International Congress of Odonatology 2017 accompanying persons
The International Congress of Odonatology 2017 (ICO2017) will be held in the Gillespie Centre at Clare College Cambridge from 16 to 20 July 2017.
Registration will be on Saturday 15 July.
Accompanying persons programme
Cambridge is a mediaeval city, most places are within easy walking distance. It is also a living city, not a ‘Disneyland’ tourist attraction. Cambridge offers a diversity of activities for accompanying persons. We will arrange information and some activities (people are likely to want to be at least semi-independent). We suggest you ‘smorgasbord’ and mix up the various offerings. You will not be able to do more than 1/4 of the potential sites in a week (or even two).
Here are some ideas …
Punting on the River Cam/Cambridge bus tour (half day each)
Clare College will make available its punting dock.
You are strongly advised to hire a punt with operator … the river will be busy AND finding yourself some short distance from your punt, still with pole in hand, is only funny in the movies.
Museums:
*Zoology museum, Sedgwick museum (fossils), Whipple museum (history of science), Anthropology museum, Fitzwilliam museum (cultural things), Polar museum.
All are free, generally open 10:00 – 17:00 (and each is worth 2 to 3 hours as a casual visit).
Botanic Garden.
*Market Square and Speciality shops
Bookshops (both current and antiquarian)
*Walk along the Cam riverbank
College visits
walking tour including ‘The Eagle’
*Chapels and churches
*Also Kings College Chapel for sung evensong service (but we are there out of term … )
*historical places
Teashops
*The Chop House (sitting downstairs) – fantastic food and very novel (also a great wine shop very close by – few doors down).
*Fitzbillies for brunch or afternoon coffee and cake
*La Raza (tucked down a side street with only a door as it’ s in the basement close to market square) for tapas
are recommended – but there are many, many other places … details in the Congress information pack
evening
… punting
… selected pubs
*Corn exchange. Theatre in the city centre … there is always something going on there: https://www.cambridgelivetrust.co.uk/cornex
*Shakespeare outdoor summer festival
From 10th – 29th of July the following four plays will be offered:
Much Ado About Nothing – King’s College
Hamlet – St John’s College
All’s Well That Ends Well – Downing College
Antony and Cleopatra – Robinson College
Further information (tickets, times, venues) is available at http://www.cambridgeshakespeare.com/
*Cambridge summer music festival
Bat safari (punting) tours: http://www.scudamores.com/bat-safari-punting
Ghost tours … http://cambridgeghosttours.com/
for families
The following website lists activities around in and around Cambridge that are family friendly: http://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/things-to-do-family/cambridge/historical-and-educational-attractions
day trips
Ely Cathedral/Riverside walk on the Great Ouse (and lunch)/Oliver Cromwell’s house… the mid congress tour will spend an hour in Ely for lunch
Duxford (IWM aircraft)
Mid Congress Tour £40 (=$US60) (Wicken Fen, Ely (lunch), Woodwalton Fen)
London is about an hour away, there are approximately 100 trains each way each day.
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The congress logo is a stylised Anax imperator male to represent Philip Corbet’s pioneering work on seasonal regulation in this species. Philip’s Ph.D research was carried out in the Zoology Department at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Vincent Wigglesworth, the renowned insect physiologist. Philip was his only ever ecology student.