Medieval Times!! Lavenham and Cambridge

Lavenham-small town in Suffolk built in medieval times of half-timbered cottages. SO cute! They actually shot scenes for the last Harry Potter film (none of the main actors were there, but will be superimposed).

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul built in the 15th century

Cambridge-the Round Church (right)

Didn't know what punting was, but apparently it's like riding a gondola in Venice The "punts" are boats, and the punters use a pole to propel the boat (where as gondolas use an oar). It used to be how the students would get around campus. Can you imgaine that??

I think this is part of King's College-one of the colleges at the University of Cambridge

Streets of Cambridge

King's College Chapel

Punts-yes we rode one!

View from inside the Punt (of King's College from "The Backs")

Bridge of Sighs-no we aren't in Venice. Apparently it's one of four Bridge of Sighs in the world

Clair and I spent Saturday driving to Lavenham and Cambridge-and we loved both towns! It took us about 4 hours to get to Lavenham (the longest part was the 2 hours to get out of London!). Once we got there though, we saw what it was all about. The medieval timber framed houses were adorable and extremely well-maintained (I think the National Trust maintains them now). I can't believe some of them were still standing they were so crooked! We spent a few hours there, roaming around, taking photos, and eating a pub lunch. Next, we moved onto Cambridge whihc was about an hour away. Apparently there was a Cambridge United soccer game letting out right when we arrived (around 5 p.m.), so we were held up by hoards of people and some traffic. We finally found parking and made it into town around 5:30. Too bad that everything (including the college) was closed, but the town was still awesome! I can't even imagine going to school there (for many reasons). For one, although tuition is not expensive comparitively speaking (our guide said about 3,500 pounds per semester because the government pays grants to the students who make it in), it is one of the most prestigious schools in the world, so you're real problem is not affording it, but getting in. We took the punting tour around twilight which made the town even more beautiful! Apparently back in the day (I don't know which day) they created the punting system to get to classes because it was actually faster. Now it's a big tourist attraction and a great way to see the University. And apparently, hen and stag nights (bachelor and bachlorette parties) also like to start their nights out by punting on the river (they didn't require a guide so you could actually man your own punt and alcohol on the punt is not a problem). So we saw lots of drunk bachelors trying to steer their own punts, falling into the river drunk, ramming into our boats and such (the bachlorettes usually had guides). After our punt session which lasted about 45 minutes, we headed back to the car and drove back to London, getting in around 10:30 or so. Both places were added to the list of my favorite U.K. towns!