my rescue. I quit and put on a mud mask. Trish came a minute later and did one too. She taught us a new dice game, Farkle. It's very addicting! We played and played. Trish had to go to bed but De and I played one more time but then we had to call it a night. I'm going to try to find the church tomorrow so I need to go to bed. 

Goodnight!

Love, Heather