Cambridge Market

After a good nights sleep we made our way across the courtyard to the breakfast room. The food options were extensive and the quality of the breakfast was fine but the service was disorganised.  We were given the cooked breakfast menu to peruse and the waiter came back very quickly by which time Mr C was away from the table looking at the buffet table. The waiter asked me if we would like to order off the cooked menu. I said that we hadn’t decided yet and he said he would come back in a few minutes. He didn’t. We had to flag someone else down to take order. When the waiter came back he struggled with our order because he did not have pen and paper to write it down. He had to come back to double check the order, by which time Mr C was back at the buffet table using the toast machine. Luckily I had been attentive when Mr C made his order and was able to correct the mistakes of the waiter. Eventually our breakfasts arrived correctly as ordered.

A couple was seated on the table next to us and they ordered tea and coffee which was delivered. They then went to to the cold buffet table to choose some breakfast options but whilst they were away their tea and coffee along with the cups and plates were cleared from the table and they had to re-order!

After breakfast we embarked on a walking tour around Cambridge taking in many points of interest. The morning air was rather cool and Mr C had forgotten to pack warm coat so he got rather chilly. We called into John Lewis to see if he could find a suitable fleece or jumper. Whilst there we had morning coffee, the service was exceedingly slow… We ventured further into the shopping centre looking for somewhere else that might sell a suitable garment. Whilst Mr C was pondering, I looked up and noticed the perfect shop for a warm garment; ‘The North Face’. After a bit of searching Mr C was able to find a suitable fleece for his requirements. Whilst walking around the city we encountered several demonstrations including one about the Catalonian situation and another by the Anonymous group of political activists.

Fitzbillies

We then made our way to Fitzbillies for lunch. Fitzbillies makes the ultimate chelsea bun (to a secret recipe). The queue was as long as my guidebook said it would be so we took the advice and ordered a takeaway to enjoy on the river bank.

Ultimate Chelsea Bun

Just as we had finished enjoying the tasty delight, Mr C exclaimed ‘Oh No!”.  I thought a bit of stickiness from the bun had landed on his trousers but it was even worse. A bird had flown over and sent him a sticky message. What a good job he had finished eating the tasty delight before the bird decided to drop by.

Punting on the River Cam

King's College Chapel

We continued our walk along the river pausing to watch punters on the river Cam before making our way to King’s College Chapel. The chapel is stunning and despite the number of visitors, it was peaceful. On the way back to the hotel, we returned to John Lewis to pick up a couple of items we had noticed earlier in the day, taking in another slow refreshment break. Back at the hotel we weren’t really surprised to find yesterday’s empty champagne bottle and bucket still in the room.

We had chosen to dine in a pub that was close to our hotel. The food was good, honest, home cooked pub food. Whilst we were dining the pub, filled up with students arriving for a pub quiz. The atmosphere was vibrant and full of life;however we decided to move to the pub next door before the quiz got into full flow. There were some colourful characters in the new pub, including a rather aggressive man who made me feel quite uncomfortable. He was arguing with the friends that he came in with. He left coming back some time later with a takeaway that he ate in a pub that serves food!

Next a buzz of students entered the bar, boys and girls in pairs with their middle legs tied together, buying shots and G&T’s whilst giggling with laughter as they squeezed themselves into an impossibly small corner of the bar before taking selfies with each other as they were leaving for their next pub.

Arundel Hotel

16 Comments CherryPie on Nov 14th 2017

16 Responses to “Cambridge – Day Two”

  1. Ayush says:

    enjoyed your narrative as usual, CP. i can imagine it might start to get mildly annoying if morning tea/coffee gets messed around with. sorry to hear Mr C was a subject of target practise.

  2. lisl says:

    I suppose it could have landed on Mr C’s new fleece, Cherie! Your hotel certainly didn’t improve with Day 2!

  3. Ginnie says:

    I declare, Cherry. You do have stories to tell! :D

  4. Mark in Mayenne says:

    Ah, Fitzbillies Chelsea buns. Legendary and rightly so. Yum!

  5. Just got back from Malaysia yesterday!
    Had such a lovely time home :)

    It’s been a long time since I visited Cambridge.

  6. Alan says:

    You’ve convinced to visit Cambridge at some point but not to stay at the Arundel Hotel :)

    • CherryPie says:

      Cambridge is well worth a visit. The only thing to watch out for is parking is difficult in the centre so you either need a hotel with a car park or park & ride. Although in your case cycling into the centre ;-)

  7. The Yum List says:

    Another spot I’m yet to visit. Thanks for the closer look :-)

  8. shabana says:

    lovely experience except slow service my friend!

    it sounds like all the big city hotels have same attitude for their service as sometime it feels they don’t care due much expected visitors .

    funny yet unpleasant incident with couple next to you .
    i too love eating outdoors but see how dramatic it could be if a naughty bird passes by

    • CherryPie says:

      I am not fond of city hotels and this one was a typical city hotel. If we return we will try something different.

      I love eating outside, especially on my patio at home during the summer months. There were not many suitable days this year but when we could we were always visited by a pigeon sitting at the bottom of the eves of the house sipping water that had collected in the gutter. This was directly above my head, he alway flicked water onto me and had his rear end hovering over my head. We used to tell him to move away. I wouldn’t have minded so much if it was his head that I could see peeking over the guttering.