Oxford day trip

Last Saturday I went on a solo daytrip to Oxford. Some people in the house said they wanted to go but everyone ended up changing their minds. I thought to myself I can wait around to do cool stuff with other people, which means that cool stuff might not happen at all, or go it alone. So I decided to go it alone. I was so excited! First to see Oxford, of course, a place I've wanted to see since I first read the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife and second to travel alone for the first time ever. wow that sentence is nice and long.

I booked my train two nights before I left and it was the most frustrating experience I've ever had buying online. The people who design websites here must all be smoking something because they just don't make any sense. It took my two hours to do something that should have taken twenty minutes. But I got that sorted out and I was ready. I left the house at seven in the morning and walked to the tube station in the freezing semidarkness. When I was on the tube it stopped in the tunnel and a lady came over the loudspeaker and announced that the train would be delayed because of a "body under the tracks ahead." I, of course, was like oh my gosh and my mouth dropped open. I looked around at everyone else and they didn't seem to care at all. They just kept on reading there newspapers and books and didn't blink an eye. I thought I would be late but I guess they got the body of the tracks fast and I was soon on my way again. Even with they delay I got to Paddington Station super early. I found a seat facing the platform announcements and waited and people watched. It was so funny because there were pigeons just wandering around Paddington station between peoples feet of perched next to a businessman reading the paper. No one seemed to care.

Another interesting thing about Paddington is how quiet it is. Everyone seemed to be whispering. There was no yelling or loud echoing shouts like you'd expect. So I was sitting there people watching for about 45minutes. There was always about a hundred people standing or sitting around watching the platform announcements. Then without any changes in the platform announcements at all 50 people would all of a sudden gather up their things and start scurrying en masse to a certain platform. I don't get it. How did they know to go?

I wanted to make sure I had all my information correct so I went to find some help. The people whose job it is to help passengers wander around all the stations in bright-green-highlighter colored vests. I had to ask three different people because the first didn't know english, the second said, "oh tickets, I'm not good with questions about those." And what praytell are you good with? I wanted to say but didn't. Finally, the third person could help me. And boy is it lucky I asked. For some reason even though my ticket said London Paddington to Oxford the platform announcement and train I had to look for said it was going Hereford. How could I know this!! What if I hadn't asked!? It wasn't on the ticket. So, I ran to the Hereford train found my seat and was really on my way.

I decided to save money by walking into Oxford from the train station instead of taking the bus. It was only a ten minute walk to the city center. I didn't come to Oxford with a plan. I had a few things I knew I wanted to see but besides that I wanted to stay free. I started by wandering around and looking at random campuses. I would see a small wooden door in a giant stone fence and if it was open I would go in and most of the time it would open up into this:

It was a beautiful sunny day. At one point it stayed sunny but started raining lightly so I took refuge under an archway.

I liked not having a plan. I just wandered around at my own pace, people watched and explored random alleys. Three times I was approached by people who thought I was in their art history class. So, I guess there's an Oxford student who looks like me!

I spent an hour in a bookshop and printshop called Blackwell's. I bought this print because I thought it was the oddest thing I'd seen in a long time:

This a horrible pic. But you can see the old sailor skipping wildly on the beach. hahahahaha It cracks me up everytime I see it.

Hobbit house. That door is literally about 2 feet tall.

In one of the colleges archways I saw a little teeny wooden door with stairs winding up. So I went in and up the stairs and managed to get this shot right before security escorted me out. whoops!! The security all wear these black bowler hats. I wanted a picture but decided it probably wouldn't be wise to ask for one.

The Sheldonian Theatre. Designed by Christopher Wren(the same guy who designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London.)

Scholars and important dudes ringing the fence of the Sheldonian.

This one reminded me of my dad because he had a beard and was smiling instead of trying to look all stern.

Christ Church Cathedral.

Entrance to the grounds of Christ Church.

Beautiful stained glass windows were everywhere in the Cathedral. When I first entered the main Cathedral the door didn't close behind me so I turned around and made sure it shut behind me. The caretaker lady was so suprised she said I was the first person ever to make sure the door was shut behind me. She said I was so concientous and if I had any questions or needed anything to just ask. Later I asked her two questions. I saw a small plaque that said,"Bishop of Oxford: Samuel Wilberforce" I asked her if he was related to William Wilberforce (yes it was his son) and I also asked her about a saying that said, among other things,"Loyalty to the brotherhood" I wanted to know what brotherhood it was refering to(turned out it was a memorial to the Oxfordshire army platoons killed in wars and that was their slogan.) She freaked out. She got so excited, she said I was the first person to ever ask her about those things. She kept saying, "wonderful! wonderful! A young person who knows her history!" She even called the other caretaker(an ancient man wearing a burgundy coat with a coat of arms on the breast) over to tell him about my questions. It was kind of embarassing. But there must be a lot of rude people to come through that cathedral if she was that excited.

Beautiful. My Grammy would have loved to see all the stained glass windows.

Whatever you believe about religion you have to admit Catholics do their churches up right! lol

The ugly of Oxford.

Ducks in a park.

Random stories of my day in oxford:

1. I sat down on a bench when I first arrived to eat a snickers marathon I had brought with me to eat for breakfast. Some old man walks by and says, "you'll get fat if you keep eating those." I was so shocked.

2. This is the only time I was ever bothered by anyone. Later in the day, after lunch, I was sitting on a bench taking a rest. Just as I was about to pull out my map a drunk guy comes up to me and says, "schma hoon man blag bah." Then he grabs my arm and pulls me off the bench. I was freaked. I don't know what he wanted but before I found out I heard, "oy! oy!" and three guys run up, one of them grabs the guy on the back of the coat and basically sends him on his way. They asked if I was OK and kept saying, "Oxford's not like that." Then they invited me to a pub for a pint. So, I went and had a pint with some Oxford lads!!! They were pretty cute too! When I complained about how late my train back was one of them invited me to stay at his flat. I declined. But I had a great time and an escort to the train station later that night!

3. I went into a small cafe to get a baguette sandwich for lunch. When they were making it one of my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs, Philadelphia, was playing. Then right after it they played Unforgettable Fire by U2. It made me happy.

4. My train back to London was delayed. As I was waiting I look to my left and see a young man casually tap dancing in place. ball change filap ball change. The loudspeaker announces our train won't be coming and we need to take a different train to a town and then switch to another train and another. I was like what?! So, I saw a man standing to my right and I got a good vibe from him so I asked if he was going to London Paddington. He said yes and then I asked if I could follow him back to London. He laughed and said yes. Turned out he was an HIV doctor in London. We talked the whole way back. Travel, American and British politics, AIDs, healthcare,theatre, we covered a lot. Such a nice person.

Thought: I think that traveling alone is amazing. I may be hooked!I think that I interacted with people and had more experiences than I would have had if I had been traveling with a big group. There is something so exhilerating about being in control of everything you do and only doing the things you want to do. If I want to climb up a giant hill to eat my lunch, spend hours in a bookshop, NOT spend hours in the Ashmolean, have a pint with Oxford lads, I can! And I did!

p.s. these aren't all of my pictures. more on flickr.