There is so much history there, and of course a huge number of colleges. I didn't realize that Cambridge was started when a few people at Oxford disagreed with the philosophies of that school and decided to split off and start their own. Cambridge now has 31 colleges, the most famous of which are probably St. John's, Kings College, Trinity and Queens' College.
The highlight of the day was taking a "punt" (or little flat bottomed boat) down the River Cam, which runs along "The Backs" (or back lawns of all the universities). There are so many stories about pranks being pulled, competition between schools, famous people attending, and how influential these schools have been throughout history. Trinity, for example, is the third largest landowner in the UK, behind the Royal Family and the forestry service. Another interesting story is that the Queen at some point, not sure which one, really liked swans so she passed a law that no one could kill swans anymore. However, she also really liked to eat a little swan on Christmas Day, so St. John's University was allowed to kill and cook one swan per year, but no one else can.
At the end of the day we watched a little of the King's College Boys Choir, which was beautiful and the chapel was amazing. It took 100 years to complete and ended up being 1/4 the originally planned size (because it took so long anyway). They forgot to tell the organ makers, though, so the organ was built to fit a church 4 times the size. They put it in anyway and now it's just really loud :) Love all the stories...
Here are some pics, but the whole set is on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelbremer/sets/72157603998747652/
Anyone who's read Harry Potter will recognize this from the King's Cross Station. Platform 9 and 3/4!!!
Ric on the main street in Cambridge
One of the Universities
Down by the docks getting ready to take a punt down the river
Our punter
The Mathematical Bridge
"The Backs"... This one is King's College and the chapel
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