Day Trip Two: Cambridge

Our second day trip was to Cambridge, the site of the prestigious Cambridge University. The town featured plenty of good pubs, a great market and a mall as well. The campus is very gorgeous and very old. I and my students are reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, in which she begins by talking about feeling unwelcome at "Oxbridge," and it resonated when our guide Johnny pointed out that, though women founded numerous Cambridge colleges, they weren't actually allowed to graduate until 1948!

Our first and last stop was actually The Eagle, the Royal Air Force pub with an interesting history. Apparently, the open window you see here is never closed. The story goes that a young girl once lived in that room, and a candle fell, lighting her bedclothes and burning her alive. The window stays open to grant her soul freedom, and the superstition is that if it is shut, the place will burn down.

Some other interesting history...the signature ale here is called Eagle DNA, in honor of the graduates at Cambridge who discovered the double helix.

We had a quick pint at the Eagle before leaving, so here is the inside.

This clock is outside the library that used to be a bank...it is fully mechanical except for the blue lights that indicate the actual time. The insect-like creature at the top is called the "Time Eater." He creeps along the top, sometimes slower and sometimes faster, correcting the time that is actually not the correct time. The creator wanted the clock to represent relative time...to reflect the way time can feel fast or slow depending on the situation.

This is the exterior of King's College, one of many and possibly the second-most famous college at Cambridge. No one is allowed on the lawn except the landscapers and the big profs.

This is the exterior of the King's College Chapel, which was by far the most spectacular sight at Cambridge.

The interior of the chapel. The symbols carved into the rock are representative of the Tudor family, as this would have been after the time of the War of the Roses. You see a lot of roses, and the portcullis symbol, which I think Parliament also uses. There are also repeated figures of the Tudor greyhound and the Welsh dragon. The dragons and doggies are all in different facing positions throughout. No mass production here.

More views of the windows here. These windows were protected from the WWII bombing by being taken down piece by piece and restored later, so they are the original. The bottom row depicts the story of Jesus from birth to resurrection. The top row features corresponding stories from the Old Testament...so for example, on top of the Gift of the Magi, we see the Queen of Sheba giving gifts to King Solomon.

On the choir side with our guide Johnny.

A boys' choir sings here every Christmas, and the program is broadcast all over the UK.

This is the front of Trinity College, where many famous people went to school including Lord Byron. The figure you see is Henry VIII. He holds the golden orb of the king in one hand, and a chair leg in the other. Apparently a cleaner accidentally broke off what had been a golden scepter, and he replaced it with the chair leg, which now remains. A reminder that someone DOES have to clean all of this stuff.

Finally, these "dinky door" installations can be found all over the campus. We managed to catch this one thanks to our guide. It features a present at the stoop and a little mouse, and if you look closely, you can see the red hands of the devil opening up the doors. Weird.

Legal London

This London Study Abroad trip featured a Criminal Justice theme, so no surprise that we spent a lot of time on touring London's legal sights. Students even had the opportunity to sit in on court cases in the public galleries, which is definitely educational if not that exciting. Certainly it could teach my Comp II students a thing or two about the importance of word choice - the case we sat in on mostly consisted of lawyers suggesting revision to their statements about a case of attempted murder as a joint venture. What language do you choose in order to suggest three people shared one gun?

Inside Parliament's entry hall, you find lots of statues of lions and unicorns, which are the symbols of the UK you see most often. Really brought on the 10-year-old unicorn-obsessed girl still left in me.

We weren't actually allowed to take photos inside Parliament, other than here in this great hall at the opening. This is where they used to have big lavish feasts and banquets I guess, with eel and cock's comb and crayfish and stag's tongue and God knows what all, though they don't do that now. 

Parliament from the outside.

I should note too that a couple of our students made it in the the MP question sessions they offer to the public...it was a memorable experience for them. We also had the opportunity to talk to an MP who stopped by to save his seat...a Scottish national named Chris Law who talked to us about a lot of subject including the importance of preserving democracy. He was very cool.

Wider view taken from Parliament Square outside.

This is also in the Hall at the entry...the light display you see is called New Dawn, a contemporary light sculpture by an artist named Mary Branson in honor of Women's Suffrage. The display is supposed to look like scrolls, and it changes to reflect "the ever rising tide of change that campaigners were certain would bring women the vote" (marybranson.com).

Big Ben kids!

Closer view of Big Ben in Parliament Square...

Other sights in Parliament Square include this statue of Winston Churchill, alongside other historical figures (mostly favoring men.) Keep an eye out for my war history post, too, in which I will share photos from the Churchill War Rooms.

Below is down the road... the old horse guards getting ready for a parade.

This is the Supreme Court building, where the highest court in the UK meets...it's open to the public.

Here is the Old Bailey, once the main court, where a lot of gnarly executions took place in medieval history. It was across from Newgate Prison, one of the most notorious prisons in British history. It was torn down, but if you go to the Viaduct Tavern right across the street from the OB, you can see pieces of the old prison, and students told me there is a noose in there too... see the inset below.

An old cell beneath the Viaduct Tavern.

A wider view of the Old Bailey. The gold statue at the top is Justice, with her sword and scales.

We toured the Royal Courts of Justice as well, which was pretty cool, though again we could not take photos inside.

A wider view of the Courts, featuring the DMACC students waiting to start the tour.

Finally, Danielle and I visited the Bow Street Police Museum in Covent Garden. This was the earliest police station in London, and it closed in the eighties, but they kept a part of it open to the public. You could go into the remaining cells and read the displays about police history on Bow Street. 

In addition to many famous criminals who actually did something wrong, Oscar Wilde was also booked at Bow Street for "indecent acts," which is a BS charge related to being gay.

Definitely worth a visit, especially since Covent Garden is pretty cool and has a great weekend market. 

Teacher's Note: All of this has value for Criminal Justice and British History obviously, but the court proceedings were a great lesson for Composition students working on argument, as I am sure the questions with MPs would have been as well. The importance of making careful language choices is demonstrated very clearly, and that's sometimes the hardest part to convey.

Hardcore Goth continued: Westminster Abbey

The next weekend excursion was to Westminster Abbey, where every monarch is crowned and also entombed. Salisbury Cathedral was cool, but the multimedia guided tour through this one was pretty special too.

A shot of the front, in which you would look more closely to appreciate the detail carved in the stone.

This is a full shot of the Abbey front. You can also see Big Ben pretty clearly from where we would have been standing here.

Close shot of the altar in the nave.

Wide shot of the nave.

These flags are heraldry of the order of Bath...house of Bath? I can't remember.

Here is the choir area...if you look closely you can see signs for the four commonwealths.

The coronation chair is kept near the front until they need it for an actual coronation, but yes this is the very old chair in which all monarchs still sit when they are crowned.

In the actual coronation room, the original floor remains in pretty spectacular detail.

In an area called the chapter house, where the monks used to meet, there is still a small part of the original tiled floor.

A lot of the murals on the wall of the chapter house have deteriorated, but some remain. This depicted the story of the lamb and the seven seals.

A lot of the stained glass windows were lost in WWII during the Blitz, but they were replaced with as much Victorian glass as possible.

The Pyx chamber is where a lot of the loot was kept. Note this gnarly heavy wood and iron door, which is the original.

Windows and ceiling in the Chapel of the Lady, which is obviously devoted to Mary, hence all the blue in the windows, which is supposedly her color.

Now onto the tombs...here is Elizabeth I.

Memorialized along with her sister here...

The tomb of Mary Queen of Scots here below...

You have to appreciate the detail of the tombs, for instance, this is an image of death aiming his arrow at some important lady who died in childbirth...check out the vertebra.

With all of these tombs, the person is always depicted with an animal at their feet...here's somebody's favorite dog.

A lot of times, the animal at their feet is a lion.

And here we come to Poet's Corner, an area devoted to famous writers and poets of the realm.

The Bronte sisters' area was so tiny I couldn't find it and Danielle had to find it for me.

This guy got a good space on the floor though...

Here were many poets including D.H. Lawrence, who was always one of my favorites.

And this is Shakespeare's area...probably the largest and most detailed.

Teacher's note: The Abbey is an important part of British history, but there is a fee to enter, so it might be best to leave a visit up to the students' discretion. If you are a poet or writer, though, I think you should be obligated to pay your respects to the greats. RIP!