"The Other Place" and "The Other Other Place"

My UK tour finished up with visits to Cambridge and Oxford, back-to-back. In Cambridge, I got to go punting for the first time, and the weather was lovely the whole trip, if a bit too windy.

Oxford was also quite nice, and a lot of the students had examinations that day, which meant they were running around in their navy uniforms with little pink carnations pinned to their blazers.

Neither is a school of slouches, with both places having lots of famous names associated with them: for starters, Cambridge has Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin; Oxford, Lewis Carroll and JRR Tolkien. Both have lots of character created by the lovely old stone architecture, spared from the bombings the rest of England experienced during WWII. The main differences I perceive in the two towns is that the colleges in Cambridge play a greater role in shaping the image of the town (or is it city? I get confused about the European standards); Oxford's colleges tend to be a bit more hidden, and Oxford itself has wider streets that seem a little more car-friendly.

I always figured myself for an Oxford type, based on the fact that I have friends associated with Oxford, but I have to admit, I think that when it comes down to it, I'm more of a Cambridge fan.

There and Back Again

I like the UK very much, partly because I can communicate with people there and partly because of the lovely towns. However, I've become spoiled by Switzerland's extensive public transportation system, so England's selection of trains and buses seem paltry by comparison. (One daily bus running from Bath to Glastonbury?? And at 6:15am? Get it together, National Express!)

With that said, I was able to see some cool stuff in Cambridge, Bath, and London all within one week without the aid of a car.


Most of the cool stuff was in Cambridge and Bath because London mostly sucks.