Punting - Leave it to the Pros...

(Can I just start by saying that I am writing this as I bake my first batch of cookies here in the UK! Can't believe it has taken over a week for me to find a way to get some chocolate chip cookie dough up in here! Nothing says "Welcome to Kelsey's kitchen!" like a batch of instant mix Bettie Crocker goodies.) Anyway, last night, we decided it was time to go punting. The weather has gotten a lot colder and rainier lately, so we thought we should squeeze in some time for punting the Cam before it was unbearable. Matt and I met Chad at his residence, and here are a couple pictures of things we saw on the way to our punt.

Coolest crackled door I've ever seen. Probably going to frame this one at some point when I have a black and white portrait wall worthy of Pinterest.

Power line setup that appears really hazardous to me.

Funniest sign I've seen here. I love how sophisticated they make the phrase "Pick up your dog's poop" by saying "No Fouling." Do the droppings really steam like that or did the sign's maker just add those squiggly lines for artistic effect?

Pretty flowers at a pub near the river. I thought the colors were just so happy against the gray brick.

And now for the real focal point of this entry: the punting photos! We got to the dock where you rent your punt. I was under the impression that we were hiring someone to do the work for us while we just sat back and enjoyed the ride down the river. Oh no, Matt and Chad chose to do a self-hire. I still thought that meant that we were just showing up, with ourselves, to hire someone. Boy, was I wrong. They give you the boat and the metal pole, take your credit card as insurance against you never coming back with their stuff, and send you on your way with absolutely no instruction whatsoever!

Being afraid to make fools of ourselves right off the bat, Matt and I made Chad be the driver first. Please note, Chad is actually standing on the back of the punt and pulling the boat along in that direction. In other words, we were going totally backwards. It's supposed to work like a gondola, where the driver stands in the back and pushes the boat with everyone facing forward.

At this point, Matt was driving. We were still doing it completely backwards. And then, this adorable duck came swimming really quickly towards the boat. I stuck my hand out, expecting him to run away like most shy duckies do. Apparently, he was not shy and was quite accustomed to eating out of punters' hands. So he came right up to my fingers, but when he found out that my fingers were not holding food, he swam away.

In about 25 minutes we had only made it about 3 bridges down the river with the boys driving, so I took over. Crazy engineers. After initially being frightened of falling off, I took my place on the back of the punt, and turned it around. Not to toot my own horn, but I got that thing moving pretty well. My arms are sore today because of it! So I got us a few more bridges down the river and turned us around to head back to the dock.

But enough pictures of us, here are some of the gorgeous views from our sunset punting adventure:

This is Mathematical Bridge connecting to the back side of Queen's College, which is the College to which Chad belongs. Legend has it that it was designed by Isaac Newton and built without the use of any nuts or bolts. Sadly, this is but a legend. It is just a unique bridge.

Not sure which college this is, but it looked like it would be the location of Pride and Prejudice. The river is practically still, so there were many beautiful reflections of the buildings in water.

This is the definitive sight of Cambridge University - King's College Chapel. We got to this point on the river as the sun was splashing gorgeous light on it. There were brilliant clouds from the earlier rain showers that just added to the breathtaking-ness. We are going to take my nice camera back here to get some really good shots on another day, but we were afraid I'd drop it in the river, so these were taken by our Kodak point-and-shoot.

King's again. To get an idea of its scale, you can see the little tiny door in the bottom center under the big window. That's actually a huge door. Probably like 15 feet tall. It's an impressive building and dwarfs most of the rest of the city's buildings.

This picture has people in it, so you may be able to get some more perspective. There is a cluster of people who look like a black blob on the bottom right between the two buildings. There were all wearing their Harry Potter robes; I assume they had just finished formal dinner or something.

These last two pictures are my favorite...something about the colors and the reflections. I don't know. I'll let them speak for themselves.

To sum up, punting was probably my favorite Cambridge memory so far. It's kind of uncommon to be able to say you have done it. It's one of the ultimate experiences for when you come here. Kind of cheesy, but you have to do. You just have to.

Today's adventure was going to Ely (pronounced "eel-ly" not "ee-lie") and visiting the cathedral there. It is one of the seven medieval wonders of the world. Pretty cool. We took a great free guided tour. I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Goodnight!