Cambridge in 3 days

Fitzwilliam Museum (the most important art and antiquities museum in eastern England — founded 1816 with the bequest of Viscount Richard Fitzwilliam of Merrion (1745–1816), who left his art collection and £100,000 to Cambridge University): the most comprehensive university art museum in the UK after the Ashmolean in Oxford. The Egyptian collection (the most important Egyptian antiquities in eastern England: the mummies (the oldest is from the Pre-Dynastic period, c. 3500 BCE), the painted wooden coffins and sarcophagi, the Book of the Dead papyrus scrolls and the Coptic textiles). The Old Master paintings: the Titian "Tarquin and Lucretia" (1571 — the most important single painting in the Fitzwilliam), the Rubens "The Death of Hippolytus" (1611–1613), the Rembrandt "Self-Portrait" and the Van Dyck portraits. The ceramic collection (the most important ceramic collection in any British university museum: the Ming Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain, the Meissen and Sèvres porcelain and the most important collection of English delftware in any museum).

Punting on the Cam (the most important Cambridge experience — the flat-bottomed punt propelled by a pole (the "quant" — the 5m aluminium or ash pole pushed against the river bottom to propel the punt)): Scudamore's Punting Company (established 1910 — the most important punt hire company in Cambridge: the largest fleet of punts on the Cam): the punting route from the Mill Pond (below Silver Street Bridge) past the Mathematical Bridge (Queens'), Clare College Bridge, King's College Bridge and Trinity College Bridge to the Bridge of Sighs (St. John's College — the most photographed bridge in Cambridge: the enclosed stone footbridge over the Cam, built 1831, named after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice). The self-hire punt (the most traditional and the most challenging Cambridge experience: the punt pole is heavier and the river is shallower than expected — most first-time punters make the most spectacular wobbling entrance): approximately £30 per hour for the punt (seats 4–5 people). The chauffeured punt (the most informative option: a Cambridge student punts and narrates the history of the colleges for £20–25 per person per 45-minute tour).

Cambridge science history walk (the most important concentration of scientific discovery locations in the world): the Old Cavendish Laboratory (Free School Lane — the most important physics laboratory in history: at this address J.J. Thomson discovered the electron in 1897 (the most important subatomic discovery before the 20th century), Ernest Rutherford split the atom in 1919 (the first artificial nuclear transmutation in history), James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932 (the discovery that made nuclear fission possible), and Watson and Crick built their first double helix model in 1953 — the most productive single laboratory building in the history of science). The apple tree in the Trinity Fellows' Garden (the descendant of the Flower of Kent apple tree at Woolsthorpe Manor from which Newton's apple famously fell in 1666: the most important tree in the history of science — the tree that (according to the most famous anecdote in physics) inspired Newton's theory of universal gravitation). The Whipple Museum of the History of Science (the most important collection of historical scientific instruments in eastern England: astrolabes, microscopes, telescopes and mathematical instruments from the 16th to the 20th centuries).

King's College Evensong (the most beautiful choral music experience in England — free admission to the daily Evensong service): the King's College Choir (founded 1441 by Henry VI: the choir that has maintained the tradition of daily choral Evensong for 583 consecutive years — the most continuous choral tradition in any English institution): the choir of 16 choral scholars (undergraduates) and 14 boy choristers (pupils at King's College School) performs the Anglican Evensong service every Monday–Saturday at 17:30 during full term (and most Sundays at 15:30 throughout the year). The acoustic of King's College Chapel (the most beautiful acoustic in any English building: the fan-vaulted stone ceiling creates a natural reverberation time of 7.6 seconds — the most dramatic reverberation in any English chapel). The most important recordings from King's: the annual "Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" (broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Eve since 1928 — the most listened-to single radio broadcast in the history of British radio).

St. John's College (the second-largest college in Cambridge after Trinity — founded 1511 by Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII): the most architecturally varied college in Cambridge with five courts spanning 500 years of building history. The Great Gate (1516 — the most elaborate Perpendicular Gothic gateway in Cambridge: the carved heraldic panels and the statue of St. John above the entrance). The Second Court (1598–1602 — the most important Elizabethan brick court in Cambridge: the three-storey brick ranges with the shaped Dutch gables are the most important example of Flemish-influenced Elizabethan architecture in Cambridge). The New Court (1825–1831 — the most theatrical neo-Gothic building in Cambridge: the quadrangle with the central "cloister" and the ogee-pinnacled central tower nicknamed the "Wedding Cake" by Cambridge undergraduates — the most memorable single building in the St. John's complex). The Bridge of Sighs (1831 — the most photographed bridge in Cambridge: the enclosed stone footbridge named after the original in Venice, connecting Third Court to New Court over the Cam).

Cambridge Market Square (the most important market in Cambridge — the daily market (Monday to Saturday) on the Market Square (the "Market Hill") at the geographical heart of the city): the most important outdoor food and general market in Cambridgeshire (daily since 1849 — the most continuous market tradition in Cambridge). The food stalls: the fresh bread from the local Cambridge and Cambridgeshire artisan bakeries, the Cambridgeshire cheeses (the most important local cheese: the "Cambridge" cheese — a soft, white, slightly tangy fresh cheese that was the most widely sold local cheese in Victorian Cambridge), the locally grown Cambridgeshire vegetables (the "Fen" vegetables — the most productive agricultural soil in England: the Cambridgeshire Fens (the drained peat marshland of the low-lying Cambridgeshire-Norfolk border) produce the most important potato, sugar beet and celery crop in England). Great St. Mary's Church tower climb (the university church of Cambridge — the view from the tower is the most central viewpoint in Cambridge: the tower was used as the reference point from which all distances in Cambridge were officially measured).

Farewell Cambridge punting picnic (the most quintessentially Cambridge experience): hire a punt from Scudamore's Punting at the Mill Pond (self-drive: £30/hour for the punt (seats 4–5 people) + £80 deposit), load with a picnic from Fitzbillies (8 Trumpington Street — the most important bakery in Cambridge: the Chelsea buns (established as the signature product of Fitzbillies when the bakery opened in 1922) are the most celebrated single baked good in Cambridge — the oversized sticky buns glazed with the most generous quantity of sugar syrup in any English bun, flavoured with the most traditional Chelsea bun spices (currants, mixed peel, cinnamon and orange zest)). The upstream punting route to Grantchester (the "Rupert Brooke walk" — named after the Cambridge-associated poet Rupert Brooke (1887–1915) who lived at the Old Vicarage in Grantchester (the village 2km upstream from Cambridge) and wrote "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester" (1912): the poem containing the most famous line about Cambridge time — "Stands the Church clock at ten to three? / And is there honey still for tea?"): the upstream Cam from the Mill Pond through Byron's Pool (the swimming hole used by Lord Byron at Trinity) to the Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester (1.5 hours of peaceful punting through the most beautiful stretch of the upper Cam).

Farewell Cambridge dinner at Cotto (the most acclaimed independent restaurant in Cambridge — 183 East Road, Cambridge): the seasonal British tasting menu with the most important Cambridgeshire and East Anglian produce. The Fenland asparagus (the most celebrated seasonal British vegetable: the asparagus from the black Fenland soil (the most productive agricultural soil in Britain: the drained Cambridgeshire peat fen) harvested in May–June is the most prized asparagus in England). The Cambridge burnt cream (the original crème brûlée — Cambridge University's most celebrated culinary claim: the "burnt cream" was allegedly served at Trinity College in the 17th century and is claimed by Cambridge to be the original crème brûlée (the most disputed culinary origin story in English food history: France claims the crème brûlée for Francois Massialot's 1691 recipe, while Cambridge claims the Trinity burnt cream predates the French version)). The Cromer crab (from the Norfolk coast, 80km north of Cambridge: the most important seafood delicacy in East Anglia — the Cromer brown crab is the most flavourful British crab (the high iodine content of the North Sea water at Cromer gives the crab its most distinctive, most intensely marine flavour)).