Cambridge
Rain dropped from the sky as I ran towards the eaves of Trinity College. Getting up at 6 AM only to discover mats of dark clouds covering the sky. Bad weather is not good for an amateur photographer. Yet as I wandered the street of Cambridge without observing through a camera, the grey walls resonating with the dark sky appealed to me mysteriously.
Standing in the heart of Cambridge on a rainy July morning was surprisingly lonely. Without college students in a hurry running across the street, without gentlemen in suits walking under hooked umbrellas, dim sunlight cast my blurry reflection on the rain-drizzled stone pavement. The street in grey seemed surprisingly quiet. Even as I paced towards the Trinity Chapel, all that I could hear apart from the rain was my shoe clicking against the pebbles on the road.
The Trinity Chapel was completely empty inside. As I walked across the scratchless marble hallway, the statue of Sir Isaac Newton pulled me towards it with inevitable gravity. Stopping in front of the statue and looking up its face, it suddenly struck me that Sir Newton must have stood in the same position as I did then, staring at his own face. It seemed impossible for me to predict how had the same mind that deduced the existence of gravity thought of a stony miniature of himself.
Immersed in my spiritual connection to Newton through space and time and wandering aimlessly in the streets, my stomach screamed for breakfast. After hastily stuffing the half-wet tourist map back into my backpack, I headed towards a coffee shop near Corpus Christi College. On my way there, I found myself passing the famous grasshopper clock of Cambridge. It seemed almost hilarious at the first glance as the big black insect jumped slowly on top of a turning wheel. Yet after I stopped to take a closer look, I grew to appreciate the golden-foil on the concentric circles, the semi-transparent wings of the grasshopper, and the nautilus-shaped escapement pendulum. When I bent over to examine the novel mechanical design, I suddenly realized being a stranger. Once a while, locals would pass by with indifference, sometimes casting me a curious look that was reserved for “outsiders”. For that, I quickly moved away from the clock before looking awkward.
I stepped into the coffee shop exactly when the hour hand on my watch hit the 8 o’clock mark. After ordering a hot cup of Cappuccino and a small smoked salmon sandwich, I found a seat near the window. Despite how many jokes I had made about Brits talking about the weather, it still sounded funny when actual British people started conversations right next to me. Judging by their topics, their British gentlemen figures collapsed terribly despite their deep blue suits.
Although my shoes were soaked wet in the boat, sailing in the River Cam in light rain is more fun than I thought. Without direct sunlight, the King’s College was completely covered in grey, looking more handsome than ever. Passing through the Bridge of Sighs, I sat in silence watching raindrops falling one by one into the river. In my eyes, at that very moment, the rain restored Cambridge’s former glory.
Added: 2020