Our stay had run out at the Bolt Hole, so we packed up and headed home to Newchapel, via Cambridge. We have named the sat nav, Shiela, so now we just say, "Shiela said. . . . " She did her job and took us right into the middle of town and to King's College Chapel. We had to do some back tracking to find a car park, get a ticket and then get back out onto the street, walking to our destination. We had a great walk as the sun was shining and the temperature was up to a whopping 15ºC!
Cambridge is made up of many colleges, with King's College being only one of them. The young King Henry VI laid the foundation stone for the school in 1441. Henry went to great lengths to ensure that his College, and in particular its Chapel, would be without equal in magnificence.
Wow, the place was teeming with students; all going this way and that way, bicycles swishing past you in every direction. It really was amazing we actually got there! They came at you in a flood around every corner and in the middle of the sidewalk. (We walked through this archway.)
We were hungry so we started off by looking for a place to eat. We passed up two choices and settled for the third one. Dad had tomato and red pepper soup, Sister Smith had a poached duck egg on a muffin and some kind of sauce on it. I had the roasted beetroot, pumpkin, goat's cheese salad. We all enjoyed our selections and watched students as they continued to come and go from all over. Three American girls sat at the table next to us. It was nice to hear a familiar accent.
King's College Chapel is renowned for its choral services held on Christmas Eve. The choir is made up of boys, ages 2 - 18. We listened to their concert last December and that drew us to visiting the chapel
Baptismal Font. It is in a separate room off to the side of the anti-chapel.
Anti-Chapel.
Fan vaulted ceiling
Choir Stalls
The highlight of our visit was a little girl sitting in the
choir seats, with the hymnal open, and sweetly singing. She and her parents were tourists just
like us, but her tender sincere voice filled the room with peace. All who were there stopped to hear her
sing. When she was finished, she placed the hymnal on the stand and climbed out of the stall. I noted how her parents
taught her reverence for the place she was in.
The dark oak screen which houses the organ was a gift of Henry VIII, and bears his initials and those of Anne Boleyn, his queen. This dates it between 1533, when Henry married Anne, and 1536, when he had her executed.
The 26 sets of stained glass windows took around 30 years to install.
I found a door. Notice how the step is worn down from centuries of use.
When we entered the chapel, I felt a reverence in the room. Yes, it is very large and spacious, but not cold and uninviting. This chapel is different from others of greatness we have been in, in that there are no graves in the floor and the walls are not lined with plaques or notices of the greatness of others. It did feel like it was a place of worship; a place to worship God.
From the chapel, we headed back out onto the street and wound up at the market square. There were stalls selling almost any kind of food you could think of and clothing and trinkets of every kind. One stall was a same day bicycle fix-it place. The owner had a stack of bikes and he was busy working through them.
We made our way back to the car park, paid, and headed out for home. The rest of the trip went well and we enjoyed crossing the bridge at Dartford Crossing, seeing the Thames below filled with vessels of all sizes and shapes. We let Sister Smith out, unloaded the car, and headed into town for groceries, gas, and a car wash.
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