Back with another London entry after a long hiatus as I updated this space with more recent events. Majority of the london pics were in my iPhone and I didn't have time to transfer the pictures over to my laptop for posting. So, when I wanted to update my OS (still on OS4) + transfer pics over, my phone encountered a problem & all my apps were gone *boohoo* Thankfully, the pics were still intact *I almost wanted to cry!* and now I'm back with another entry :)
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The last day of the conference, where everyone had hangover as the party lasted till 4am. Despite the fact, we were all seated in the conference room for the last session promptly at 9am. For the last session, we will be divided into random groups and each team will be assigned a task. All of us were dreading for this session, as it was supposedly the killer session and given the current mental/health condition, it was quite unlikely that we'll be able to think clearly.
Our
"anticipation" turned into a surprise when Richard announced the last
session is cancelled, lol! The roars of hooray that ran through the room
was astonishing! We have time for ourselves till the coach arrived @
late noon to pick us up back to central London. We all headed out for a
tour around Cambridge :)
Stepping out into the "cold" for our trip around town. Even though the sun was shinning upon us, the chilly wind kept blowing and that made me shivered quite a bit.
Since John aka Crispy used to stay in Cambridge during his collage days, he became the defacto tour guide to bring us around the area. Looked how pro he is with his ipad. Once the group has gathered, off we went!
Where should we head to first?
Cambridge is most widely known as the home of the University of Cambridge, consistently ranked one of the top five universities in the world. Walking on the roadside makes me feel that I'm breathing "intellectual" air into my body, lol!
King's College, founded by Henry VI, lies on the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the center of the city. This college is the 4th oldest college in England, with a distinguished reputation in humanities, law, sciences and social sciences including international affairs.
Today, Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology center known as Silicon Fen, a play of words on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the city. Its economic strengths lie in industries such as software and bioscience. Many start-up companies having been spun out of the university. In fact, over 40% of the workforce have a higher education qualification. I will definitely be on the lookout of bumping into the next Bill Gates/Steve Jobs if I had the chance to stay here longer.
We had a quick tour of Trinity College, which was founded by Henry VIII in 1546 as part of the University of Cambridge. The above is known as the Great Gate, which is the main entrance to the college, leading to the Great Court. The statue of college founder stands in a niche above the doorway.
Trinity is one of Cambridge University's three royal colleges, along with King's & St John's. 31 Nobel prizes were also presented to members of Trinity, the highest number of any college. In fact, Prince Charles was a student of this college and obtained his Bachelor of Arts Degree here.
Snippets of wild flowers along the way. Don't they look pretty?
Crispy briefing the "tour group" on the layout of Cambridge, using the 3D map that was placed just across the street from King's College. Since the maps are 3D, they can be felt as well as looked at (they use braille on the map), so the blind can use them too.
I would love a scope of ice-cream, but the weather was just too cold to bear!
We stopped in front of the Tailors, where the students will buy their uniforms or sports attire. Reminded me of Dragon Alley (in Harry Potter movies), where Hogwarts' students shop for their school supplies.
Checking for information on his ipad.
In case you think this is the butcher's, you're wrong, haha! The Cambridge Chop House is a restaurant that served traditional British food. It is located in the heart of the city, a stone throw away from King's College Chapel and the Arts Theatre.
At the exact spot where I was standing, an important announcement was made almost 60 years ago. On this spot on 28th Feb 1953 in the Eagle Pub, Francis Crick & James Watson made the first public announcement of the discovery of DNA, with the words "We have discovered the secret of life". Throughout their early partnership, Watson & Crick dined in this room on 6 days every week.
We headed to another pub and Elliott made a discovery!
Old school jackpot machine, lol! He was thrilled & played a few games on it.
Came upon Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant, where it was founded in Oxford 4 years ago and has since grown to more than 30 restaurants worldwide. I hope they come to Singapore soon, lol!
We headed back to the hotel, walking through the residential area.
Heading towards the restaurant for our lunch.
All aboard the coach & heading back to central London.
Following our "Crispy" guide across town. His ginger head really stood out & we always teased him about being Ron Weasley, lol!
Bicycles dominated the roads, as it was a convenient way of getting across the small town. In fact, I hardly see any traffic lights here.
with Katri, one of the AMs from London office. A lovely and pretty girl :)
We ventured into one of the living quarters of the students, akin to our campus hall life in Singapore.
Just had to snap this random weed that was growing on the walls. This was taken straight off my iphone.
Only in a town filled with scholars will there be a Science Festival. This festival showcases fun & the leading edge in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, making it interactive for the audiences.
Came across the market, where you can find fresh produces ranging from vegetables to fruits to meat.
The tour took about 1 hour. Though it was short, but I felt refreshed by the time we headed back to the hotel. It was certainly an eye-opener for a city gal to visit the countryside, walking along the streets & learning about the town through our guide.
Heading towards the restaurant for our lunch.
As usual, lunch was yummy. The chef even baked a birthday cake for us, as we were celebrating our 25th anniversary. Richard (the big boss), together with a couple of the longest-serving staffs to cut the cake.
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