Last Day in Cambridge

I checked my options again for my last day of site-seeing in Cambridge and I decided to just do a final long walk and take an earlier train back to Hook to avoid rush hour in London. I walked to the centre of town to ditch my big backpack at a storage place and then followed a footpath near the River Cam along the backs (the area behind the big colleges). Most of the leaves had fallen, but it was still beautiful.

A house at the edge of the River Cam.

I discovered that although I appreciated the old buildings and history, I loved wandering through the trees and parkland even more. I think I just found Cambridge to be too pretentious and I couldn't relate to the formality of the place. I kept thinking of the first time I went into a courtroom when a coworker was called to the bar in Alberta. It was a surreal experience full of pomp and fancy robes and "your honour" and me feeling really small. It was a good thing to experience and a privilege to attend the ceremony, but I wouldn't want that feeling for long.

Engraved over the entryway at a smaller college.

I think I was also overwhelmed with the age of everything. How unbelievable is it to stand in a chapel commissioned by King Henry VI in 1444? To climb a tower built in 1608? When will this stuff seem real? I know it'll be even more incredible in a place like Italy so I'm trying to get used to it.

Cambridge is a beautiful place and I'm really glad I went there, but it didn't sweep me off my feet. Give me the wilds of Harlech Castle any day over the formal surroundings at Cambridge.