Full and energized, I ventured out in the cold. Lots of people are either rushing to work or to classes. From what I understand, today is the last day of term for the University students. It took me about 10-15mins to walk to the town centre but half way through I had to stop to put on my knee guard as my knee is starting to hurt. Gosh, I wonder how I am going to survive my 3 months traveling if this knee pain doesn't go away. I stopped at the post office to mail my postcards before I heading to the market square behind the Guildhall. All the stall owners are putting up their produce and stocks ready for the day's sale. I was taking the photos of the market with the St. Mary's Church as my background when a few kids saw me and voluntarily posed for my photo. Seeing the sky is not as cloudy this morning, I thought of going to the King's College again to shoot some photos but unfortunately the college is closed to public today. Phew, lucky that I've already visited the college yesterday.
Walking down the King's Parade, I first arrived at the Gonville & Caius College and wandered into the college courtyard. This is the fourth-oldest college at the University of Cambridge and the third-wealthiest. The College has been attended by many students who have gone on to significant accomplishment, including twelve Nobel Prize winners. It is also one of the most traditional colleges of Cambridge and one of the few remaining colleges which enforces attendance of its students at communal dinners, known as 'Hall'. I was very attracted to the architectural and landscape layout of the college, a sense of sophistication, old yet elegant, with rows of trees at the middle passageway. I could almost imagine myself walking around the college in the college gowns with stacks of books in the hand discussing and debating with my fellow classmates. The back courtyard are where the professors' room are located. Each doors was labeled with alphabets and below it is a plate with several professor's name. Hence I think the few doors we see from the outside are just the communal entrances to the separate professors' room inside.
Next down the road is Trinity College. To enter, you need to pay an entrance fee of ￡3. Since the Wren library, the chapel and the Halls are not open until noon, I decided to come back later. Right next to the Trinity College is the St John's College where again you need to pay ￡3 to enter. I saw the Round Church right at the end of the road hence I decided to go over to take some photos. The Round Church / the Holy Sepulchre, is a beautiful Norman architecture and the second oldest building in Cambridge. It was built around 1130, inspired by the original church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There are only 3 other round churches in the UK. I didn't enter the church but just admire it from the garden bench outside. 
After a short rest, I went back to the St John's College. The ticket booth at the main entrance is manned by an elderly guy. I stood in front of the booth ready with money in my hand to pay the admission fee. However he was so focused in his newspaper reading that he didn't noticed me standing in front of him, until I decided to greet him. He was a little startled with my presence and jumps right up on to his feet. I almost felt guilty to have 'scared' him that way although I was very sure that I greeted him with a very gentle and soft voice. He handed me a brochure introducing the college and also the proposed college's walking map after I paid the money. From the map, it is obvious that the whole college area is very huge. Unfortunately visitors are only allowed to a small portion of the college and there are route signs marking the trail. In the brochure, detail information regarding each section of the college marked in the visitor's route is given, highlighting the important features and also some background stories. Following the trail, I am supposed to enter the college chapel via a closed big wooden door. I pushed but the door didn't budge a tiny bit. I tried a second time, no movement. I stood there and studied the door's mechanism and was very sure that it opens pushing in. Then I saw the ring knob on the door, I lifted it up, gave it a turn, and with a slight push forward, the door opens. Laughing at my own stupidity of complicating simple things, I entered the chapel which was constructed between 1866-9 in order to replace the smaller, medieval chapel which dated back to the 13th-century. 
After the chapel, I wandered through another few courtyards before finally coming out to the River Cam. From here there is a very good view of the Bridge of Sighs to the north. To the west and south, is the New Court and the St. John's and Trinity College's 'Backs', the name traditionally given to the lawns and gardens of the Colleges to the west of the river. It is really a beautiful place, green fields with a sand trail alongside the river. Slowly strolling along the trail, bit by bit, I fell in love with this place. I ventured to the backs of Trinity College and had a little rest while looking on to the punters along River Cam. From there I made my way out to the city centre again, and visited some artsy independent stores along Green lane and Cresent lane. 
The Trinity College was founded by King Henry VIII in 1546, out of 2 earlier colleges (the King’s Hall and Michaelhouse) and some smaller hostels. I entered Trinity College around 1.45pm, the elderly guy at the ticket booth told me to go to the Wren library first before it is closed at 2pm. Taking his advice, I hurried over the huge courtyard to the back where the library is situated with only 10mins to spare. I went into the library and the elderly lady in charge told me to switch off my handphone and hurry up as I do not have much time left. The library is located on the first floor instead of the ground floor as a precaution method. Should there be flood, then those valuable books will not be damaged. Upon entering the library, I immediately understood why this is necessary. Manuscripts and early printed books are kept here in the Wren library. All these ancient books are too valuable and needed the extra care. Sir Isaac Newton’s manuscripts are kept here too. The library is lavishly decorated by limewood carving by Grinling Gibbons and furnished with a notble series of marble busts by Roubiliac of members of the college. The library is not very big but there is separated into several smaller compartments. Each section has a table at the centre so the scholars can do their researches there, so basically it is like a small office. 
After the library, I traced back my footsteps to the Great Court of Trinity College. Among the former occupants of the Great Court is Sir Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727), who lived in rooms in the first floor between the Great Gate and the Chapel. In what was once his garden, between the cobbles and the Chapel, is an apple tree descended from one at his home at Woolsthorpe in Linconshire, and planted in 1954. Next to the chapel is the King Edward’s Tower (a clock tower). The clock on the tower chimes the hours twice over. Entering the chapel, I noticed there is an orchestra band in practice. Hence I only took a quick peek inside and left although I must say the music played by the band and the sound effect coming out from the chapel is superb. Near the centre of the Great Court is the fountain. Until recently, its water is supplied by a spring a mile and a half to the west of the College. Taking the stones steps up to the Screens, I came upon the kitchen at the left and also the Hall to the right. The Halls is used daily for meals and also contains the portraits of several notable members of the college. Inside the Halls are 3 very long tables and the students sits side by side to have their meals. It is very much like what we’ve seen the dining experience in the Harry Potter movie. The tour again only showed a small portion of the college to the tourist. 
I left the College and walked along the 'Backs' again until I reached the Silver Street, the starting and ending point of the Scudomore's punt tours. There are quite a lot of tourists waiting in line to hire the punts. Some opted to try punting themselves while others opted for the easier way to have a leisure boat tour down River Cam and hire someone else to do it. There are quite many tourists opting to try their own hands on punting hence creating a mess with the traffic. The punts collided with each other and were stuck for a while before they struggled and freed their punts. No doubt it is quite a hard work but I guess its all part of the fun. Walking towards town, I passed by the Queens College but unfortunately it is closed to visitor. At the other back alley, I saw the bicycle shop where you can have the huge rattan basket attached to your bicycle. Further down is the Pembroke College which is open for visitor. I went in for a look to find what I believed is the student hostels at the back court. After that I went to visit the Fitzwilliam Museum where lots of art collections from around the world are exhibited. Then I walked backed to my hostel and heated up my ready meal I bought from the Co-op store. Back in the room, I packed up my stuff ready for early travel tomorrow morning.
Here are the photos for Cambridge
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