I made a short day trip to Cambridge while in London. It takes about an hour to get there by train. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do there while I was there. Before going I was told that I should go punting. Being the Canadian I had no idea what that meant. I had to look it up and found out it meant boating. It’s very specific to a type of boat used in Cambridge, that’s very similar to gondolas used in Venetian lagoons, but slightly wider.
I didn’t end up going punting. I did however find really cool walk routes with a phone app that’s made for tourists called, “Live Cambridge”. I ended up taking a 5 mile walk around the city and it basically took me through all the major sites.
To the East end you have pretty much the major city life most people visiting would be used to. Your large mall, markets, restaurants, and one of the more lavish colleges of the University, King’s College. I stopped around this area for lunch and bought a fresh panini sandwich filled with cheese and spicy beef. There’s a large museum that’s really nice too. You will find that a large majority of the buildings from the station to the city are basically owned by Cambridge University. It’s very similar to the area that surrounds the University of Toronto, even the buildings look quite similar.
Further to the West side near the canal you’ll find tons of punting companies that will either do full guided tours or you can rent the smaller punts and row down the stream yourself. There’s a lot to pick from, so it’s best to do some research before heading down and see which one has the best reviews. The trail I took walked me around a lot forested area and even a farm. Actually for some reason the route took me through a farm and I didn’t realize it until I reach the other side of the area. I ended up having to walk through a pack of cows. They seemed friendly enough, none of them tried to attack me.
Cambridge is mostly known for it’s architecture making it great for photos. Another interesting thing that caught my eye was the number of Chinese restaurants around the city. I doubt the community is larger than the one in London, but maybe they’re a lot more closer as a community in the smaller towns. The churches were interesting too because almost all of them offered services in Korean. I didn’t know the Korean community was so large in Cambridge. Even in London, you don’t really find any large communities unless you’re in New Malden, which is part of the Greater London Area.
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