Emmanuel College.
King's College Chapel. April 2012
an afterthought...
I had begged Adrian FVdR to go with me to Ely to see the cathedral. That visit was a bust and we ended up having more time on our hands than anticipated. Since we were near Cambridge and it was easy to get there, we thought, "Why not?" Soon we were on our way across the Cambridgeshire countryside headed toward a place that held one place I had always been interested in - King's College Chapel.
The railway station was far from the old part of the city (surprising to both of us), so we walked down Hills Road toward the town center. At first the town appeared unremarkable, but as we got closer to the center it transformed into this medieval academic wonderland. Some of the colleges were partially open to the public (like Emmanuel) and some were not. We continued on to the River Cam and there I saw the chapel. The building was huge considering it was a "chapel". I mainly knew the place because I loved the music of the King's College Choir. In recordings, that choir in that space sounded otherworldly to me. The chapel was either closed or had a steep entry fee, so we didn't go inside. I was interested in listening to the choir more than the building anyway. Still high on my list, I would like to return one day for a concert.
We strolled along the river and watched people punting on the River Cam, enjoying the unexpectedly nice day for April. I believe a lot more tourists go to Oxford (at least based on the number of tour buses I saw departing London), but Cambridge was filled with visitors as well. It felt like a proper university town (something like Leiden, Netherlands) and I enjoyed absorbing the overall youthful vibe of the place. Unfortunately, it was also punishingly expensive, so we satisfied ourselves with a coffee at Cafe Nero and then headed back to the station and boarded one of the frequent connections to Liverpool Street Station.
The trip to Ely Cathedral ended up actually being a trip to Cambridge. The unplanned can often be the best part of any trip, even a short one.