Johannesburg to Cambridge UK: 17-18 July 2000

Johannesburg/JNB🇿🇦 to London/LHR🇬🇧: 16/17 July 2000
Speedbird #BA54 B747-436 (G-BYGC) boarding at Gate 21 Terminal A
Club World/Upper Deck - 11 hrs non-stop service by an amazing crew*💕👌
Early morning flight path over Central London, nice view of the London Eye, Houses of Parliament on the banks of River Thames, Fulham SW6 (my hub visiting family) and Putney Bridge, as we headed west to Heathrow on our final approach to Rwy 27L and spotted a parked Concord at T4 before a perfect touchdown and taxied to the gate at Terminal 4.
G-BYGC delivered to British Airways in 1990, withdrawn from service in 2020 in iconic BOAC retro livery, stored at Cardiff and scrapped in 2023*😭
After clearing immigration and customs, made quick nip into Central London by Underground ‘tube’ for few hours, 1day/6 zones Travel Card for only £7:50 Pounds, before returning to catch 'National Express' coach🚌 service from Heathrow Terminal 3 to Cambridge via Stansted Airport to attend two conferences at St John’s College.
Cambridge: 18th July 2000
Five-minute stroll from El Shaddai Guest House at 41 Warkworth Street takes you past Corn Exchange, Great St Mary's Church, King’s College Chapel along Trinity Street to Trinity College ending at St John’s College, venue of 10-day long AACA/BACA and ASGBI Anatomy Meetings (17-27 July 2000). Ever grateful to Pauline Droy for her warm hospitality throughout at this quiet family-run non-smoking bed B&B with free wi-fi, small self-catering kitchen and full English Breakfast out of this world.
St John's College with four towers at each corner spans the River Cam opposite Old School of Divinity. Diagonally across St John’s Street is ‘All Saints’ Garden currently a public courtyard where Art and Craft Market is held; in the middle is the memorial cross designed by Basil Champneys in 1882 and tucked behind All Saints Passage is the Little Tea Room.
St John's College, founded in 1511 from the estate of Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, is one of the largest of the 31 colleges of University of Cambridge, boasting of plush beautiful grounds, excellent accommodation, and an inspiring place of learning to visit.
The Main Gate on St John's Street is beautifully painted and decorated with the arms of the Tudor matriarch; just beyond it is the First Court bounded on the right by the Gothic Chapel designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott with beautiful stained glass and magnificent wooden roof, housing a memorial statue of William Wilberforce. Next to it is the dining hall with portraits of all the Masters over the years.
Second Court was built from 1598 to 1602; the Shrewsbury Tower in the west range is a mirror image of the Main Gate. A niche above the archway bears the statue and arms of Mary Talbot, the Countess of Shrewsbury, who contributed to its cost.
The oriel window over the arch in the north range has a roundel of stained glass showing the French princess Henrietta Maria, whose engagement to future King Charles I was signed behind it in the Long Gallery in 1624 by King James I and envoys from King of France. It was added to the original Master's Lodge during the building of the Second Court, before its segmentation into the Combination Room where D-day landings were planned in the 1940s. The doorway beneath the north-east turret led to the Lodge. Second Court is also houses 'triple set' K6 student accommodation.
The Third Court, setting for May Balls every yea,r leads to the iconic 'Bridge of Sighs' modeled on its Venetian namesake in Italy across the Cam to the New Court. Parallel to it is the attractive 'Wren Bridge' aka 'Kitchen Bridge' so named because when the New Court was completed in 1825, food was still prepared in the old court kitchens and then transported across the bridge, the only Cambridge College to have two bridges.
Took a walk around the beautiful college grounds across the Backs of Trinity and Clare Colleges all the way to King’s College, and seeing people punting boats on the Cam was just amazing*🎓💕