Pay Day is always exciting but so much more so when you have b
een living off tinned soup and discounted bags of potatoes. It is amazing how cheaply you can live in London when you have too, but it is so much nicer to buy things like olives and fresh bread.
This week was our second wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been married for two years now. The time has flown, but I guess we should have expected as much considering that a year and a half of our marriage has been spent abroad.
As it was a special occasion and we finally had some cash we decided to have a day in the univ
ersity town, Oxford. It was a slow start to the day so we didn’t make it to Oxford until around 1pm. Our first stop was to the undercover market where we visited a cafe for a coffee. Once we had defrosted, we rugged up again and headed to Christchurch College primarily to see the Great Hall which features in the first couple of Harry Potter movies. The hall itself is very nice, way over crowded with tourists, but fun to be in the middle of Hogwarts! The grounds of the college were beautifully manicured and the building very ornate. Wandering down the street we dropped into a couple of the other colleges, smaller, but just as nice and no crowds. Our last stop was the bridge of sighs, which is a replica of the big bridge in Venice. We had planned to do a bit more but it was getting cold and dark. 
The whole town is full of historical buildings including some very cool pubs. As it was so cold we probably spent more time in the pubs than exploring. To escape the cold we headed down some little lane ways to the Turf Tavern. It was busy, but we managed to get a table pretty quickly. It was an old, low ceilinged pub that used to host fencing duels in the 1700’s. We ate a massive share platter and tried the local stout which wasn’t half bad. Ready to move on the friendly staff told us about The Bear, another nice old pub. We were impressed, it was small, two rooms each seating 10-15 people, 
we got a seat by the open fire. The walls had collections ties from army officers, politicians and academics that had visited over the years (strange but interesting). Not done yet we went for a bit more of a wander, visited a contemporary sculpture gallery that happened to be open late on a Saturday and then found the Eagle and Child pub (baby and bird as the locals know it). This was another nice looking pub, bigger but also had that ‘British chain pub’ feel about it. After another pint we headed back through town to the bus terminal.
Oxford is a very nice town, nice old buildings, gardens and cobbled lanes. We ran short of daylight (damn UK sunset at 4pm), and never made it down to the river, which is also meant to be nice.
Sunday is pancake day and it is always hard to get moving, especially when you know how cold it is going to be outside. The weather reports have been saying there has been snow all over the UK and we should expect it in London soon. We had had grand notions of going for a walk through the park, but only managed to go to the supermarket to buy cheap Baileys and cereal.
By t
he time we got moving it was almost time to head to Westfield to see ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. The movie was great for those who haven’t seen it yet. It was very dark and actually made me jump in one part, we are both looking forward to the next instalment, whenever that may be. We particularly liked the scenes in London, as these are places we see quite regularly. We walked home but stopped off at the Churchill Arms for dinner. This is a very cool old pub with a Thai restaurant at the back. We found a table ordered Thai and admired the collection of Chamber Pots hanging from the ceiling. It has been a pretty good couple of days.
Our wedding anniversary fell on the Monday which made the weekend feel longer. I met Damien in town after he finished work and we headed to Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant. We had a drink in a pub beforehand then headed to the restaurant only to discover there was a wait. You can only book tables for 6 people or more so everyone else has to walk in and get a buzzer. We headed back to the pub to wait half an hour or so, but happily it was only a 10 minute wait, not even long enough to finish our drink. The food was lovely and the service was great. I could happily recommend it to anyone who comes to London for a few days.
een living off tinned soup and discounted bags of potatoes. It is amazing how cheaply you can live in London when you have too, but it is so much nicer to buy things like olives and fresh bread.This week was our second wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been married for two years now. The time has flown, but I guess we should have expected as much considering that a year and a half of our marriage has been spent abroad.
As it was a special occasion and we finally had some cash we decided to have a day in the univ
ersity town, Oxford. It was a slow start to the day so we didn’t make it to Oxford until around 1pm. Our first stop was to the undercover market where we visited a cafe for a coffee. Once we had defrosted, we rugged up again and headed to Christchurch College primarily to see the Great Hall which features in the first couple of Harry Potter movies. The hall itself is very nice, way over crowded with tourists, but fun to be in the middle of Hogwarts! The grounds of the college were beautifully manicured and the building very ornate. Wandering down the street we dropped into a couple of the other colleges, smaller, but just as nice and no crowds. Our last stop was the bridge of sighs, which is a replica of the big bridge in Venice. We had planned to do a bit more but it was getting cold and dark. The whole town is full of historical buildings including some very cool pubs. As it was so cold we probably spent more time in the pubs than exploring. To escape the cold we headed down some little lane ways to the Turf Tavern. It was busy, but we managed to get a table pretty quickly. It was an old, low ceilinged pub that used to host fencing duels in the 1700’s. We ate a massive share platter and tried the local stout which wasn’t half bad. Ready to move on the friendly staff told us about The Bear, another nice old pub. We were impressed, it was small, two rooms each seating 10-15 people, 
we got a seat by the open fire. The walls had collections ties from army officers, politicians and academics that had visited over the years (strange but interesting). Not done yet we went for a bit more of a wander, visited a contemporary sculpture gallery that happened to be open late on a Saturday and then found the Eagle and Child pub (baby and bird as the locals know it). This was another nice looking pub, bigger but also had that ‘British chain pub’ feel about it. After another pint we headed back through town to the bus terminal.Oxford is a very nice town, nice old buildings, gardens and cobbled lanes. We ran short of daylight (damn UK sunset at 4pm), and never made it down to the river, which is also meant to be nice.
Sunday is pancake day and it is always hard to get moving, especially when you know how cold it is going to be outside. The weather reports have been saying there has been snow all over the UK and we should expect it in London soon. We had had grand notions of going for a walk through the park, but only managed to go to the supermarket to buy cheap Baileys and cereal.By t
he time we got moving it was almost time to head to Westfield to see ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. The movie was great for those who haven’t seen it yet. It was very dark and actually made me jump in one part, we are both looking forward to the next instalment, whenever that may be. We particularly liked the scenes in London, as these are places we see quite regularly. We walked home but stopped off at the Churchill Arms for dinner. This is a very cool old pub with a Thai restaurant at the back. We found a table ordered Thai and admired the collection of Chamber Pots hanging from the ceiling. It has been a pretty good couple of days.Our wedding anniversary fell on the Monday which made the weekend feel longer. I met Damien in town after he finished work and we headed to Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant. We had a drink in a pub beforehand then headed to the restaurant only to discover there was a wait. You can only book tables for 6 people or more so everyone else has to walk in and get a buzzer. We headed back to the pub to wait half an hour or so, but happily it was only a 10 minute wait, not even long enough to finish our drink. The food was lovely and the service was great. I could happily recommend it to anyone who comes to London for a few days.
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