Oxford

So I went to Oxford today. Lucky for me I chose the coldest day ever to walk around outside all day. Go me. Needless to say, my first stop was a coffee place to regain feeling in my hands.

Most of the colleges were closed, and there weren't many tourists around, so things were remarkably quiet while walking through the non-shopping streets checking things out. I don't really know what was what, but I did see quite a good number of colleges. This included a trip to the top of a church tower by the little round building by the library, of which I took numerous photos that are on picasa. Now, for 2 pounds (student rate, I'm afraid), you can climb up the scariest stairs ever, but you get a fantastic view of the city. Of course, it's also the narrowest walkway ever and near impossible to get by anyone, but still worth it. Once again, you should check out the photos.

Having run out of colleges to see by 1, I was forced to walk around the shopping bits of town. The stores were the same as in Southampton, so it was not particularly exciting, except for this little covered market bit. It had quite an interesting assortment of local businesses, a good portion of which seemed to sell meat. This included a butcher shop with what was probably hundreds of fake dead chickens hanging outside of it (sorry, no photo). After running out of shopping, I went to the Ashmolean Museum to kill some more time (plus it was free). Unless desparate to pass some time, I don't really recommend the place, as it's just sort of a lesser version of stuff they have at the London museums, only with a bunch of rather talkative French middle school students following you around.

Upon departure it was still only 2:30, so I wandered around a bit more. Found a few more interesting bits, and then finally headed back the train station. On the way I came across the special Oxford canal, which is by one of the rivers, and took some pretty photos, including the one above.

I got to the train station around 3:30. The trains that go to Southampton leave at a quarter past every hour, so I bought a magazine and was prepared to wait 45 minutes for the next one. Lucky (or so I thought) for me, the 3:15 didn't show up until 3:50, so I managed to get on that one. Unlucky for me, its string of bad luck continued and we were at a standstill for 45 minutes between Oxford and Reading behind a broken down freight train. Lucky for me, handguns are illegal in this country, because otherwise I would have been extremely weary of the guy across the aisle shaking his head continuously and muttering obscenities under his breath. Basically it took over two hours for an hour and 15 minute train. But they had a really long list of excuses, and that's the most important thing.