Sidney Sussex

Despite the fact that I have been ill all week, Hanna and I took the trip into Cambridge. We were feeling house-bound and all I had to do was drive, then stand around taking pictures.  It was warm and sunny and I really enjoyed it, though I'm ready for bed again and its only 6.30 pm.

On another visit to Cambridge, I told you that Oliver Cromwell attended Sidney Sussex College, but I always find the place closed to visitors. Today it was open so I popped in and took a couple of snaps. It's a shame I didn't have more time to look around because the buildings and gardens look fascinating.

The College was opened in Queen Elizabeth 1st's time, when we were at war with Catholic Spain, and it's named after the Elizabethan Poet, Sir Philip Sidney, Earl of Sussex. It was his aunt who founded the college to be a strictly Protestant school, so you can see why Cromwell went there.

It was built over the medieval Grey Friars Priory, so of course it has ghosts, but dozens of skeletons were removed during building works in the 1950s.

I've photographed the Chapel from Green Street before, but its better up close. I thought the Master's House was interesting but I now see that I missed out on the cloisters which are older and would have taken me a only a few minutes to get to. Never mind; I'll be back.

I seem to take the same pictures of the market every time I visit, but you never know what will turn up. I snapped this couple eating fast food outside a Thai restaurant in Green Street. The wooden figures looked a bit put out, but the diners didn't give a jot!