Just a half life...: England

Weekend came rather quick even I was pretty much lonely in this stranger little town…

I was pretty much occupied during the weekdays and had little time to plan for my weekend activities. But I figured that one of the many places not to be missed during my stay here are visits to Oxford and Bath. After all, these are the places that received many good compliments and are beautifully described by the locals.

I was told that getting to Oxford and Bath from my temporary home of 2-weeks can be easily reached via the train service, First Great Western that connected almost every city in UK. So, Oxford went onto my top list of places to visit while Bath was my next destination the day followed.

It was a lovely day on Saturday morning as I head on to the train station in Swindon. I went straight to the ticket counter for train tickets to Oxford as well as next day ticket to Bath. Journey from Swindon to Oxford required transit at Didcot Parkway. However, to my unfortunate the train at Didcot Parkway was an hour delayed. It was then that I met 3 friendly Philippines but currently residing in UK. They are first time visitors to Oxford as I am too and somehow, we clique at almost instantly.

When the train finally came, we are all excited that we can continue our journey. We stick on together for a while before went on separate ways for our own sightseeing journey in Oxford, but promising to meet up again before we leave Oxford.

After separated with the 3 new found friends, I continued on my exploration alone.

Picture (Left) - Carfax Tower, the church clock is adorned by two "quarter boys", who hit the bells at every "quarter" of the hour; (Right) - Statue lady that look so real or should I say 'fake'?

Picture (Left) - Great day for a nice walk at the park; (Right) - The weather was nicely at 16°C that everyone is out to enjoy

At the entrance of Christ Church Meadows

View of Merton College from accross Christ Church Meadows

Picture (Left) - Entrance to Christ Church, one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England; (Right) - Christ Church Cathedral, the chapel of Christ Church which is also the largest college of the University of Oxford

Dead Man's Walk, the wall that separated Christ Church Meadow and Merton College

Picture (Left) - Christ Church Cathedral; (Right) Sundial

Picture (Left and Right) - Interior of Christ Church Cathedral

Stained glass window of Christ Church Cathedral

Choir busy practising for some event in the evening

Picture (Left) - Back lane of Merton College; (Right) - Merton Street

Busy street of High Street

Fascinated with the building structures and sceneries accompanied with the lovely weather, I walk and walk and snap (pictures) and snap without realizing that it was past the lunch hours, up until my stomach started growling. As I walked around hunting for a nice place to rest and also to fill my growling tummy, I stumbled upon an Italian restaurant. I actually passed by this same restaurant twice, but it still does not hit me till I stood there thinking if I should try out some Italian food. Then I finally realized that this is Jamie’s Italian by Jamie Oliver, the famous Naked Chef. Oh my….he has always been my idol! Of course I loved to try his food in one of his restaurant. So in I went…to fill my empty tummy and rest my aching feet.

Picture (Left) - Superly yummy mushroom ravioli at Jamie's Italian; (Right) - Nothing beats a nice cup of hot cappucino after the long walk

Satisfied with the meal, I continued on my exploration to few more landmarks before ending the day trip in Oxford for a little shopping spree. Again, I met up with the 3 friendly mates, joining them in their shopping before we finally wave goodbye. It was definitely an experience and a great day trip!

Picture (Left) - St. Mary the Virgin Church; (Right) - Spiral staircase to St. Mary the Virgin tower

The pathway only fits one at a time. I had to stand at the little space by the window while waiting for others to head down before I can go up!

Picture (Left) - Most photographed building in Oxford, Radcliff Camera; (Right) - Short from St. Mary the Virgin tower

Beautiful landscape from above

All Souls College, part of the scenes in Harry Potter movie

View of Oxford City

The Divinity School - the first purpose built lecture hall dated almost 500 years ago. Two scenes from Harry Potter were shot in this hall: Hogwarts Infirmary (The Philosopher's Stone) and the ballroom dancing class (The Goblet's of Fire)

Amazing isn't it?

Museum of History of Science

Entrance to Oxford Castle Unlocked

Hill of Oxford Castle Unlocked

My trip to UK has finally come to an end after two weeks of fun and exciting yet rather tiring exploration.

The solo journey started in Swindon, a scenic town of Wiltshire. It was the beginning of spring this time around. I am happy to see little green leaves slowly sprouting through the naked tree while bright colorful flowers are blooming wildly almost everywhere. Even the birds are chirping happily too.

The weather during my two weeks in this stranger country was lovely. The sun is always out playing while the cold breeze joins in to just balance up the temperature.

On my first day of arrival, I decided to explore this little town on-foot. I got myself a free little map from my hotel reception, then head-on to one of the famous shopping center, Swindon Designer Outlet three miles away from where my hotel located. I have to admit that walking at this distant is not something I would do back at home country but with such a nice weather and a new place to explore; it would be a total waste if I did not give it a try. I am glad that I had this walk as it was an astonishing walk through the residential areas, parks and churches surrounded with daffodils and wild flowers blossoming at almost every corner.

The one thing that I noticed most of Swindon is the amount of roundabouts that they have, either big or small. It is as though they are in-love with roundabouts. The one roundabout that stands out among the rest is of course the famous roundabouts named Magic Roundabout. This roundabout gained the magical title because of its uniqueness for having 5 mini-roundabouts circling one big roundabout. Madness! I stood by the roundabout to observe, but still not able to figure how the actual flow works. So I gave up. I suppose just like the locals said when driving through this unique roundabout, “Just close your eyes and hope for the best”. Fascinating isn’t it?