It started rather early in the morning. Nekol and I made our way to Paddington Rail Station where we caught a 7:58 to Oxford. Now, this didn't occur without some slight issues. My reference number wasn't exactly readable because one of the letters looked like an "e" or an incomplete cursive "8." Well, it couldn't have been either because I used both of them several times and still failed to get my tickets from the ticket machine. Fantastic, I know. So I walked across the station to queue up and get my tickets from a man behind a glass. Yay for wasting time.
Of course, we had connecting trains so Nekol and I ended up with about six tickets each. It was quite lovely sitting on our train, before it left, discussing which tickets could possibly be the ones we needed. Then the conductor's voice came over the PA system and we heard the train was going to Slough, Reading and Oxford. Nekol and I looked at each other...
Nekol: "Is it cheaper because we have to get off the train just to get back on again?"
Dre: "Yeah, we saved money by making people feel warmer while we stand out in the cold..."
We decided we would try and stay on, I mean, there is no stop between Reading and Oxford so the worst they could do was kick us off at Oxford since that was our end destination anyways. The conductor came by to check our tickets though before our stop at Reading and said our tickets were fine to Oxford before continuing on. The conductor was cute, tall with dark hair, pale skin, and a nice outfit.
Dre: "Cute conductor says we can stay."
Nekol: "Then we stay."
Soon we reached our destination to Oxford at 9:30 where it is absolutely freezing cold. Honestly, I'm not being a pansy about this, it was down in the 30's when we stepped off the train. A feeling neither of us had been expecting. So we rushed into the terminal to check out where we needed to go before walking to our first location: Christ Church College.
Oxford is a relatively small town that is centered around the various buildings of Oxford University. Don't fool yourselves into thinking Oxford University is one or four buildings...it's about 50. So we made sure we picked Christ Church College before heading down.
Whenever we get there, it's about 9:45. We step onto the campus of Christ Church and are stopped dead in our tracks. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. Our breathes are taken away from us and I feel as if I'm about to cry. I'm standing on the same ground that Alice Liddell and Charles Dodgeson (Lewis Carroll) lived. It was a dream come true.
Christ Church College
Unfortunately, the Dining Hall wasn't open to the public until 10:30. It was apparently closed for Breakfast for the campus. Nekol and I decided we would grab a coffee then so as to wait for the town to officially wake up.
Right across the road from Christ Church is a cafe called Cafe Loco. Sounds like a neat name yeah? They have artwork of the Mad Hatter , March Hair, and the Mad Tea Party on the walls. It was absolutely fantastic. What was even better was the menu. Nekol and I squealed in delight over hot chocolate and a slice of chocolate cake. We were technically traveling so we decided we could do whatever we wanted. I had a deluxe hot chocolate which meant I had whipped cream and marshmallows while Nekol got a regular hot chocolate and the slice of chocolate cake...which I ate some of.
Some of the artwork on the walls
Mad Hatter tea party for afternoon tea? Fantastic!
Nekol and I decided that, once finished, we would actually go to Alice's Shop two stores down first and then to Christ Church, because door busting on the Chapel just didn't seem like a very nice thing to do. So we headed towards Alice's Shop...where I was in Heaven. As soon as we walked in I was regaled with so much Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass memorabilia from stationary to clocks to jewelry to clothing. I was looking for my Christmas present that Nekol would buy for me (we had decided we would pick something whilst abroad and the other would buy it for us) and I was looking at the jewelry, quite liking what I saw but not really loving any of it enough to pay near 60 dollars. I told Nekol I'd think about it and as I was walking towards the front of the store, I stopped and saw her. Sitting on a shelf with curly blonde hair and in a beautiful blue dress, white apron, and holding a stuffed white bunny rabbit was a musical Alice. I asked to hold her and was soon listening to an enchanting melody while Alice moved her head to the song, as if she were singing it to herself...I was in love and told Nekol I had found my present. She now sits within arm reach of me and sings to me to make me feel happy.
Alice's Shop (the Sheep Shop, like the one in Through the Looking Glass)
After Alice's Shop, we headed over to Christ Church College and began our tour. There really is no better way to explain than to show. Begin picture montage.
Small garden on pathway to to the College's visitor entrance
The College has many open fields surrounding it
Fountain in first courtyard
View from the first courtyard
Beautiful ceilings of staircase
The Dining Hall a.k.a. Where they shot the Great Hall for Harry Potter
Where Professor McGonegal stops the first years to tell them about sorting
Main Courtyard of Christ Church College
Christ Church Chapel
Creepy organ music played when we walked in
Amazing stained glass window
From one of the gardens
After we walked through Christ Church College, Nekol and I headed off to just walk through Oxford and enjoy our stay there. We really only had one last destination we truly wanted to see but we didn't want to rush that, it was early still, and we had so many places we could walk to.
We walked up and down Cornmarket and High Street where we saw cute street vendors and fun shops to step into and peruse wares.
We walked through Blackwell which is five different stores that seemed to be nothing but labyrinths of hidden treasure.
Visited Oxford's Science Museum where their current exhibit was over Steampunk
Radcliffe Camera
Oxford University Press: This is where all your "Oxford Dictionary" and "Oxford Outside Sources" come from.
The "Quarter Boys." These guys ring the bells at every quarter of an hour.
Soon enough, after our walking around, the sun began to set and we decided we'd head to our last place. This place was really important to Nekol. Whereas I had my place with Christ College, Nekol loved this place for a different author. The Eagle and Child is a pub in Oxford that J.R.R. Tolkein used to go to and sit and write and discuss and do whatever else he really wanted to do for that matter. So we went and ate dinner and had dessert there. It was the most perfect English dinner we have had in our time here.
The Eagle and Child a.k.a. The Bird and Baby
After dinner Nekol and I made our trek back to the train station where we headed home. Completely stuffed and absolutely exhausted and yet...so much happier than when we had left.
<3,
Dre
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