Journeys for Knowledge

Now that my back is finally healed, it seemed like a good day to have an outing in town. Of course the weather is a fickle mistress and has other plans, so I had to wait until 10:30 for a sunny gap within a rain storm to explore. Today’s destination was the Cambridge University Botanical Gardens, which were highly recommended online, even above the Royal Botanical Garden in London. It also doesn’t hurt that as a student of Cambridge I get free admission.

The walk to the garden took me by a familiar road, Queen’s Road which follows the backs of King’s and Queens College. Once in the garden the first tree that caught my eye was an apple tree descended from the tree Isaac Newton sat under as he formulated his theory of gravity. Sadly there were no apples today, but it also was not a good day to be sitting under trees right after heavy rain. The best thing about this garden, and the reason I will return again, is that you are permitted to a certain extent to walk on the grass and really interact with the plants, as opposed to simply looking at them. Instead of sticking to the paths I simply wandered around and explored about half of the garden, stumbling across one amazing plant after another.

The one tree that stood out the most, even above the apple tree, was the Japanese Maple (more specifically the Osakazuki variant). While many trees were turning red because of autumn, this tree was so radiant and striking compared to its neighbors it was hard to ignore. I later realized this tree was a highlight of the garden this time of year, and rightly so. After walking through a few more rows of flowers I decided to leave and get lunch before the rain returned.

Lunch was at a local noodle shop, which made Asian noodle dishes of all sorts. This time I ordered Thai food because I missed the Thai food that was always so easy to find to Berkeley. In fact I miss the ethnic food in general in Berkeley. I know Cambridge has some decent ethnic food, and London more so, but neither place is as easily accessible or reasonably priced as Berkeley was. I realize now I was spoiled for the rest of my life, and perhaps that’s why I feel so strongly that I need to return to the Bay Area after these years abroad.

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