We visited Cambridge last week (Tuesday to Thursday) and had a lovely time pottering about all the colleges and chapels and things. I was delighted to discover that someone had renewed the traditional graffito on the lamp-post in the middle of Parker's Piece - it just says "reality checkpoint". This text has appeared on that lamp-post on and off since at least 1990; probably earlier. It's a pretty weird-looking lampost, with intertwined cast-iron fishes and other ornate decorations.
We went in Peterhouse Chapel, which has an atmosphere you could cut with a knife (not unpleasant, but palpable); also paid the obligatory visit to King's College Chapel (Nick hadn't been in it before) which is a monument to the Tudor ego. There is a tiny bit of stained glass in King's Chapel with a representation of a Pagan hero and heroine, which I've always thought was pretty cool.
We also visited the Round Church, built by the Templars, which is how, as a child, I always imagined early Christian architecture to be. It is loosely based on the Holy Sepulchre church in Jerusalem, so maybe I wasn't far off.
While Nick was at his work meeting, I did a bit of shopping in the Libra-Aries bookshop on Mill Road, bought the book of V for Vendetta in Borders, and then went to the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which was excellent.
Later on we met up with the people from the Libra-Aries bookshop, and also an old friend of mine who knows loads of stuff about the history of the occult and socialism, so we had a fascinating conversation.
2 comments:
That Templar architecture is always interesting - I'm lucky enough to have Rosslyn Chapel only a few miles outside Edinburgh, although it is probably full of Dan Brown fans these days.
Look forward to seeing what you make of V For Vendetta - presume it was the original graphic novel and not the novelisation of the movie you bought?
It was indeed the original graphic novel. Enjoyed it a lot. I know a few people who read the book and then saw the film, and hated it. I personally think the film was very true to the book in spirit (if not down to the last detail) but films are always more visual than books - and I thought the changes were valid.
I also hope that everyone who sees it or reads it will get the message - that it's us who let our freedoms slip away, and we who can reclaim them.
I've been to Rosslyn Chapel (a long time ago), it was excellent.
We also visited the Whipple Museum in Cambridge (a museum of scientific instruments) which I love.
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