There are so many places in the UK I haven't been and Ben and I have been saying for ages that we'll go awayfor a weekend this summer - Wales, the Lake District or trekking - so we finally decided to go to Cambridge for the weekend. We booked the Harvest View B&B just outside of the city for 2 nights and drive there after work on Friday. It was 27 degrees, we put the lid down on the car and we were there in just over an hour. It was such a beautiful evening, clear skies and sun shining on us. We did a quick turn around at the B&B then got a taxi into town to the Cambridge Chop House, recommended by Ben's work pal Gary. The food was delicious, we both had huge steaks and couldn't finish them! The next morning we had breakfast at the b&b and then got the park and ride into the city. It was a beautiful day again and boiling hot so we went straight to the punting station and booked tickets for a guided tour (got us student discount thanks to my very low cut top!) Whilst we waited we got a famous Chelsea bun from Fitzbillies recommended by Fran which was delicious. The tour took us along the River Cam behind the main colleges - we saw Dt Johns, Kingsland,, Trinity and Queens. Cambridge Uni was founded in 1209 and there are 31 colleges. It's so beautiful, there are willow trees overhanging the river and the banks are perfectly manicured. Our punter told us about the history of the colleges, the Bridge of Sighs and stories about the students. When we got off we walked from Cambridge to Grantchester along the riverside which is 2.5 miles and took 45 mins. Its really pretty and there were lots of ppl swimming, kayaking and punting in the River. We had lunch in the beer garden of the Red Lion in Grantchester (another recommendation from Gary) and then walked back the same way. We were lucky to be visiting whilst the Cambridge Shakespeare festival was taking place so we bought tickets for that night to watch A Midsummer Nights Dream in the Kings College Gardens. We took an M&S picnic and drinks and sat in the gardens watching the play - it was so good! And totally different to anything we usually do!
On Sunday we checked out and briefly visited the Cambridge American Cemetery where 3,812 US soldiers who died in WWII are buried. It's a sea of white crosses, it was very thought provoking. After that we drove back to London and were home by lunchtime. Ben's been trying to convince me that climbing Kilimanjaro is going to be our next trip - I wanna do it but I'm concerned about the cost and doing it so soon (he wants to go in October!) Need to research it ASAP! x