#fitzbillies bakery | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

withabackpackandcamera · 5 months

Text

August 21st, 2023

Day 6: To Cambridge We Go!

Arrived early to King's Cross Station for our train ride to Cambridge. Tried to wait in line for a photo op with Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4 but the line was WAY too long.

Our first stop in Cambridge as we meandered our way into town was Fitzbillies, a bakery chain, where we stopped to buy quick breakfast pastries to try. Of course, we had to try their "famous" Chelsea Buns. Not bad. Not sure why they're so famous though.

Walked around Cambridge town and the University of Cambridge and took in the spectacular architecture all around town and campus. Got a glimpse into some of the colleges at the University of Cambridge: King's College, Trinity College, St. Catharine's College, Corpus Christi College, etc.

After strolling around the campus for a bit, we went back to Fitzbillies for an affordable Afternoon Tea experience. It was OK. You definitely pay for what you get.

Afternoon Tea was followed by punting on the River Cam via the punting company Let's Go Punting with our young tour guide Joe. A fun experience of sitting on a boat and touring the the University of Cambridge by river. Very relaxing as well to sit and not walk around. All-in-all, a great experience!

With a couple of hours until our scheduled train ride back, we continued our exploration of Cambridge and stopped by and walked into a couple of colleges (Emmanuel College and Downing College) on the way out (since they were open to visitors walking through). Nice to see what each individual college looked like from the inside of its campus walls.

Sat around and hung out at Parker's Piece Park before heading back to the train station for the ride home.

Once we were back in London, Cynthia, Minh, and I walked to the Carnaby area in SoHo for dinner at Mother Mash since we wanted to try some pies. Cynthia and I shared the Steak and Blackheart Stout Pie with Champ Mash and Farmers Gravy and the Chicken and Bacon Pie with Sweet Potato Mash and Onion Gravy. Yum! Of course, we had to finish it off with an Apple Crumble Pie with Ice Cream.

After a post-dinner stroll through SoHo, we concluded the busy day with a disrupted train ride (where our rail line was closed indefinitely after an incident). So, we had to walk a bit between a couple of train stops before taking the bus all the way back home. On our walk, we met and chatted with a nice girl from Argentina named Julietta on the way back.

5 Things I Learned/Observed Today:

So, Platform 9 3/4. Interestingly enough, it looks like that area is actually controlled and maybe owned by the Harry Potter movie studios and/or company. And they are really trying to monetize the area and make it profitable. When people visit the platform, man do they spend a lot of time there. And it's partially because there is a photographer and assistant there to help dramatize your photos (especially with the swaying scarf lol). And of course, a little store next door to sell HP gifts.

There are 31 colleges at the University of Cambridge. Some of these 31 colleges were added over time, with the last college, Robinson College, added in 1977. The way the college system works is similar to what the house system was in Harry Potter. Simply put, it's a glorified dormitory ecosystem. Where people can live and hangout with each other.

The University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in the UK and was founded in 1209 as a result of some murder. The university has 13k undergrads and 7.5k grads. Supposedly, Oxford is harder to get into than Cambridge... But Stanford is harder to get into than all of them. :) Go Card!

Supposedly, Trinity College is flashiest, most expensive, and most-endowed of Cambridge's colleges. Trinity College has cranked out more Nobel Prize winners than all of Oxford's colleges combined. Trinity College is the 4th largest land owner in the UK. Famous people who were a part of Trinity College who are still alive and well-known in today's society: the current King Charles (who supposedly wasn't the sharpest tool in the tool shed in school lol) and Eddie Redmayne. Another famous figure in Cambridge's history is Stephen Hawking, who completed his graduate studies at Cambridge.

The bridges built over the River Cam that you float under on the punting tour have all sorts of stories and histories behind them. Punting is definitely a must-do for tourists in the area.

#withabackpackandcamera #huyphan8990 #travelblog #travel #blog #Cambridge #London #UniversityofCambridge #England #UnitedKingdom #Europe #Summer #August #2023 #punting #college #afternoontea #siteseeing #HarryPotter

1 note · View note

whatsrebeccauptotoday · 6 years

Photo

WOW Cambridge is pretty. I’ll hand it to ‘em--they deserve the hype. Starting off with a BRILLIANT brunch at this famous bakery/restaurant called “Fitzbillies” (which is funny because the area is called “Fitzwilliam”) the day just was an absolute success. We then wandered around the city and just took pictures and enjoyed the snow, which was so incredibly picturesque. We stopped in a few museums to warm up and look around (one of which had that hilarious relic called “rat god” of a tiny rat playing the saxophone-looking instrument which KILLED my friends and me). We then walked around some more (and I bought my very British dress--thanks mom and dad!) and ended up going to a local pub for fish and chips, a pint, and Trivial Pursuit, because they had a bunch of games there. The cards were literally from the 80s, though, so there were several questions about the USSR and the Berlin Wall (one answer was literally “West Germany”) so that was a riot. Overall just a great day and exactly what I needed.

Currently writing this as I sip some tea at the British Library and get some work done (this is my study break). Gotta say, London is pretty great.

0 notes