Punting on the Cam

This weekend I went to Cambridge, England and enjoyed the kind hospitality of Cathedral parishioner Ann Nichols. She had arranged housing for me at the rectory of the local parish, Our Lady and the English Martyrs. The priests there were very welcoming and I had an enjoyable time.

I took the Eurostar from Brussels to London. It went under the English Channel in what is called the "Chunnel." We had a brief delay due to an electrical problem in the tunnel but even with that we made it in around 2 1/2 hours. That actually saves time considering getting to an airport and then into the city. This takes one from downtown station to downtown station in 2 hours.

I arrived at my hotel and then set out for the evening. I took a long walk to Leister Square where there is a half price ticket booth. I hoped to get a ticket to see Penelope Keith in "The Importance of being Earnest." Those of you who enjoy the British comedies which are shown on PBS may have seen Penelope Keith in "The Good Life" or "To the Manor Born." So it was neat to see her live. They did not have tickets for that show so I went to the box office and was able to get in. It was wonderful. A great play and terrific actors.

On Saturday morning I got up and went back to the station to get my train for Cambridge. I arrived a little early and had breakfast at the station - at Burger King! I find it interesting to see how each country interprets what we have in the states. The breakfast croissant had "Cumberland Sausage" on it rather than the type of sausage patty we have here. It was very tasty.

On arriving in Cambridge, Ann met the train and we spent most of Saturday touring around the various Colleges. Some were founded in the Middle Ages and others at a later date but all have very fine reputations and many have interesting libraries and chapels. Because it was Saturday the libraries were not open. However, we did see a couple chapels and admired the windows, art and history of the buildings.

The picture above is of the "Cam," the river which runs through Cambridge. You might be able to make out a small boat in the river. This is a "punt." It is a flat bottomed boat which is propelled by a long stick which is set on the bottom of the river and the boat is pushed forward. It looks easy to see some of the more experienced punters do it. But we saw a few punts that were in trouble, and one punter who was asking with a great deal of frustration in his voice, "Where can I get rid of this thing?"



In the evening, we attended Evensong at King's College. This is the chapel. Sung Evensong at King's College is world famous for the quality of the choir of men and boys. Both the sung music and the organ music were magnificent. Evensong consists of responses, psalms, canticles, hymns and an anthem. The anthem was a piece for soprano and chorus by Felix Mendelssohn, "Hear My Prayer." The chanting of the psalms was also very impressive. Of course, the beauty of the church, and the candle light in which we sat contributed to the beautiful experience.

On Sunday, we went to Ely Cathedral to look around and were able to be a part of Evensong there as well. The contrasts were interesting. King's was more polished and Ely probably more typical of what one would find in a parish. Both were equally enjoyable.

On Monday I made my way home. Due to the terrific winds which brought down a power line on the rail line, all trains from Cambridge to the London station I wanted to get to were cancelled. Finally, the took us on buses to another station down the line, put us on trains and got us where we needed to go. I was able to catch an earlier train home. I am glad that the Eurostar is available. The high winds certainly would have affected any boat crossing of the Channel.

Over the course of next weekend, two of our sabbaticals will be leaving. Mandy and Sr. Elizabeth, both from Australia will be completing their time with us and going on to other endeavors. We will miss them both. The pictures are from our farewell dinner on Monday evening. Mandy and Elizabeth are in the picture with Fr. Kevin Lenehan who has been the graduate priest serving as our mentor. The other picture shows our entire group at the restaurant.