London Trip (3) -- A Visit to Cambridge

轻轻的我走了，正如我轻轻的来，我轻轻的招手，作别西天的云彩“

Cambridge, immortally romanticized in Xu Zhimo’s “再别康桥”, had beckoned me from afar ever since I first read the poem. Of course it became our first destination outside London on May 22nd, 2005. We caught a 9:00 a.m. train from King’s Cross Station Platform 9A (if you are familiar with Harry Potter book series you might recognize this station where he and his friends would board the train to go back to school at Platform 9 3/4).

In about one hour we arrived at Cambridge and took a bus to the center of the town. We were just in time for a two hour guided tour of the University. It was in the middle of its 3rd term or Easter Term (three terms in one academic year) so all the colleges were closed to visitors. We were just allowed to peek through their half closed gates into the courtyards of world famous Trinity College, King’s College and etc.

The tour guide was very proud of the long history of Cambridge (will be its 800th anniversary in 2009) and of the number of world famous scholars it had produce. Of them Sir Isaac Newton and Lord Byron are the most prominent. The legend has it that Byron kept a lion as a pet and whenever he got drunk he would jumped into the spring in the middle of Trinity College’s courtyard, naked, and bathed with his lion. It was also in this courtyard the race took place to see who could run the fastest during one of Cambridge students society competitions as depicted in 1981 Oscar winning movie, “ Chariots of Fire”. When being asked if we had seen the movie we were the only few who had. We were of course chuckled when we were shown to the apple tree under which Newton discovered the Law of Gravity. The tour concluded itself at the King’s College’s Chapel.

Church visit made a considerable part of our trip in Europe and yet, it was in Cambridge where we acquired a taste of sitting in their evensong service. That was after we had punted on the River Cam and visited university's the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The highlight of the day might be punting on the Cam. To read a little bit of punt history only did I know this practice began at the turn of last century. It used to be a stink river and crowed with barges and trading boats. In Xu Zhimo’s time punting must have been a budding business but he had given it a most romantic appeal.

“那河畔的金柳是夕阳中的新娘, 波光里的艳影在我心中荡漾…”

A lot of Cambridge students made money by punting for tourists at a rate of £20 for an hour. If you were brave enough you could rent a boat and punt yourself. It was only £8. We were among those who had more confidence in our ability for anything once we set our mind to it. At least Chang was very determined to punt for us. For the next hour my heart was alsmost in my throat but I had to remain calm as our boat was circling in the river instead of going forward. When Jian took charge our boat was once dashing straight to the bank and we had to duck our heads to avoid the weeping willows. Thanks God we finally managed to get back ashore safe and sound.

After the adventure we found ourselves wondering in the university Fitzwilliam Museum. It boasts of "one of the greatest art collection of the nation and a monument of the first importance". It houses antiquities from Acient Near Eeat, Greece, Rome and Cyprus, medieval manuscripts of highest quality, Korean ceremecs, and masterpieces paintings and drawing from Dutch, Flemish and British artists.We had to admit the museum is an indicator of how wealthy of the Univerty has been. The size and quality of its collection speaks for itself.

To attend evensong service was a serious business. We had to wait at the gate of one of college's churches for its 6:30 Evensongs. A short while after we were let in and sat down at the pew, the church staff and choir members in red robes paraded into the church. The ceremony proceeded in the order of praying, singing, more praying, singing, sermons, and then praying and singing. All this time Jian and I were very attentive, enjoyed the beautiful singing and listened with all our ears to the sermon; somehow, Chang, had been putting too much energy into steering the boat and absorbing herself with too many antiquities and masterpieces in the musuem early in the day, could not keep her eyes open. Her head nodded in rhythm with the sermon and songs, which were very inspiring and soothing at the same time.

After the service we headed directly to the train station. There had been a few showers earlier, now the sky cleared and sun was not yet set. Most of the tourists had left and the town, busked in the setting sun, was shrouded in a tranquilized beauty. As a climax of our journey, two rainbows appeared in the western sky. We waved farewell to Cambridge and bid goodbye to the western sky. We could not take the rosy clouds with us but did come away with some pictures.

“悄悄的我走了正如我悄悄的来; 我挥一挥衣袖不带走一片云彩.”