After our little walk around Royston, Ruth and Paul picked us up and we headed to nearby Cambridge. We were very lucky because not only did Paul go to Cambridge as a student, but he also works there now. Thus, we had all the insider knowledge. Paul took us to all the best places, made great use of his priceless ex-student CAM-Card which granted access to some restricted college grounds, and to top it all off .... we got free parking!! I love free parking :)
Now anyone who knows anything about about Cambridge, unlike myself, would know that punting is the thing to do. There is a lovely controlled river, called the Cam, that runs right up the middle of Cambridge. And for just a few pounds (even less with your CAM-Card) you can hire a punt and try to navigate the water ways. It's actually quite hard to maneuver the damn thing, and even harder when there are 50 other people unsuccessfully trying to do the same thing. But the views from the water were amazing and we left most of the punting in Paul's experienced hands.
The rest of Cambridge was amazing. I took loads of photos and totally played the role of a tourist. I originally thought that it was just a university town, but in fact the students only make up a small percentage of the population. There are loads of people that live and work there quite unrelated to the university. Cambridge was exactly what I was expecting an old fashion English town to be like, so beautiful.
Reflecting on my first day out and about in England, all I can say is that we Australians were certainly very unimaginative when came to naming our towns and streets. Every second town or street sign that I see has a counterpart in Australia. Which on one hand is great, because I know how to pronounce everything, but on the other hand, it's sort of disappointing that our country is made up of recycled English places. I'm pretty sure I won't be seeing any Woolloomooloos or Parramattas though :)
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