Beaches and Mojitos for Days: Spring Break in Spain (and a rather minor wedding)

Wow, Spring Break has finally come and gone, which means the quarter is officially half over.  As I write this, I realize that 5 weeks from today, I will be on a plane back to Seattle.  While it will be so awesome to see my family and friends again, I am having such an amazing time here, and I don't know if I'm ready to leave just yet!  I have lots more to say, but maybe I'll save that for a different post... Anyway... Spring Break...

Sunday, April 24

I was up earlier than "bright and early", at about 3:15 in the morning, as I had to catch a 6:30 AM flight from London to Barcelona.  Lucky for me, there's a bus that stops just half a block from my homestay and goes to Heathrow Airport.  I caught it at 3:40, and the trip to the airport took about 45 minutes.  Right on schedule.

Ran into Clair and Ellie at the check-in desk, and after I'd checked my bag, we went to get coffee, because the airport hadn't posted which gate our flight was leaving from.  Eventually, we met up with Hannah and Amanda at the gate.

Plane took off right on time, and the flight took about 2 hours.  We landed at about 9:30 AM (Barcelona is 1 hour ahead of London), and made our way down to the train that would take us into town.  Little bit of a mishap... we jumped onto the train as the doors were closing, and Hannah, who was right behind me, wasn't able to make it on.  Luckily, though, she had the information for the hostel, like the name, address, and which stop to get off, so we just called her and planned to meet her at the correct stop.  The rest of us, however, somehow completely missed the correct stop, and had made it almost all the way to the end of the line before realizing it, so it took us an extra 45 minutes or so to get back.

When we finally reached the correct stop, we searched around but saw no sign of Hannah.  Unable to get a hold of her, we figured she had just headed to the hostel and was waiting for us there, so we started heading that way.  On our way, I got a call from Hannah: she'd left her bag on the train when she'd gotten off, and now had to take the train to a station way at the end of the line, where they had it waiting for her.

While we waited for Hannah, we were able to check into our hostel.  I'd never stayed in a hostel before, but as far as I could tell, this one seemed pretty nice.  The five of us stayed in a 12-person room, where a group of Spanish guys was also staying.  They don't speak English very well... should be interesting.  After checking in, we went to a Tapas restaurant for lunch, and Hannah, who had finally gotten her bag, met us there.  Here's something I will never understand: the European fascination with mayonaise.  Honestly, I ordered a seafood pasta salad and got a pile of noodles and seafood, tossed in mayonaise.  Um... why?

Hannah brought her stuff to the hostel, and then we decided to head out and sightsee.  Our first stop was the rather famous Sagrada Familia, that church that kinda looks like it's made out of mud, or melting chocolate.  Maybe it's the conservative in me, but I didn't think it was that pretty.  Interesting, yes.  Pretty, not so much.  I much prefer the looks of say, Westminster or Notre Dame.

Sagrada Familia

Our next stop was the "Magic Fountain", outside of Barcelona's National Art Gallery.  When we first arrived, the waters in the fountain weren't flowing.  Not very magical.  Right as we were about to leave, however, the fountains started up.  Turns out, they do a show with the fountains choreographed to music (and at night, lights- very Bellagio-esque), so we stayed and watched it.  It was a really cool and fun thing to watch, and very relaxing to just sit by the fountain and rest.

Magic Fountain in front of the National Art Gallery

After leaving the fountain, we headed down to the waterfront in search of dinner.  After wandering for... a while... we decided on a little pasta place right by the water, which turned out to be delicious.  Real pasta this time, no mayonaise.

It was decided that we wanted to go out to a club that night, so in the interest of saving money on drinks, we bought a couple bottles of wine on the way back to the hostel, and drank them while playing a rather fun drinking game in the hostel bar.  We had been told that a place called Opium, down on the beach, was really cool, so we decided to try it out.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the line was long, and the cover charge was 15 euros (keeping in mind that 1 euro=$1.60, just like the GBP).  Not wanting to pay the nearly $25 cover charge, we cut our losses and headed back to the hostel to try to get some sleep.

Getting sleep was easier said than done.  Our Spanish roommates came back to the room around 5:00 AM, and were drunk, loud, and laughing.  Whenever Hannah told them to be quiet, they laughed and made fun of her, and continued to be loud and obnoxious.  Thank God for headphones!

Monday, April 25

We had to be checked out of the hostel by 10:00 AM, but wouldn't be able to check into our hotel down in Sitges until 2:00 or 3:00 that afternoon.  So after a quick breakfast at the hostel, we decided our time would be best spent doing one of those corny sightseeing bus tours around Barcelona for a couple of hours.  We did see some really cool things, like the stadium from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the old town, and the waterfront.

Stadium from the 1992 Olympic Games.

We got off the bus in one of the main squares in town and had lunch at the nearby Hard Rock Cafe.  Yum.  After lunch, we decided it was time to head down to Sitges, where we would spend the remainder of our break (3 more nights).  We took the metro to a station where we could catch a train to Sitges and, lucky for us, we got to the station just a couple of minutes before the train.

The 40-minute ride down to Sitges was beautiful.  The city quickly gave way to farmlands, big green hills, and eventually beaches and views of the sea.  The weather when we arrived was warm, but a little cloudy.

We made it to Sitges! (L-R) Hannah, Amanda, me, Ellie, Clair: the Spain Group

Our hotel, Hotel Subur, was in the most amazing location: right across the street from the beach, and just a minute's walk from most of the town's main bars and restaurants.  We had some delicious food and AMAZING mojitos at a bar and hung out there until it closed around 12.  Tired from the night before, we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel.

My Review of the Hotel: Amazing, AMAZING location, and very friendly, helpful staff. Rooms are a little tiny, though, but it was okay, because we didn't spend much time in the room anyway, so if you're just looking for a good place to sleep at night, it's perfect.  And cheap: only 33 euros/night... split between 2 or 3 people, it was way cheaper than the hostel!  The sports bar downstairs serves bar classics, like pizza, burgers, salads, and sandwiches.  Overall: 4/5.

Tuesday, April 26

Woke up to bright sunshine and blue skies!  Time to hit the beach.

We spent pretty much all day out on the beach, laying in the sun, listening to music, eating gelato, and playing in the water.   So relaxing.  That was exactly how spring break should be.  We only headed in when the clouds rolled in and rain started coming down.  It was okay, though, because it was just about dinner time, anyway.

On the beach in Sitges!

Had a quick dinner at the sports bar, and Clair and Ellie told us about a group of English guys they'd met when they were coming into the hotel earlier.  After dinner, we headed to the bar where we'd eaten the night before and had their delicious mojitos.  Then, wanting something a little more lively, we headed down the street to another, where we bartered with the bartender to lower the drink prices: if we each got 3 drinks, he'd give them to us for 5 euros each instead of 8.  More mojitos for us!

As we sat outside the bar, this group of English guys that Clair and Ellie had told us about walked by, so they joined us in the bar.  They were all really cool and around our age.  We had fun talking with and getting to know them, plus, being surrounded by a group of guys helped keep the creepers away!

Wednesday, April 27

And then there were 4... Clair had to leave really early in the morning to head back to London, because her cousin was coming into town for the Royal Wedding on friday.  We had another beautiful day, so naturally, we headed to the beach.  Our new English friends came and met us and hung out with us at the beach for a while.

That night, there was a big soccer game, Barcelona vs. Madrid, so we went to watch it at the sports bar at our hotel.  Having just been to Barcelona, we decided we would cheer Barcelona on.  Good choice, because they won!

Barca, Barca, BARCA!

It being our last night in Spain, we headed back out to the bars.  After some delicious Sangria and dodging a few more creepers (one of which who told us he was gay, and then tried to kiss me AND Ellie... yuck!), we found the guys at a bar across the way and went to hang out with them.  After a couple drinks, they invited us to go back to the villa where they were staying to hang out for a bit.  The villa was amazing; I felt like I was on an episode of Cribs as I walked through it.  We spent a couple hours there, hanging out, playing pool, before heading back to the hotel around 4:30 in the morning.  I'd say a successful night.

A few of our new English buddies.

Thursday, April 28

Had to check out of the hotel at noon, but our flight back to London wasn't until 8:40 that night.  We were able to leave our bags at the front desk while we went out for lunch, and then took in one last day at the beach.

Around 5, we retrieved our bags from the hotel and hiked up to the train station for a train back to the airport.  At the airport, we checked in and grabbed some dinner, then headed to the gate.  Unfortunately, some thunderstorms had rolled in, so our flight was delayed in takeoff for about an hour and a half.  We were supposed to land in London at about 10:30, but instead it was closer to 11:45.

Friday, April 29

So, incase you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, you'd know what today was... Royal Wedding!  In order to get a spot down on the actual procession route, I would have had to be down there at about 6:30 in the morning.  Instead, I headed down around 9:30 and joined thousands of others in Hyde Park, where everything was broadcast live over two huge screens.  What an experience!  Even though I didn't get to see anything in person, the atmostphere was just so fun and exciting!  Thousands of British flags waving, everyone cheering whenever the Queen was showed onscreen... something I'm definitely glad I was back in London to see!

Watching on the big screen in Hyde Park as Kate Middleton arrives at Westminster Abbey.

A sea of British flags as Kate and Will say their vows.

Will and Kate say their vows :)

Definitely a fun, totally unique way to end Spring Break week.  Now I gotta go buy some tacky Royal Wedding souveniers.

So, there go my spring break adventures in Spain!  Lots of love to everyone back home... see you State-side in 5 weeks!

Lotsa walks on beautiful days!

Yes, I'm getting better about updating this more often.  Now, hopefully I can remember what I've done this past week... it's been a lot...

Friday, I spent the day down in Richmond, a part of the London borough Richmond-upon-Thames, which is the only London borough that actually straddles the Thames.  This was no random wandering.  I had to go down there to do research for a project for my writing class.  Quick rundown on the project: in groups, we had to choose a neighborhood around London to research.  Throughout the rest of the quarter, our writing assignments (an ethnography, a short story, and finally, some form of textual representation) will be about our neighborhood or a specific place within our neighborhood.  As our final project, we as a group will have to give the rest of the class a tour of our neighborhood, pointing out historical information and points of interest.  My group is researching Richmond, chosen by one of my group members, Mike, because his parents met while they were both studying abroad at the University of Richmond, so they had taken him there many times when he was younger.

Richmond really is a beautiful area, full of open, green spaces, and home to Richmond Park, the largest royal park in London at almost 2,500 acres!  Richmond Park is also home to many herds of deer, as this park was, historically, a royal hunting ground.  One man we talked to said the thing he liked best about living in Richmond was that he was so close to the city, but still felt like he was living out in the country.  Richmond, a fairly wealthy area, is also home to many famous people, such as Pete Townshent of The Who, as well as American model/actress Jerry Hall.

The River Thames flowing through Richmond.

View from the top of Richmond Hill.

Planning on trying to pay a visit to Richmond Park once before I head off for Spring Break.

Monday, we went on another walk with Prof. Mike.  Today's walk was through Hyde Park, to look at various statues and memorials.  Prof. Mike described Hyde Park as being a "dumping ground" for memorials, and it's true... they're everywhere.  Actually, they're everywhere in London, in general.  Londoners love a good statue.

We saw.....

• Wellington Arch... Duke of Wellington is a pretty major hero here, because he defeated the French in the Battle of Waterloo.
• Australian War Memorial... a tribute to Australian servicemen and women who fought for Britain in the two World Wars.
• New Zealand Memorial... a bunch of poles in the ground to commemorate the bonds between New Zealand and the UK
• London Bombings Memorial... a memorial to the 52 victims of the London Underground terrorist bombings in 2005.  It comprises 52 pillars, one for each victim, grouped together to reflect the four locations of the bombings.  Each pillar is inscribed with a place and time, and a plaque with the names of all the victims stands in the grass nearby.
• Queen Elizabeth Gates... put up in 1993 to honor the Queen Mother
• Achilles... a large statue of a naked man (except for the small leaf placed over a, um, certain part), meant as a tribute to the Duke of Wellington from the women of England
• Diana Memorial Fountain... a circular fountain in which children can run and play

Best part of the walk, though... Prof. Mike gave us a half hour break, during which we were able to get ice cream from an ice cream cart in the park, and then sit and relax by the Serpentine Lake. Ah, the simple joys in life...

Wednesday was another walk with Peter, to look at some of the churches in The City built by Christopher Wren, who was comissioned to rebuild many churches and buildings after London's Great Fire.  No Wren tour would be complete without starting at St. Paul's Cathedral. 

St. Paul's Cathedral... of course.

We got a guided tour of the cathedral and saw...

The Geometric Staircase! A scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was filmed on this staircase!

And then we climbed to the top of the dome...



View from the top on a beautiful London day.

We saw about 6 or 7 other Wren churches, but none nearly as impressive as St. Paul's.  Actually, the others were pretty ugly, in my opinion, hence why I have no pictures of them. :)

Well, that was Week 4 of the quarter.  Wow, can't believe it's already been that long.  Next week is Spring Break, and then just a few more weeks until the quarter is done!  Still so much I want to do while I'm here, and seemingly so little time!  Not ready to go home yet!

Next time I post, I'll have some lovely pictures of spring break in Barcelona! Fingers crossed that it stops raining before I get there....

Submarines and stone circles.

So I've definitely gotta say, I think that this week of classes has been one of the most interesting so far.  Saw and learned about lots of really cool things, and went to some pretty interesting places.

First, on Monday, Prof. Mike took us to the Imperial War Museum to supplement our discussion on wars in British history.  The museum's main focus is on WWI and WWII, and they combine a lot of different elements to make it a truly interesting experience.  On the main floor, they have on display old military vehicles and supplies from WWI and WWII, such as old cars, tanks, guns, and even bombs.  They also even had the remains of a car that was blown up in Baghdad in 2005.  They had submarines, and even a larger recreation of a submarine that you could walk into and see what it would have been like to actually be inside a submarine during that time period.  As one could imagine, it was very small and cramped, and the beds that the men had to sleep on seemed more like coffins than anything.  A little creepy.

One of the coolest things in the museum is what they call the WWI Trench Experience, where you walk through an actual recreation of a trench, complete with the sights, sounds, and even smells that a soldier would have experienced in the trenches.  It was definitely pretty eerie to walk through, partially because I kept thinking people were gonna jump out at us as we walked through the narrow trench, but it was also crazy to think that soldiers had to spend days or weeks at a time in these cramped, dirty conditions.

The museum also had a really interesting Holocaust exhibit.  Of course, the exhibit was very sad and emotional, but it was extremely well done.  Instead of the main focus being on the concentration camps, as some Holocaust exhibits are, this one was more organized in chronological order, first talking about Hitler and the Nazi party's rise to power, then about restrictions that were put in place, then about the Polish ghettos, all the way up to the concentration camps.  One of the things that made this exhibit so moving was its use of actual video and media footage from the time, including one video of a mass killing that the Nazis did... very hard and emotional to watch.

Overall, a very interesting museum.  I highly recommend it to visitors to London, especially if you're interested in history.

On Wednesday, Peter took our class on another weekly field trip.  We caught our charter bus at 8:15 AM at Kings Cross Station (still have to go there and get a picture at Platform 9 3/4, by the way).  Our first stop on the field trip was Stonehenge!  To be honest, it was interesting to see, but pretty underwhelming and disappointing, mainly because the actual rocks are roped off, and you can't get very close to them at all.  The reason Stonehenge is so unique and such a big deal?  While there are many stone circles throughout England, Stonehenge is the ONLY one that has horizontal stones spanning the vertical ones!  Wonder how they got them up there....

This is about as close as they let you get... notice the NO ADMITTANCE sign on the grass behind me.

Our second stop was Stourhead Manor, as Peter wanted to show us a good example of an 18th century manor and gardens.  We didn't get to go inside the manor, but he took us on a walk around the gardens, which were absolutely beautiful!  All completely manmade, these gardens were, as Peter said, "constructed to look like nature did it".  Bit of an oxymoron, really.

Stourhead Manor house. I'd live there.

Lake in the garden. I'd say this place puts The Secret Garden to shame.

Apparently, portions of the Kiera Knightly version of 'Pride and Prejudice' were filmed in the gardens.  I wouldn't know, as I haven't actually seen the movie, so I'll just take the words of the other girls in my group.

The gardens!

Our third and final stop on the trip was the Avebury Stone Circle, basically a much larger version of Stonehenge.  Apparently, Avebury was once used for sacrificial ceremonies, and, according to Peter, as many as 20,000 people would crowd into the circle to watch these sacrifices... he compared it to the early 17th century, when people would travel from far and wide to watch hangings for "good fun" (his words, not mine).

Across the middle of the picture, you can see the Inner Circle of Avebury.

By this point, most of us were tired, cold, wet, and ready to hop back on the bus to head back to London.  At least we had some cuteness to entertain us...

This is as close as I was able to get to petting these little guys.

Friday, I spent the day in Richmond, exploring the area for a project in my writing class.  Richmond is also an area I highly recommend.  It's just south of the river, and is the only London borough to straddle the Thames.  Points of interest include Richmond Hill, which gives a beautiful vantage point of the Thames and surrounding area...

View from Richmond Hill.

... and Richmond Park, which we didn't have time to visit, but I definitely need to get to.  The park used to be the private hunting grounds for Henry VIII, so there are still lots of deer that roam the park.  Apparently, it's also the largest park in London.  It was a very cool feeling, to feel like I was in the middle of the countryside, when in reality I was just across the river from central London!

Got some more fun stuff going on this week, so I'll definitely try to throw a post up before I head off to Barcelona for spring break on Sunday.  Lots of love to everyone back home!

~Chani

"Alright men, to action!" "WE SURRENDER!": A Weekend in Paris

Wow, hard to believe that it's already the third week of the quarter... only seven more to go! We were just reminded in class yesterday that midterms are already in a couple of weeks, and that after next week, we have our spring break, during which I will be headed to Barcelona with some classmates!  Super excited to get some hot weather and head to the beach!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves...

What I've been up to lately... more of class and such.  On Wednesday, we were supposed to take a field trip to Hampton Court for my Art, Architecture, and Society class (for which, tomorrow, we are headed to Stonehenge! Cool!), but a series of unfortunate events cancelled that plan.  We all met up at Waterloo Station Wednesday morning to hop the train to Hampton Court, but about a third of the way there, we were informed that the train would have to be rerouted, due to someone being hit by another train at a station down the line.  We all waited on the platform at the Wimbledon train station for a while, while Peter (the teacher for that class), tried to figure out a plan of action.  After about 45 minutes, it was decided that we head back to London, where he took us for a walk around Buckingham Palace and St. James Park instead.  The walk ended in Regents Park where, taking advantage of the gorgeous weather we've been having, most of us stayed to hang out and sit in the grass.

Lake in St. James Park

The next day, Thursday, was a crazy, busy, exciting day.  Andreina and I moved from Tricia's house to our new homestay with the Oliver family.  As I probably mentioned in an earlier post, this had been pre-arranged by Janet, the homestay coordinator for the program.  The Olivers had some travel conflicts during the first couple weeks of the quarter, so we stayed temporarily with Tricia until they could host us.  So, Thursday afternoon, we packed up all of our things, and Tricia was nice enough to drive us and our luggage up to West Harrow to the Olivers' house.  We were greeted by Jenny, who let us leave our bags in the living room, as there was still another student staying in the room that would be ours once the other girl left on Sunday morning.  She showed us around the house, introduced us to her husband, Steve, and Yoshi, a Japanese boy who is also staying with them.

We took a walk around the neighborhood, scoping out the nearest tube stop (Harrow-on-the-Hill, about a 10-minute walk from the house).  At 5, we gathered up our luggage for Paris and then headed into Central London to meet up with Peter and the rest of the class for an educational pub crawl.  We did that for about an hour and a half, then made our way to the Victoria Coach Station to catch our overnight coach to Paris.

Overnight coach: what an interesting experience.  8 hours on a coach (British word for "greyhound bus") is not pleasant.  All of us only got about 3-4 hours of sleep, and Amanda had to sit next to some creeper the whole time.  We weren't even able to stay on the bus to sleep when the bus got on the ferry, and sleeping on the ferry was out of the question, as there were kids playing in the arcade and grown men drinking and yelling every 30 seconds. Plus the captain decided it was a good plan to blast music over the loudspeakers for the 2-hour crossing.  Awesome.

 We arrived in Paris at about 8:00 AM.  After figuring out the tube map and how to get to our hotel, we found a place near the hotel to rest and have breakfast until we could check in.  We were able to check in at about 1:00 PM, and we all had a chance to freshen up before heading out to see Paris.

Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe.

Then we headed to....

The Eiffel Tower!

Wanted to go up to the top, but the line was really long.

After a quick late lunch/early dinner, we decided to do something relaxing: a sightseeing cruise along the Seine.  The weather was perfect for it, so sunny and warm!  Exhausted from our coach ride, we all called it an early night after that.

The next day, we all split up to do our own things, as some of us wanted to see different sites.  Andreina and I headed to the Louvre, where we got to see awesome artifacts and artwork.  My favorite exhibit was definitely the Egyptian artifacts exhibit.  We also got to see some really famous works, like the Winged Victory and, of course, the Mona Lisa!

Egyptian artifacts

Musee du Louvre

After the Louvre, we had a quick lunch and then headed to Notre Dame.  To just go inside the cathedral is free of charge, but we also waited in line and paid 8 Euros to climb nearly 400 steps up to the bell towers.  For anyone planning to go to Paris, the wait and the cost is well worth it, especially when the weather is clear and beautiful like it was for us!  The views are amazing, and it's really cool to see all of the different gargoyles; no two are the same.  You also get to go into one of the bell towers to see one of the bells (I don't think the bell is actually in use anymore, but still very awesome to see).

Gargoyles at Notre Dame

View from the VERY top of Notre Dame, looking down on the Seine.

After Notre Dame, we headed to see Sacre Coeur, a basillica on a hill overlooking Paris.  The exterior and intereior were gorgeous, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside because there was a church service going on when we went to visit.  A little weird that they still allow visitors inside while there's actual church going on.  I know I wouldn't want random people wandering through my church in the middle of the service, just to have a look.

Headed back to the hotel after that, to meet up with the other girls to get ready for dinner.  We headed to a restaurant near our hotel; we wanted to go somewhere less "touristy", and the guys at the hotel had recommended this one, and I'm sure glad they did!  We all thought our food was absolutely delicious, and had fun trying each other's.  I had a plate of gnocci baked in a cheese sauce, and then a creme brulee for dessert.  I want more!

We spent our last night in Paris the only way one can: to go see the Eiffel Tower in all its glory, lit up against the night sky.  I'll be honest: up close, during the day, I think the Eiffel Tower is actually kinda ugly, but lit up at night, it's almost a completely different structure!  The best part, though, is that, once every hour, blue lights on the tower start to sparkle for about five minutes at a time, and the effect is absolutely stunning!

Eiffel Tower, all lit up

Next morning, we had to catch our coach back to London.  What a difference a ride during the day makes!  Despite the fact that the A/C on the bus was broken, we had a fun time!  Met lots of really friendly people on the bus, including another American student who is also studying in London.  We got her number and might meet up with her sometime soon.  We didn't take a ferry this time, either; we took a train tunnel underneath the English Channel.  The best way I can describe this is that this train looked like a giant horse trailer, but for cars and busses instead of for horses.  As we had been expecting a ferry ride, we were all rather confused as to what was going on, but this train thing took half an hour to cross the Channel as opposed to 2 hours, so we didn't complain.

Pulled into London around 6:30 PM.  Hungry, Andreina and I ate at a sushi place in the rail station nearby.  It was only the second time I've ever had sushi, but I'm officially hooked!

We arrived back at the Olivers' at about 10:00 PM (taking the tube from Central London to their house takes about 45 minutes).  With our room vacant, we were able to move our stuff upstairs and get settled.  We talked with Jenny for a little bit... she is such a sweet woman.  Tricia was awesome, too, but they are both very different.  Tricia, for the most part, let us keep to ourselves, whereas Jenny is defintely more "motherly", and seems like she'll try to include us in things more (this could be due to the simple fact that Tricia lived by herself, whereas Jenny lives with her husband and also has raised 3 kids, owing to the more "family" feel here).  Either way, I can tell that this homestay will be a great one, and that the next few weeks will be just as amazing as the first few have been.

That's all for now, folks.  I'll try to get around to updating this a little more regularly.  Lots of love to all back home!

Oxford, mate!

Yesterday was my first time heading out of London since arriving.  To be honest, as much as I love London, it was nice to take a day and get away from all the crowds of the big city.  So Andreina and I headed to Oxford with Clair, one of our classmates.  We took a coach (British word for Greyhound Bus) up to Oxford, because it was cheaper than the train and took about the same amount of time.  Of course, knowing my luck, though, we had some issues picking up our tickets....

Never have I ever actually needed to use those confirmation codes that I get in e-mails when I order tickets and things online.  Everything I'm used to has taught me that, as long as I bring the card I used to buy the tickets, I'll get my tickets.  Not so when it comes to National Express Coach services.  Andreina and I arrived at the station to pick up our tickets yesterday, only to find out that we actually needed to have written down the reference numbers we were sent via e-mail.  The internet cafe in the station was closed, so we searched frantically for somewhere to gain internet access.  In an unfortunate way to start off the day, we encountered quite a few exremely rude people, the worst being a very unhelpful gentleman at the Visitor Information desk in the rail station nearby.  All we were trying to ask was if there was an internet cafe or computer we could use nearby, and all he told us was that we needed the reference numbers for the tickets and that we needed to go to the coach station.  Uh, buddy, that's what we're trying to do!  Finally, Andreina called up her boyfriend, and he logged into our e-mails for us and read us off the reference numbers.  Abel, if you ever read this.... THANK YOU!

Clair arrived a few minutes later and picked up her ticket, and then we headed out to the bus.  Bus ride took about an hour and a half, but we slept most of the way....

First stop in Oxford was Christ Church College.  I, being a self-proclaimed Harry Potter nerd, had to see the "Harry Potter Staircase", the staircase that leads up to the Hogwarts Great Hall in the movies.  Unfortunately, we were there during lunchtime, so the dining hall (which inspired the Great Hall in the movies... nothing was ever actually filmed there) was closed.

Me on the Harry Potter Staircase! Off to Hogwarts I go!



Andreina, me, and Clair in front of Christ Church College



Hogwarts Corridor in Christ Church College

After Christ Church, we wandered Oxford some more... what an amazing town!  All the buildings are beautiful, and hidden amongst the busy high streets are small, narrow, cobblestone roads that made me feel like we were walking along back in the old days...

Most of the sites closed early because it was Saturday, so we had lunch at a little pub, wandered some more, and then finally caught a bus back to London around 6:30.

Oxford is definitely somewhere I'll want to visit again, but for now, I'm just looking ahead to next weekend.... PARIS!