This summer I went on a big trip to Europe and India. We spent 3 days in Cambridge.
This summer one of the most fun things I did was going to Cambridge, my mom was there for a work trip and we decided to tag along. Most of the time we didn’t see our mom because she had to wake up really early in the morning, had to work all day, and at night she had a work dinner. Nevertheless, we had some time with her and there was one thing that she wanted to do in that time. She wanted to go punting. Punting is like going in a gondola except less romantic—and the college students that are propelling the boats with long sticks are trying to tell you some real stories mixed in with really outlandish ones (they have a competition about who can tell the most bizarre stories and get the people to believe it).
On our first day in Cambridge, we went on a tour. The tour was really good and the guide really engaged with us, there was only one problem. The problem was that my sister had cramps and was in pain. My dad got her hot chocolate and I was able to get some too but she didn’t like her’s so I got extra! Eventually, she got better but the pain was so bad she couldn’t focus for some of it. Besides worrying about her constantly I was fine, and the tour was fun; she told us some ghost stories, some history, facts about the colleges, and some traditions that her college had. For example, they have formal dinners that are lit only by candlelight, and it's really hard to see what you're eating. In the end, my family (except my mom) got to go on a special tour!
On the second day my mom had enough time to go punting, so we went in the evening. The boat was less clean than I expected but, it wasn’t dirty. We were about to get in but my mom abruptly stopped “Wait! Getting drinks and snacks is like a thing when you go punting right?” “Uh” replied the girl (who was helping us get in) “I guess, they are allowed”. We jogged all the way back to a store we saw on the way in, that sold drinks and food, my parents got wine and spicy chips while Jiya (my sister) and I got coke and sea salt chips. We jogged all the way back and got in the boat led by a college student, sadly he didn’t go to Cambridge University so he didn’t know about the tradition of telling bizarre stories. What was worse was that we could see other guides telling outlandish stories. Even so, punting was really fun and we enjoyed it.
On the second day, we also went on a ghost tour, my dad was reluctant to go but both, I and my sister wanted to go. The tour wasn’t as good as I expected because we had already done a Cambridge tour which was very good. This tour was a ghost tour, and I expected it to be better. It started out with being late; why? because they forgot about us! Then, we waited a little bit longer and our guide came. Next, she told us some stories and another version of a story we had already heard. Finally, it was over and she told us some stories at a graveyard, she also told us that one of the weird things at Cambridge is that people like living next to graveyards. One of the things I didn’t like was that she didn’t really engage with us, unlike the other guide. Some of the good things that came out of the tour were that we were the only ones in the tour since it was last minute and the ghost stories were good (not even a bad tour can do ghost stories wrong).
On the last day, we went to a surprise my dad had told us about on the first day which was a big mistake because Jiya hates surprises, and the whole trip she was asking about it nonstop. On the way there I was shaking with anticipation but, Jiya on the other hand had heard my dad whisper it to our taxi driver and was gloating “I know where we’re going” and “I know what the surprise is”. Finally, we arrived but, I didn’t see the front of the shop and it was only when I was inside did I say “Woah. It’s a Harry Potter shop! Woah it's so detailed and realistic.” I looked around the store and said “woah” many more times because it was very detailed and realistic; there were moving statues and cool toys. I chose a relatively expensive realistic Slytherin necklace Horcrucx for my birthday while Jiya got lots of small things like chocolate frogs and butterbeer. Overall, the trip was really fun and I enjoyed Cambridge a lot, I would definitely recommend going there.
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