Dan and Keiths Visit to Cambridge

I had the pleasure of entertaining my good friends Dan and Keith on 2009-04-04.

Well, they arrived the night before and left the next morning, but truth be told, on those days they didn't see much that hasn't been written about before in this blog.  Saturday was the main attraction. We are very grateful to our heavenly Father for the superb day He gave us. This is what we did on that day.

We started off by climbing the Chapel tower at about 11am.  The small entrance, narrow staircase and spectacular view can all be seen in the photos.  Then we got brunch (all day greasy breakfast) and the buttery which fortified us for the rest of the day.  

We then tried our hands at punting. This was great fun and I feel that I am starting to get the hang of it.  Dan and Keith tried their hand at it too and quickly found some decent form for a first go. I must say, punting is really great and I should do it more often.

After punting we decided to make the best of the great weather and walk to Granchester.  This is a small town about 2 miles South of Cambridge.  The walk is mostly along the river and the scenery along the way is particularly splendid.  Our goal was to have afternoon tea at the Orchards. This is a bit of a tradition when visiting Granchester from Cambridge.  The website will explain why, but suffice to say, who were we to stand in the way of tradition? It was great. All of the confectionery was very tempting but I settled on the traditional scone with strawberry jam and clotted cream, washed down with some hand pressed lemonade.   You eat and drink your purchases on deck chairs in an orchard which is quite beautiful and very relaxing.  The walk back was quite picturesque with the sun casting long shadows over the meadows.

After a short rest and a change of clothes we attended a performance of Handel's Messiah in King's Chapel:

Performers:

Choir of King's College, Cambridge Academy of Ancient Music Ailish Tynan, soprano Alice Coote, mezzo soprano Allan Clayton, tenor Matthew Rose, bass baritone Stephen Cleobury, conductor

Although we were too late and too poor to get sighted seats we still got £5 unsighted seats for the 3 and a bit hour long performance.  An interesting point is that after the intermission we got promoted to sit in the Kings' members only section of the chapel which, while still unsighted, was far more grandiose and comfortable.   The music was sublime and it is essentially sung scripture, it was quite a blessing.

We were quite exhausted after all these activities and crashed pretty soon after that.

That's all folks...

Here is a selection of Keith's photos.

Here are mine.