We lost our internet connection last night so I wasn’t able to finish this post. But, it’s 5am and it’s back so here it is.
Last night (Thursday) after I posted the blog, we watched The Imitation Game, the story of Alan Turing and his group at Bletchley Park developing the Bombe. While the interiors were shot at a studio, many of the exterior shots were taken at Bletchley Park; we saw several shots of the mansion. It was cool to hear them talk about the different places (e.g. Hut 6) because now I know what happened at Hut 6. It’s a good movie if you ever get a chance to watch it.
Today started with a visit to the Cambridge American Military Cemetery. There are over 3800 military personnel and 30 civilians buried there. There would have been a lot more without the work done by the team at Bletchley Park as it is estimated that their intelligence shortened the war by at least 2 years. In addition to the graves, there is a wall listing the names of personnel whose remains were never found.
The cemetery is primarily for people killed in the campaign of the North Atlantic (over 3000 ships were sunk by the German U-Boats) or the air campaign over Germany.
One famous names on the wall of the missing is President Kennedy’s older brother, Joe Jr.
Here’s another name you should recognize. Big band leader Glenn Miller. They made a good movie about him too….The Glenn Miller Story with James Stewart in the title role.
We spent over an hour in the Visitor Center of the cemetery. It was very well done with lots of stuff for Peter to read.
After leaving the cemetery, we headed into the town of Cambridge but luckily found a park and ride about 10 minutes outside of town. It only cost 6 pounds round trip on the bus and parking was free. That saved me the hassle of driving into town and trying to find someplace to park. It was perfect!
One of the first things we did was go punting on the River Cam. Punting is to Cambridge as a gondola is to Venice. It was a 45-minute trip down the river and it was absolutely lovely.
Cambridge is most known for its university, which was founded in 1209 and granted a Royal Charter by Henry III in 1231. One of the most famous colleges is Trinity College founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. Some of the more famous names to have graduated from Trinity College are: King Edward VII, King George IV, Prince Charles, Isaac Newton, as well as poets Lord Byron and Lord Tennyson.
BTW. The individual colleges (there are 31 colleges in Cambridge) have nothing to do with their field of study. While some colleges tend to attract students in a particular field, the college is just where students have their accommodations and meals. Each college has it’s own library and chapel (a privately owned church). Alan Turing is a graduate of King’s College. He was the 2nd youngest fellow to ever teach there at age 27. Isaac Newton was the youngest at age 24.
We visited the famous King’s College Chapel which is the 2nd largest chapel in the world after the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City.
We took a short walk by the river where Peter walked up to one of the bridges.
On our way back to the bus, we took a few pics of King John’s College. We could have paid to go in and visit the chapel, but we were starting to get a little tired, so we settled for a few pics from the outside.
After a short ride to the hotel, we settled in for the night. We’re at a Holiday Inn just outside of town. Hilton has a property but it’s in town center and was over $300/night. The Airbnb flats were also crazy expensive so our backup was this place. Other than a spotty internet connection it’s a nice place.
Saturday we’re headed to the Essex coast for our last 3 nights before heading back to London and our flight for Edinburgh. Have a great evening everyone.