The afternoon was, for the most part, taken up with a visit to King's College.
One of the courtyards - only "fellows" of colleges are allowed to walk on the grass!
Another view of the same courtyard
The Chapel of King's College is famous for a number of reasons. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Gothic English architecture and has the largest stone fan-vaulted ceiling and has a huge amount of medieval stained-glass.
The Chapel is divided by the organ screen. This part is called the ante chapel.
The Organ has recently been rebuilt, the first time since 1932. It cost £1.42 million!
The Chapel
The lectern is actually older than the chapel!
A carving on one of the stalls
This painting from about 1616, "The Adoration of the Magi" by Reubens, is hung behind the altar of the chapel. It is a beautiful work of art.
There are ACRES of windows in the chapel. It is really quite overwhelming!
The colours in the chapel changed as the sunlight changed outside.
A carving behind one of the stalls. There is a different carving behind each one.
Holding up a pipe organ all day can be a real pain in the neck!
So that's where they got the idea for Princess Leia's hair-do!
and Professor Dumbledore!
This is a little difficult to see but you might find Jonah escaping from the mouth of the great fish.
The organ pipes almost shone in the afternoon light!
It is impossible to convey the enormity and artistry of these windows.
On leaving the Chapel, were were blessed by perfect sunlight in which to take some "classic" views of the outside of the the building together with other buildings and the environs of the River Cam.
Again, this photo does not do justice to this beautiful old beech tree. Its leaves were shining in the afternoon sun.
One of the shops near King's is the "Fudge Kitchen".
One can pay to make one's own fudge. (It sounded like something out of Tom Sawyer to me!)
This is St.Bene't's Church, the oldest building in Cambridge. Note again, the bikes - they are everywhere!
Henry VIII gazing down from one of the buildings of King's College. The king was one of the benefactors involved in building the Chapel.
In the evening we attended Evensong at both King's and St.John's Colleges. Neither service was sung by the resident choirs. In the case of King's, the choir was the sopranos and altos of the King’s Voices. The music included Lift thine eyes from Mendelssohn's Elijah, plainsong Responses, the Ely Canticles by Ben Parry and the anthem Gaudent in coelis by Richard Dering. The Organ Voluntary was Psalm Prelude Set 1 No. 3 Op. 32 No. 3 by Howells. Sadly, we couldn't stay for all of the voluntary because we had to be at St.John's for 6:30pm Evensong!
The Evensong at St.John's was sung by the St.John's Voices. The responses were by Radcliffe and Psalm 150 was sung to Stanford's chant. The canticles were Stanford in G. The Magnificat in this setting has a soaring treble solo and is nicknamed the "spinning wheel" because of the constant arpeggios in the organ part. Have a listen! As I was listening to the beautiful singing during this piece, I was remembering the times my own choir performed it and I considered just how superb the voice of our soprano soloist, Cathy Dikmans, would sound in this chapel. The anthem was Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah. I am loving being in Cambridge so much!