London Day 3 – Mathematical genius and Ii

Aug 18, 2018 – Day 3

We left early from Vidya’s place to go to Piyank’s house in Hornchurch, East London. The tube ride was about an hour and ten minutes and we experienced two firsts on this tube ride – a dog on the tube train and a near empty tube train. Things that are unimaginable in India :).

We were meeting Piyank after nearly 18 years… but it felt like we had been meeting more frequently. We have always been in touch so maybe we didn’t realise that we hadn’t met more often. We met Tua, his wife and his utterly adorable daughter Raisha for the first time. I have become a fan of Raisha … she plays the Cello, she keeps her dad Piyank in line and helps her mom with the chores! I don’t know many 9 year olds who do all this. We had a wonderful breakfast and then started out towards Cambridge. I wanted to visit the Trinity college where Ramanujam, the Mathematics genius had come. I didn’t know that Newton’s apple tree was also in Cambridge.

The 1.5 hours drive to Cambridge was a breeze and the beautiful countryside was an added attraction.

[/caption]We also found this interesting car being taken for repairs …. don’t know who the donkey is, though.

We parked near the YMCA and started walking towards the colleges in Cambridge. Came across interesting stuff during our walk – a Raven and a cycling meter.

We walked and walked and walked as we lost our way several times and finally managed to find the first college, Emmanuel’s college which allowed us to enter free of cost. What an awesome campus – stunning building and a pretty pond that had ducks and carp…A collage of pictures of the Emmanuel college.

From this place we went to Trinity college … from the rear entrance because the front entrance had a queue.

The massive grounds of the Trinity college … so pretty. From here we went in search of the Mathematical bridge – because am soooooo into Maths ! You can see the students of Trinity and other colleges “punting” on the river.

From the Mathematical bridge we went in search of Piyank’s Round Church and found it near yet another college. A very old and very pretty church.

Raisha was hungry enough to force Piyank into taking her to the McDonald’s near the market place. For Krishnan and me – we picked up a veg burger at a local Greek restaurant. After our meal we walked back to the car through beautiful streets, like the one in the picture below –

On the way we found the interesting pendulum clock with a metal locust on top of it.

From Cambridge we drove to the American war memorial for the 5000+ soldiers who died in WW2.

Entered just a few minutes before it was close time and managed to click a few pictures.

From here we drove to Ely to see the magnificent and massive cathedral. The stained glass windows and the dome are spellbinding as was the evening service that we caught for a few minutes. The choir sang beautifully.

After the cathedral the search for the Maltings riverfront started and after many wrong turns, just when we decided we are giving up on the search, we found it.

Sat at the riverfront enjoying our snacks that Piyank and Tua had thoughtfully packed. Reached back home by 9.30 and Krishnan and I just crashed. We were probably asleep even before our heads hit the pillow.

Yet another lovely day !