Wonderful day in Cambridge

Seemed like we hit the trifecta yesterday in Cambridge. We woke up in Silas' room (two houses down from one that J.M. Keynes once occupied, according to a plaque), and after breakfast he went off for some strenuous weightlifting while we strolled up the Cam. Passing through a couple of miles of beautiful river meadow we came to the village of Grantchester and the Orchard Tea House. The poet Rupert Brooke once lived here in rural splendor, paddling his canoe to Cambridge when necessary, and entertaining a group of close, argumentative friends who included Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, the aforementioned Keynes, Wittgenstein, and Bertrand Russell. They liked to go on 20 mile walks and hung out at the teahouse, which served and serves tea and scones and other light food from a rustic shack to tables set under the apple trees. It hasn't changed much since the Great War. We sat in the canvas chairs and soaked in the sunshine.

Silas joined us there and we had lunch, then walked back to Cambridge, bought a bottle of wine, and went punting on the Cam. Silas' college has its own boats, and to procure them we had to walk through several college courts--all closed and invoking silence because of exams. The river was lovely and I must say that for atmosphere and beauty it would be very hard to match Cambridge.

Then we docked our boat and hurried to King's College. You may know that the college choir is quite famous--I grew up listening to their records--and we intended to hear them sing evensong. Instead we found ourselves in a Requiem mass for King Henry VI, the founder of the college. It was a lovely service in an extraordinary building, and we were very close to the altar over which hangs Ruben's portrait of the baby Jesus introduced to the magi. The music was astonishing, absolutely the best choral music I have ever heard or ever dreamed of hearing. We came away stunned.

It was an unplanned day that worked out in a leisurely fashion, but what a time we had! I'll never forget it.