Sunday night...late-ish

Okay I have just returned from a day in London about 30 minutes ago. It has been a weird weather day: cold and rainy when we left at 8 this morning (and the French Market wasn't yet open for breakfast), the more rain and more cold blustery weather when we got to London, then it cleared up for a bit, then got cold and rain, then sunny and quite warm for about 30 minutes, then cold and wet on and off until we got back to Oxford. It pretty much was a rehash of last summer's weather. Still it did not ruin the day at all...

We took the 8:38 train to Paddington Station, which is a journey of about 75 minutes or so. The students then got Tube passes and I used my Oyster card (a pay as you go refillable card) and we headed on the Circle line for Tower Hill Station. When we got there the lines were tremendously long, about 20-25 minutes and it was raining. I told the students I would go and check out the member services building (I bought a year's pass last July and it has paid for itself already) and the very nice lady allowed me to buy 5 student tickets there without any line. I paid with my credit card but then got the students to immediately pay me back. We headed inside and for most of the tour of the tower everything went right: we got into the Jewel House in between lines (at one point the line was probably close to an hour to get in) and saw the crown jewels in about 5 minutes. In the three hours we were there, I pretty much acted as tour guide and we saw everything there was to see except some of the live reenactments and inside the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula (where Anne Boleyn is buried) due to religious services taking place. By the time we finished the students were exhausted, but ready for more...

So onward ho! Through the pouring rain we walk back to the tube station and then travel to Westminister. When we got out right next to Big Ben, the rain stopped. But by this point, close to 2, everyone was starved. We ran into a local Tesco Express (a neighborhood version of the larger Tesco Supermarkets) and got lunches. We ate outside under a covered portico before heading to Westminster Abbey (which was also closed on a Sunday afternoon). We then wandered over to Whitehall to see the Cenotaph (the memorial to WWI dead), 10 Downing Street (the Prime Minister's residence), Whitehall Palace's only remaining part: Banqueting House, Traflagar Square, the outside of the National Gallery, then walked up Haymarket to Picadilly Circus. The students wanted to see something else that was free, so we went to the British Museum. I showed them the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and then left them to explore for an hour while I went and took a break as well as running a few errands in the area. We all met up around 4:45 and then took the tube back to King's Cross Station to find the famous Platform 9 3/4ths from the Harry Potter books. Much rejoicing from the students and much picture taking was done.

Then we went to Chinatown for dinner. It was good and simple, though I ran into the first issue of students with limited budgets (not that mine is depthless) so we had limited choices from the menu. I could have indulged myself but I decided to eat simply. We stopped by a Chinese bakery for some take away desert and then headed back to the tube to go back to Paddington Station. However we took a little diversion to Baker Street to see Sherlock Holmes alleged address at 221 B Baker St. However it was a sunday night and close to 7, so everything was closed. We got to Paddington Station about 7:20. Three of the students had open tickets, so they took a slightly earlier train back to Oxford. Myself and two others had confirmed seats on a specific train that did not leave for an hour. We sat around and talked and then got on the train for the ride back to Oxford.

Its been an exhausting two days, so tomorrow is a stay at home and rest day. Yesterday I got up early and ran around town with one of the students, Mark, the only one to make the 10:30 am meeting time. I later found out that two of the girls and one of the guys here in Oxford had staid up to like 2 am watching movies and then didn't wake up on Saturday until noon or so. Mark and I decided to explore all of Oxford, and especially wandered along the canal paths on the banks of the Thames. It was intentionally a day to get lost and though that didn't really happen, I did manage to go down lots of streets and avenues I had never seen before or new existed. It was a good chance to see parts of Oxford that existed in the central city but that I had never explored last year. We then ran to the Farmer's Market where the French Farmers were visiting from across the Channel. It was something new, they didn't have it last year at all. Anyway, I had a crepe with apples and calvados (a brandy) that did not burn off and was a fairly potent portion. It was good, but a little too alcoholic for food. After that it was more wandering of another part of the city, taking lots of pictures before calling it an afternoon around 4. I was exhausted, and we guessed from a map later that we had walked close to 5 miles or more throughout the morning.

In the evening the London group went to dinner at O'Neils, a chain restaurant that serves Irish and English food. Its not that expensive and the food is good (though services that night was slow for the two of us who ordered fish and chips.) However, after that we returned back to the college and watched movies in the Junior Common Room before I decided to call it a night around 11:30.

Anyway, I have firmly decided to stay in Oxford. I have some reading to do, its time to start laundry before everyone from Ireland returns tomorrow night. The weather is supposed to remain wet, so we shall see what happens. I will also post some pictures tomorrow once I find the cable to connect my camera to the computer.

Hope everything is going well with you folks...