On Saturday I took a trip up to Oxford to visit my good friend Kath from back home. I’d been meaning to visit her since I got here as she’s come down to visit me twice now, so I thought this weekend was as good as any. There are several ways of getting to Oxford but by far, the best I know of is the series of buses called the Oxford Tube. In almost all ways, the Oxford Tube is much better than anything that the London Public Transport department has to offer. The double-decker buses that come almost every ten minutes operate 24 hours and are fully air-conditioned, outfitted with reclining and very comfortable seats and a toilet to boot. The buses have three pick up and drop off points in London city (one very conveniently a ten minute walk from me at Notting Hill Gate) taking about one and a half hours to get to the high street in Oxford city.
Despite the prediction of gloomy and drizzly weather, we were spoilt with almost clear blue skies for most of day and got to see Oxford when it was most spectacular. There is an open topped tour bus that takes you around to all of the different sights to see, but because we had Kath as our own little tour guide, we got to see it from a completely different and most probably much better angle.
Unlike the universities we have back home or in the United States, Oxford is laid out as if the entire city is the campus. Students must be affiliated with a college that is really more an association that anything (only the freshers or first year students tend to stay on campus) and are strewn between the cafes, pubs and stores of the city. The actual University buildings are a little bit further out but things are within a decent walking distance made even shorter by a bike or bus ride. Every college is extremely private with visitors not generally welcomed and the grounds kept pristine at all times. We had a good laugh at the story that Kath told us of the beautifully green grass that college members had “grass privileges” for in the summer time allowing them to sit on it, or play croquet only between the times of 11 and 1. Having said that I suppose there were very good reasons it was as green and lush as it was.
The town itself is beautiful filled with many historic and well maintained buildings linked together by a series of cobblestone paths. We saw many sights including Carfax Tower (the best aerial view of Oxford), Christ Church (one of the largest colleges surrounded by stunning gardens and rivers full of rowers and punters), the Radcliffe Square and Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian Library (that stocks all of the published articles and journals in the world), and the Bridge of Sighs (a model of the famous Ponte de Sospiri in Venice). All the buildings are intricately detailed with stunning stone work and heads of people, dragons and gargoyles adorning the outside.
We had a great lunch at the pub, Far from the Madding Crowds, and indulged in the whole café, market and book culture (the amazingly huge Blackwell’s). It was a great day thanks to Kath and we headed back completely tired and content.
Last week I organised a picnic with a large group of great people to visit Hampstead Heath yesterday. These huge parklands lie on London’s north side and contain large parts of untouched English greenery, the most I have seen since being here. London was even kind enough to lay on a beautifully warm day, despite the weatherman’s forecast for weekend showers. Everyone brought a lot of different food and the spread turned out so big that we could not even finish it all. We played a bit of football (soccer for all those back home), frisbee and Michelle even had a go at flying her kite. It was a fantastic day for what seems like one of the last sunny days I might see for a while. Thanks to Ben, Michelle, Karl, Caroline, Megan, Mel, (the other) Ben, Paul and Nathan for tagging along and making it so good.