St John's College, Cambridge

After the excesses of the day before, there was only one place I wanted to be come Sunday morning and that was chillin' on the backs of St John's.

The backs is simply the name given to the green patch of grass situated in front of New Court, which has views over the River Cam.

St John's College was founded in 1511 by Lady Margret Beaufort, mother to King Henry VII. Wikipedia (yes, I'm sorry!) tells me that over the years, it has churned out nine Nobel Prize Winner, six prime ministers of various countries, three archbishops, three princes and three saints (and little old me!). But to be honest my favourite alumni is Tom Rob Smith, author of Child 44, one of my very favourite books.

St John's College was where I spent 4 exceedingly happy years as a student, and although I'm surely biased, I can't help thinking that it is the most beautiful college in Cambridge.

Being an alumni of Trinity College, M would beg to differ, but we can argue about that until the cows come home.

College was looking particularly lovely on Sunday and it was the perfect place to recover from the previous day's exertions.

Caz and I promised to find a space(!) for our picnic while the boys were sent out for provisions.

I decided to break things up by taking a wander around the college. St John's, like most colleges, is laid out in quads, with each court leading into another.

The Bridge of Sighs is one of John's most famous landmarks, and is named after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice (so called due to the sighs of prisoners being lead to their unfortunate ends). Thankfully, the Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge is far less macabre and is merely named after the sighs of students plodding off to their lectures.

There's always plenty of excellent people watching to be had including this newly wedded couple.

Providing much amusement were also some Japanese tourists who felt the need to take photos of some undergraduates 'being students'. 

Oh college, how I have missed you!