Welcome to Oxford!

Earlier this year Delta advertised a great Skymiles deal to London. Our good friends Peter and Janice (we've been on many many adventures with them!) recently moved from London to Oxford, so Paul decided to take advantage of the Delta deal and go for a long weekend in Oxford.

The trip was short - I took an overnight flight on a Wednesday and came back Sunday, which only gave me about 3 days total. With the flight time to Europe (8 hours there, 9 back) I wasn't sure about such a short trip (ugh, jetlag), but it worked out really well. Would do again!

I landed at Heathrow on a Thursday morning, and took a bus direct from the airport to Oxford. It was easy and comfortable, and I saw a lot of sheep and took a little nap. Janice and Peter greeted me in Oxford, and I dropped my bag off at their apartment before heading out for the day. We started at Hinksey Park right next to their apartment, and walked towards downtown via the new Westgate mall. We had lunch at the atmospheric Vaults and Garden, a cafe/restaurant in a 1320 addition to the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

After lunch we climbed up to the top of the church, pretty much right above the restaurant. There was a great view of all of Oxford, especially the Radcliffe camera which is one of the most photographed sites in the city. Highly recommended.

The three amigos in Oxford.

A small pond in the park next to the apartment.

Janice and Peter being casual in downtown Oxford.

There are historic buildings all over the city. But the most important thing in this picture is FUNGRY.

The Vaults and Garden restaurant.

Climbing up the spiral staircase at the church. Not a lot of room for two-way traffic.

Narrow doorways up at the top.

The postcard view of the Radcliffe Camera.

Oxford is a quaint historic town.

A bunch of University-related buildings.

Old graffiti at the top of the church.

Inside the chapel.

There are family crests like this all over Oxford.

We spent some time walking around the center of Oxford, passing the "Bridge of Sighs" (which is actually similar to the Rialto Bridge in Venice, not the namesake Bridge of Sighs), and walking down a little alley for a drink at the historic Turf Tavern before visiting Blackwell's bookshop.

The bridge.

Narrow little alley.

Having a proper pint at the Turf Tavern.

Blackwell's looks small from the outside, but is a huge multi-level bookstore. This part is the basement.

Our next stop, the Bodleian Library, is one of the most famous and impressive sights in Oxford. You have to sign up for a tour, and it's worth it. The oldest part of the building is from 1487, and thousands of priceless historic books line the shelves. We also visited the adjacent history of science museum, a free museum with a variety of scientific items on display.

The outside of the library.

The ground floor. A lot of movies are filmed in this room. No pictures are allowed in the main library room.

The outside of the history of science museum. There's a unicorn!

Some of the historic objects on display in the museum.

Neat vines on a building.

After leaving the library and museum, we walked by Balliol College and decided to take a look inside. Oxford University has a number of separate colleges, many of which can be visited with a small entry fee. They typically have an atmospheric central courtyard, a Harry Potter-esque dining hall, and a chapel. Balliol was founded in 1263, and is worth a gander if you're passing by. Next we walked through the covered market in downtown Oxford, which was closing up for the day, but there was a new microbrewery (nano-pub) called Teardrop that was still open. It's run by the folks at Church Hanbrewery, and featured some beers that were a step above the typically bland beers that are served at pubs around town.

Dining hall in Balliol College.

A scene that just screams Oxford.

There were a lot of weird little guys on the walls.

Balliol College.

A typical Oxford street scene. Lots of bikes; cute little shops.

An old cemetery right in the middle of town.

A busy pedestrian street. Janice likes the old building on the left.

Some beers in the covered market.

It was a bit too cold and cloudy for boating.

Our last stop of the day was dinner and drinks along Cowley Road, which is lined with a variety of restaurants and funky shops. It's a short walk from downtown. We had a great Turkish meal at Antep kitchen followed by a pint at the Library Pub. Pro-tip: try the "turnib" juice at Antep. ;)

So much meat!

Peter with his giant delicious dinner.

The Libary Pub.

Janice and Peter in the Library pub.

After a successful but exhausting day exploring Oxford, we took a taxi home. I still had two full days to explore Oxford - coming up in the next post!

Cambridge, England - Historic City of Science and Religion

For our final day on our tour of London, we took a day trip with our friends Thomas, Alexis and Pete to Cambridge, the famous university town. It's a little over an hour's drive north of London. Because it was a sunny Saturday, everybody else in London seemed to have the same idea, and the city was packed. Still, that provided a very lively atmosphere, and the weather was fantastic (even a bit hot).

Cambridge has a lot of history. The area was populated as far back as the bronze age, and was ruled by both the Romans and the Vikings at different points in history. The city really began to develop around the year 1000, with the oldest existing building (St Benets church) completed by 1050. Cambridge University was founded in 1209, and the city continued to develop over the next few hundred years.

We were hungry when we arrived, so we started with lunch and drinks at Pint Shop. The food was good and the selection of local and regional beers was excellent. Next we toured the main attraction in town - the King's College Chapel. It was built in the 1400s, and features dramatic huge stained glass windows. The architecture is quite impressive for the time, and reminded us of a slightly less refined version of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Unfortunately the interior view was blocked a bit by renovations, but it was still impressive. After the chapel, we wandered around the core of the city, taking in the manicured scenery of the University and watching the crowds take boat rides on the river and canals. It's called "punting," and it was hard to hold in our laughter when a middle-aged man on his cell phone was walking past us on a bridge, glanced over and caught sight of the throngs of boats, and stopped mid-sentence to exclaim "I've never seen so many punts!"

The center of Cambridge, with the Saturday market.

Great beer list at the Pint Shop.

King's College Chapel.

The soaring stained glass windows in the King's College Chapel.

The University grounds. It was during exam period, so we weren't allowed to go much further than this.

The River Cam winds through town. Look at the punters!

Lounging on a lazy Saturday.

Punting on the canals.

Drinking tea the proper way! 

The full British Tea experience! It was complete with cucumber sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, and chelsea buns.

Another view of the well kempt University grounds.

The Eagle, a very popular pub where Watson and Crick announced they'd discovered the double helix structure of DNA.

The shopping streets of Cambridge.

Spring was in full bloom in Cambridge!

Beautiful brick University buildings.

A view over the Gothic and renaissance spires and towers of Cambridge.

We had a great day in Cambridge. It's a beautiful tourist-friendly town, and worth day trip from London. There are plenty of churches and university buildings to explore, but also plenty to eat and a lot of tourist-friendly shopping.