Trip to Cambridge

15 July 2010 (Thursday)
1025-1055 - Arrive Cambridge, Parkside
1100-1230 - Punting (£8-£10)
1230-1330 - King's College Chapel (£5 or £3.50)
1330-1400 - Lunch
1400-1500 - Queen’s College (£2.50) + Mathematical Bridge / St John's College (£3.20)
1500-1600 - Walk around Cambridge city centre
1600-1700 - Fitzwilliam Museum Tour (Free)
1740 -1840 - Depart Cambridge, Parkside

Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about 50 miles (80 km) north-by-east of London. Cambridge is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and thefens surrounding the city. Cambridge is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge, one of the world's premier universities. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital in the far south of the city and St John's College Chapel tower in the north. According to the 2001 United Kingdom census, the city's population was 108,863 (including 22,153 students), and the population of the urban area (which includes parts of South Cambridgeshire district) is estimated to be 130,000. Cambridge is surrounded by many smaller towns and villages.

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge (informally Cambridge University, or simply Cambridge) is the second oldest university inEngland and the fourth oldest in the world. In post-nominals the university's name is abbreviated as Cantab, a shortened form ofCantabrigiensis (an adjective derived from Cantabrigia, the Latinised form of Cambridge). The university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with townsfolk. The two "ancient universities" have many common features and are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of British society, the two universities have a long history of rivalry with each other. Academically, Cambridge has been ranked one of the world's top five universities, the leading university in Europe, and contends with Oxford for first place in UK league tables. The University's affiliates include 87 Nobel Laureates as of 2010. The University is a member of the Russell Group of research-led British universities, the Coimbra Group, the League of European Research Universities and the International Alliance of Research Universities.

King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.
Founded in 1441, the college's formal name is "The King's College of Our Lady and St. Nicholas in Cambridge". It is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the university.
King's College Chapel
The College Chapel, an example of late Gothic architecture, was built over a period of a hundred years (1446–1531) in three stages. The Chapel features the world's largest fan vault, stained glass windows, and the painting "The Adoration of the Magi" by Rubens. The Chapel is actively used as a place of worship and also for some concerts and college events. The world-famous Chapel choirconsists of choral scholars (male students from the college) and choristers (boys educated at the nearby King's College School). The choir sings services on most days in term-time, and also performs concerts and makes recordings and broadcasts. In particular, it has broadcast its Nine Lessons and Carols on the BBC from the Chapel on Christmas Eve for many decades. Additionally, there is a mixed-voice Chapel choir of male and female students, King's Voices, which sings evensong on Mondays during term-time. The Chapel is widely seen as a symbol of Cambridge, as seen in the logo of the city council.

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college was first founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou (the Queen of Henry VI), and refounded in 1465 byElizabeth Woodville (the Queen of Edward IV). This dual foundation is reflected in its orthography: Queens', notQueen's, although the full name is The Queen's College of St Margaret and St Bernard, commonly called Queens' College, in the University of Cambridge. Queens' is the second southernmost of the colleges on the banks of the Cam, primarily on the East bank. (The others — in distance order — are King's, Clare, Trinity Hall, Trinity, St John's, and Magdalene to the north and Darwin to the south.) The President's Lodge of Queens' is the oldest building on the river at Cambridge (ca. 1460). Queens' College is also one of only two colleges with buildings on its main site on both sides of the River Cam (the other being St John's).
The Mathematical Bridge
The Mathematical Bridge (officially named the Wooden Bridge) crosses the River Cam and connects the older half of the college (affectionately referred to by students as The Dark Side) with the newer, western, half (The Light Side, officially known as 'The Island'). It is one of the most photographed scenes in Cambridge; the typical photo being taken from the nearby Silver Street bridge. Popular fable is that the bridge was designed and built by Sir Isaac Newton without the use of nuts or bolts, and at some point in the past students or fellows attempted to take the bridge apart and put it back together. The myth continues that the over-ambitious engineers were unable to match Newton's feat of engineering, and had to resort to fastening the bridge by nuts and bolts. This is why nuts and bolts can be seen in the bridge today. This story is false: the bridge was built of oak in 1749 by James Essex the Younger (1722–1784) to the design of the master carpenter William Etheridge (1709–1776), 22 years after Newton died. It was later repaired in 1866 due to decay and had to be completely rebuilt in 1905. The rebuild was to the same design except made from teak, and the stepped walkway was made sloped for increased wheelchair access. A handrail was added on one side to facilitate the Queen Mother crossing the bridge on her visits to the college. The ever-present boltheads are more visible in the post-1905 bridge which may have given rise to this failed reassembly myth.

Fitzwilliam Museum

The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually.[2]Admission is free. The museum was founded in 1816 with the bequest of the library and art collection of the 7th Viscount FitzWilliam. The bequest also included £100,000 "to cause to be erected a good substantial museum repository". The collection was initially placed in the old Perse School building in Free School Lane. It was moved in 1842 to the Old Schools (at that time the University Library). The "Founder's Building" itself was designed by George Basevi, completed by C. R. Cockerelland opened in 1848; the entrance hall is by Edward Middleton Barry and was completed in 1875. The first stone of the new building was laid by Gilbert Ainslie in 1837. A two story extension, paid for partly by the Courtauld family, was added in 1931 [3]. The Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum reopened in 2006 after a two-year, £1.5 million programme of refurbishment, conservation and research.

Source: Wikipedia