Aram on Mason

Saturday was a recovery day, I finally got a full eight hours of sleep, and it felt good.

After all that sleeping though, it was straight into a walking tour of the colleges of Cambridge.

We started off with our own chapel here at Cat’s.

Then heading towards King’s College

We then went to St. John’s, where we saw the apple tree that was planted under Newton’s window.

The tour continued through St. John’s

Passing by the new Library,

Over the Bridge of Sighs

And we ended the tour, going out the Backs

The walking tour and entrance to St. John’s which we organized independently of the Summer School program was only a mere 6 pounds and well worth it. You can find the rest of the photos here.

As we were leaving, we saw people setting up on the cricket green for a Shakespeare performance. From the beginning to the end of our stay, by lucky coincidence, there is a Shakespeare festival here at Cambridge. Four plays, each performed on the green, each at a different College. Those of us from Mason decided to pack a picnic and head over to the performance of The Taming of the Shrew at St John’s. We stopped over at Marks and Spencer to pick up some very tasty, and fairly inexpensive picnic supplies. We got vegetables, cheeses, sandwiches, wine, crackers, and some other things. We got to the garden quite early (10 pounds admission with student discount) and set up right up front, with only one thin line of people separating us from the actors on a beautiful day. The performance went right up into the evening, with lights coming own as the sun went down. The play performance was hilarious, very traditional, and very well done.

I found it heartening to see such an excellent performance. It makes me feel better to know that all this deep and extensive reading that I’m doing is worthwhile. I always wondered why, despite all the other plays we do at Mason, we don’t really do Shakespeare, it seems a shame.