Despite good intentions we set off on our journey to Cambridge later than intended. This meant we had to break for lunch on the motorway. The services in that part of the world are limited so we opted for a sandwich in Greggs.

We arrived at the hotel at 13.30 to find that our room was already available so we unloaded the car and put our cases in the room before heading into the centre of Cambridge. The  champagne that we had ordered to be in our room on arrival, with a view to us enjoying drinking it before we went to dinner, was not there. We thought perhaps it was a little early and that it would be there when we returned from our afternoon in the city centre.

We walked across the Jesus Lock footbridge and through Jesus Green to the centre which was heaving with people who obscured the buildings and architecture as they rushed around. The atmosphere was warm and vibrant but I was struggling for photographic inspiration. We visited two excellent bookshops, one of which was the Cambridge University Press. Both had extensive Religion/Theology sections and I ended up buying a book from each. We stopped off at a cafe for a drink and a naughty cake before returning to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.

Back in our room we found that the champagne had still not arrived. Mr C called reception who were a bit bemused leading him to take the booking confirmation that showed the pre-order. They were still bemused and advised that he would have to pay extra and would we like Prosecco. Mr C advised that ‘No! we would not like Prosecco as we had paid for champagne’. The hotel receptionist could not get through to the bar but eventually the champagne arrived and was left in its bucket with two glasses to the side. The tray was taken away… As an aside the champagne, although pleasant, was not as good as the Prosecco we had enjoyed in Ravello.

We found dinner in the hotel to be average and the service a little chaotic. We ordered an aperitif after being asked if we would like one. We waited and waited, eventually it turned up just a couple of minutes before the starter arrived, with wine arriving just a few minutes later. “Would we like to try the wine?” “Ermmm… No! we would like to drink the aperitif first!” The plates for the starter were cleared and then there was a long delay before the main course arrived. When it was time to order dessert we ordered profiteroles to share. The waitress advised that it was small to which I said, “how small,” the waitress replied “OK”, and walked off…

Once we had finished our dinner we retired to the bar area where we encountered some very strange characters including a man wearing high red ladies boots and carrying a red handbag. He left with a lady who had a deep manlike voice who I had overheard bemoaning her circumstances to the bar tender. I only heard snatches of the conversation but her circumstances  seemed quite odd!

When we returned to our room we found that, due to the removal of the tray, condensation from the champagne bucket had flowed all over the dressing table…

Weekend diaries coming soon…