Yesterday I went to Oxford with Alyse and Rick (a couple friends I met in London). We had a bit of an adventure getting to the train station in the morning. We were leaving before the first bus took off from the student village so we had to get a cab. Apparently the cabs don’t run before 7:00 am in the morning. We were trying to get one to pick us up at 6:45 but they weren’t open to call and request one. Our train didn’t leave until 7:25 anyway so we had plenty of time to get there, but it was a little frustrating for 7 am! Once we got on the train we had an almost three hour ride to Didcot Parkway so we had a great opportunity to nap! Once we got there we had a short delay before heading to Oxford.
When we got to Oxford we started our walk toward Christ Church Cathedral. On the way there we actually ran into the Oxford castle. We weren’t planning on going to the castle because we had seen so many castles but we wandered over that direction and took a few pictures anyway.
After wandering around the castle a little bit we continued on our journey to the cathedral. We didn’t know for sure if we wanted to pay to go in because we are all trying to save up money for spring break, but we decided it was worth it. I am glad we paid to go in. The cathedral is part of the Oxford campus and is beautiful! We got to wander inside the inner walls of the grounds and go into the cathedral. It was very cool because we were actually able to take pictures inside. Many places don’t let you take pictures inside, so I was excited that I was finally going to be able to show everyone what the inside of a cathedral looked like! The architecture in this cathedral is very similar to the architecture of many of the cathedrals we have seen. It wasn’t quite as impressive as some but it can give you a good idea of what I’ve been getting to see! After taking what felt like hundreds of pictures we left the cathedral.
Next we wanted to do a little shopping for Oxford shirts. My flat mate, Megan, wanted an Oxford University T-shirt and while we were shopping for her and Alyse we found some really great deals. I ended up getting an Oxford University sweatshirt for very cheap! When we were done shopping we were starving! We found this little shop that was selling slices of pizza for a pound so we took advantage of how cheap they were. It wasn’t the best pizza I had ever had but you can’t complain when it is only one pound!
After lunch we went to wander around the city a bit more. We were walking towards The University church of St. Mary the Virgin when we came up on this little market that was selling all sorts of things. We went in and walked around a bit. There was a chocolate shop called Chocology that has some amazing looking things, but they were pretty spendy so I refrained from buying them. We decided we would come back later and get a couple cookies from this little cookie shop. They looked amazing!
We walked about a block and a half farther and were at St. Marys. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the cathedral but it was free to go in and look around so we did that. There was a small band warming up for a practice in the church so we got a little bit of serenading as we walked around. The architecture in this church was very plain, but it was still very beautiful. It also had a red ceiling which was kind of weird considering how plain the rest of the church was. We didn’t spend much time in there because there weren’t many people there looking around.
The view walking out of the church was of the Radcliffe Camera. It is this big round building that is also part of Oxford University. We think it is like a library/study area, but we couldn’t go in so we don’t know what was in there! The architecture in this area was beautiful! We decided that if we went to school there none of us would get anything done because we would all be looking up at the ceiling and all the buildings around the city! No wonder their have such brilliant minds there! If they can keep from getting distracted by the architecture they should be able to do some pretty amazing things! Hehe
Next we saw the library for Oxford University. It too was beautiful and it had its own gift shop which I found pretty entertaining. I think I would be annoyed if I had that many tourists around me while trying to get some work done!
Right around the corner from the library was the famous Bridge of Sighs. This bridge goes over the road in by the library and was modeled on the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Right down a little alley by the Bridge of sighs is a famous pub called the Turf Tavern. It is known as one of the best pubs in Oxford which is interesting because you have to go down this very narrow path to get to it. I have no idea how they get their food and drink products back there!
After walking back to the little pub we decided it was time for those cookies we had seen on the way there. We decided to take a different street on the way back to get a few more views before we had to leave. We walked by a protest on the way back. They were protesting doing testing on animals. We just walked to the other side of the street!
The cookies we had were amazing! They were just like chocolate chip cookies except they had chocolate wafers in them instead of chocolate chips! It had been too long since I have had a real cookie so it was great to have one! We walked around the market a bit more. There was an impressive cake decorating place where you could watch them work so we did that for a bit and a fun little kitchen store we checked out. Then we walked around the corner and saw a bunch of dead animals hung up outside a butcher shop. Some of them were skinned but others were just hanging there fur and all. It caught me off guard, but I had to take pictures because I felt my brothers would appreciate it!
When we were done we went to the city center to check out the shopping. They had a couple different stores there than they do in Swansea so we did a little shopping. I got two new dresses for 19 pounds! Talk about bargain shopping! There was also a sports store that we went to because I have been wanting a rugby ball since it’s my new favorite sport. We found a rugby ball with the six nations on it for 4 pounds! I couldn’t pass that one up! I think the trip might have been worth it just for that!
After shopping we decided it was time to head back. We hopped on the train and three hours later we were back. We made a quick stop at Tesco because I was about out of milk and then headed back to the village. I checked the weather for Bath for today and realized that it was supposed to rain al day! Everything to see in Bath is outside so we called off the trip. I am glad we did because it is currently down pouring. That would have been a miserable trip!
One of my flat mates had a couple friends that she grew up with staying for the weekend so we took them out on the town. There weren’t many people out so it was kind of a slow night but we had fun with it!
Today has been a lazy day so far. We haven’t done daylight savings yet, because the UK does it in a few weeks instead. It will be nice to only be 5 hours different for a while instead of 6! Anyway that is all for now! Next weekend I am going to Dublin so I’m sure I will have a lot to write about that!