Allison's Wonderland

For the past two 1/2 half weeks all eyes have been focused right on London.  If you don't know what I'm talking about then you've been living in a hole for the past month.  The London 2012 Olympics just finished up and it was a whirlwind of a two weeks.  One of the major reasons I wanted to be in England for the summer was due to the fact that the Olympics were going to be here, and I wanted to be right in the middle of all the mayhem. My goal was to attend an Olympic event, but after all the craziness with the ticketing system, it was not looking like a possibility, or was it? 

Olympic Torch Relay

Waiting for the Torch

I thought it would be so amazing to be here during the Olympics, and really it has been, but there is no coverage of American athletes!  All the news has been focused on team GB, so some of the greatest American Olympic moments have been missed by me.  Kind of sad, but you know, you can't have your cake and eat it too. :)  My Olympic experience all started on Wednesday the 25th of July.  My friends and I were headed into London in order to visit St. Paul's Cathedral, Hyde Park, and to just really make a day of it.  While on the train I started talking to a lady with 4 kids and she said they were going to Wembley to see the Olympic relay.  Well, who wouldn't want to go see the torch?  So I convinced the other girls to go and that was that.  We hopped off the train at Wembleyjust in the nick of time to see the torch pass by.  I also got a free coke out of the deal. :)  I'm not exactly sure who was carrying it that day, but I've never seen the Olympic torch up close and personal.  It was definitely a first and I tried hard to get in the camera shot of the media van that went before the torch.  Not sure if I made it or not, but at least I tried.  That night, Anna and I walked into Trafalgar Square after seeing the Ballet Swan Lake, where a huge Olympic Countdown sign was there to mark the hours in which the Opening Ceremony would commence.  Of course I had to get my picture in front of it.  London was alive with the Olympics, and like I said before everybody was excited.

Trafalgar Square at Night with Olympic Countdown

Opening Ceremony in GX

Olympic Man

Friday night, the 27th of July, marked the night of the Opening Ceremony.  I met up with a bunch of the other Au Pairs and we sat on the grass in the Common along with the rest of the population of Gerrards Cross.  Anna and I got our picture taken with the little Olympic mascot man.  I'm not exactly sure who designed it, but he's weird looking with one eye.  Like really weird.  I don't like him.  We ate food, talked, drank wine and just had a good night.  It was so interesting for me to see because there were probably like 10 of us there, and we all represented different countries.  I have never celebrated the Olympics with people other than Americans so it was really, really cool.  With the 9 of us we represented, France, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, USA, Spain, and Hungary.  Pretty cool huh?  I was decked out in my red, white, and blue to support team USA amongst all the Brits.  That's when I realized their colors are also red, white and blue.  Hmm...I wonder where we stole that from? Some of us were even patriotic enough to paint flags on our faces in order to represent our countries.  We all had a great laugh because my Aussie friend Tayla decided to put the Aussie flag, along with AUS on her face.  I mean she tried to put AUS on her face, but she put it on in the mirror so instead her face read SUA.  She got her picture in the paper, along with a little clip in the video that was put together and shown at the closing ceremonies event.  

Team USA & Team SUA!

 Unfortunately we sat behind these really obnoxious drunk guys who would comment on absolutely EVERYTHING!  I wasn't even talking to them when I made a comment about how I didn't understand why they were focusing so much on the Industrial Revolution while everyone in the world is focusing on going green.  Also, during the Industrial Revolution there was a lot of child labor, and a lot of negativity.  Granted it did change the way the world was pretty much run, but still lots of pollution and unfair labor treatment.  Anyway, that's when obnoxious man number one turned around and said that the Industrial Revolution created the world.  I just looked at him and said, No, God created the world.  His friend sitting next to him was completely appalled and then proceeded to ask me what planet I was living on.  I just looked at him and said, "The one God created."  God is kind of dead in this country so it really didn't surprise me.  Oh well...it was fun to go through the parade of countries as we were all cheering for different ones.  Australia was one of the first and USA was one of the last, but everybody waited for my country to come by.  That's when I met David. It's kinda cool cause I got to spend the opening ceremony with him and the closing.  

You know how I said tickets were hard to come by?  Well that Sunday, the 29th, my friends and I spent the whole day on the computer at Anna's house.  The tickets would change every hour and we were busting our butts to try and find one event to go too.  We didn't even care what, we just wanted to be apart of London 2012.  That's when I found the Men's Beach Volleyball tickets for 20 Quid a piece.  And if you don't know what Quid is, it's pretty much the English equivalent of "Bucks".  I went to the check out, and that's when it said that the tickets I requested were no longer available.  We had them right in our grasps, but nope!  The ticketing was way off for London 2012.  There were empty seats everywhere and the people of England were in a serious outrage about it.  They even launched an investigation to as why the seats were so empty.    Didn't matter because I still didn't get tickets.  Anna and Sophie landed Women's soccer tickets up at Wembley stadium for 45 pounds a piece to see France vs. Japan.  I had to pass because 45 pounds is more than half of what I make in a week, and I didn't really care to see soccer, let alone watch France vs. Japan.  I still had high hopes as to see an event though. 

Crowds Lining Up

Nelson's Column

The last day of the Olympics rolled around and I had concert tickets to see Blur in Hyde Park along with watching the Closing Ceremony events.  I still hadn't been apart of an Olympic event and was kind of bummed about it, but I knew it just wasn't meant to be.  I was suppose to meet David at 10:30 in front of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.  That's when I started to notice more people than normal in the square and the fact there were about 5 helicopters flying over head.  I went to cross the street to get a cup of coffee as David was running late, and that's when I noticed there was also no traffic at all

Waiting for it to Start!

along the street.  That is DEFINITELY unusual for Trafalgar Square.  So I asked the girl sitting next to me at Nero Cafe what was going on.  She then told me that the men's marathon was starting at 11:00 right on the Mall.  I was soo excited!  I hopped up, took my coffee with me and climbed up to the second level of Nelson's Column right in the middle of Trafalgar Square.  I was going to get my Olympic even after all!!  I found a nice comfy spot and got all excited to see the Men's Marathon run by me while I sat on one of the most historic landmarks in London.  It took all of about 30 seconds for them to go by, but I got my picture and I got my video. 

Climbing the Stairs

It was the perfect end to the perfect beginning.  David and I climbed up the 311 steps of the Monument in London City and ended the night watching Blur in Hyde Park along with the closing Ceremony.  I was also able to get Fish & Chips which is something I could never be sick of!  If I'm ever this close to the Olympics again, I will definitely plan to get tickets WAAAY far in advance.  Sometimes you just don't know what curve ball life will throw atcha. :) 

Blur in Hyde Park

Oxford pretty much holds the title as being the oldest school in England and let's not forget one of the many locations for the Harry Potter films.  Due to student vs. locals rivalry which resulted in a riot and a massacre, and the fact that some people weren't particularly fond of everything Oxford, Cambridge was born.  It's just a hop skip and a jump from Oxford and is located right on the River Cam.  It is an absolutely lovely little town, and one that I enjoyed exploring!

My day in Cambridge started out as most days out do, by catching the train from Gerrards Cross.  You can read my blog about Trains, Planes, and Lack of Automobiles to know exactly how that train ride went, so I'll spare you some of the boring details.  One of my main things I do when I travel is to explore different types of eateries.  I'm a foodie at heart so this is a very important factor.  Although this is the case, while adventuring one of my meals ALWAYS consists of McDonald's.  I'm a girl on a budget, what can I say?  On our mile walk into town from the train station, Leonie and I spotted a little cafe that was exuding heavenly smells.  We had to stop.  Once inside the place was extremely HOT.  Come to find out, it was due to the freshly made pastries that had just come right out of this huge boiling hot oven.  The man who served us was an absolute delight and fortunately for us there was seating outside so we didn't have to sweat while eating our breakfast.  The pastry I had was to DIE for!  I think it might have even been better than my favorite Nutella filled brioche that I would get everyday in Italy.  Yep, it was that good. 

Market Shopping

Belt Making Machine

Now Leonie and I were on a mission.  I was told by my Lonely Planet guide, other Au Pairs, and every travel website I had read that I absolutely had to go Punting while in Cambridge.  What is punting you may ask?  Well it's kind of like the redneck version of the Gondolas in Italy.  While walking around, we ended up in this huge square where there was a pretty awesome market going on.  That's when we were approached by this girl who was selling punting boat tours.  Once she found out Leonie was German, they started speaking their Deutschland native tongue as I stood there not knowing what the heck they were saying.  Thanks to them both being German we got a 5 pound discount.  Hey hey hey!  We were in luck.  Our tour didn't start till 12:30 so that gave us time to shop till we dropped.  I absolutely love market shopping and have really missed it since leaving Italy.  In Italy the market shopping was amazing and so cheap!  I got the cutest stuff for 5 Euros and under.  I haven't really bought anything for myself or anyone else for that matter since I've been in England.  Everything is expensive

Belt with my Pirate Belt Buckle.

and I don't really make enough money to buy souvenirs, but today was different.  I love unique things as well, that's when Leonie and I stumbled across this little vendor who was selling handmade belts, bracelets, etc. all made out of leather.  You were able to choose your belt buckle and the type of leather you wanted.  I was drawn to this gaudy gold pirate ship belt buckle.  I don't know why but I loved it.  The man was able to make me my own belt with my pirate ship belt buckle inscribed with my initials for only 10 pounds.  It was a steal. :)  Shaun says I can wear it to my next pirate party which I just might do.  Leonie got one as well but in comparison to my buckle hers was way more subdued.

Lovely Tour Guide

Our Boat. :)

After our market shopping experience, it was time for our punting tour of the backs. I don't know what it is about Cambridge, but there were so many Asians it was absolutely unbelievable.  It was kind of like the trip where Megan and I visited Versailles.  As to why they would be interested in Cambridge, I'm not really sure, but on our punting boat, Leonie and I were the only white people besides our very attractive punting boat captain.  We made sure to sit right in front of him so we could have a good view. :)  The river Cam was seriously crowded that day but we only rammed into like two boats on the whole trip.

Bridge of Sighs

We went underneath all the different bridges hence the name Cambridge due to the River Cam.  We went under several which consisted of the Mathematical Bridge which supposedly Isaac Newton built without a single fastener.  Supposedly the students were dared to take it apart and put it back together and once all undone they could not put it back together the way Isaac Newton built it.  I totally believed this story but than after reading my Lonely Planet guide, I was informed otherwise.  It's not true.  They also have a replica of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice just like Oxford.  I think this one was a bit prettier than Oxford, but definitely not as beautiful as Venice.

Our Picnic Before it was interrupted

After our tour Leonie and I were famished.  So where did we head?  To the Golden Arches.  Grabbed some grub and headed back to the backs in order to sit by the river and eat.  Found a nice little sunny spot, got out our cheeseburgers, and just as I was about to take the first bite we were told by a security officer that we were not allowed to eat on the premises.  UGH...England and all their stupid laws.  So he told us where we could eat which was outside the gates of the backs on this dirty little path.  We sat down by a tree and I was in a white skirt and not happy about our surroundings.  All we wanted was a nice little picnic!

Trinity College Square

St. John's College

Oh well, it was onto Trinity College.  The place I've been wanting to see all day as it has one of the largest courtyards which was also the stage for the famous scene in Chariots of Fire.  It also has this ridiculously old tree in the yard as well that is said to be over 600 years old and the supposed Apple Tree where Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity.  We got up to the front of the gate and guess what?  It was closed.  MURDEROUS!!  I got my picture taken in front of it, but that was it.  So we decided to explore.  Went over to St. John's college and just started wandering.  Wandering is honestly one of my favorite things to do because you can stumble across some pretty cool stuff.  Well we ended up in the back entrance of the college and were actually able to cross over the inside of the Bridge of Sighs.  We also got to go into the chapel and ended up exiting through the entrance where we didn't have to pay!  SWEET!  Wandering has its pay offs.  Now it was time for King's College.

King's College Chapel

King's College is the second wealthiest college in Cambridge, with Trinity being the first.  Our punting guide told us how housing in Cambridge works which I think is really kind of awesome.  Other Universities, ahem Liberty, need to get with the program.  As a first year student you live in the dormitories which are just plain normal dormitories.  Nothing really special.  The second year you are required to live off campus and get a feel for apartment living.  Third year is the cool part.  Housing is based upon your grade point average.  The better you do, the better your living arrangements will be.  If you slack off you're going to be housed with 8 other people with a shared kitchen and living room with little space.  If you do exceptionally well, you have your own housing with your own

Inside Chapel

kitchen, living room, balcony overlooking the river where you can have friends over and chill out whenever.  I like that idea because it definitely gives you incentive to do better in school. The chapel on the grounds of King's College was suppose to be one of the tallest chapels in Europe and my Lonely Planet guide ranted and raved about it.  I figured okay we have to go and I thought as well that when you pay the entry to the chapel you also get entry into the college.  We ended up paying 7.50 in order to get into this place and it seriously was not anything special.  Leonie would not let me live it down.  Haha oh well.  After King's College it was my favorite part of the day.  Dinner!

I scoped it out by using my Lonely Planet and Leonie and I were off to a place called "The Eagle", kind of like "The Eagle and Child" in Oxford.  This one was famous for a different reason though.  It was established in 1525 and was the place where Watson and Crick first announced their discovery of DNA.  It was also a popular establishment for RAF and American forces during WWII.  The

Fish & Chips

ceiling of the RAF bar still bears their signatures of those who fought and died for freedom.  Pretty cool little historic place.  I loved it and of course I had to get my main dish of Fish & Chips.  I always order that out everywhere I go!  After dinner Leonie and I had gotten really silly on our walk home. 

Our Asian Pose :)

That's when we ran into the 15 year old.  It was so odd, but this guy passed us and was like Oh hello...and so I said hi back.  Then he just stops in the middle of the sidewalk so we caught up to him again.  He looks at me and asks me if I think he's sexy.  Leonie couldn't stop laughing and I asked him if he wanted me to tell him the truth.  He looked 12 and was very unattractive.  I mean what stranger asks that of another stranger?  We were dying laughing the whole walk to the train station.  WEIRDY!  We took pics at the train station acting like Asians.  We're classy like that.  It was a wonderful day, although we ran across a few disappointments, but overall another great little mini vacation. :)

Taking the Train to Cambridge

Seat Hog

Our friend Don

Although we had some great train experiences on our way to Cambridge, none can compare to my friend Donald, Leonie and I met on the way back from London. He was a real gem.  It all started when I dropped a 2£ coin under the seat in front of me.  Due to the starting of the Olympics, for some reason Marylebone Station was closed so we had to take a completely different train out of Paddington Station of which I’ve never ridden before.  We sat down and I was by the window while Leonie had the aisle seat.  I was trying to put my train card back in my wallet when I dropped the £2 coin under the seat in front of me.  So I nicely ask the man sitting in the seat if he could get it for me.  That’s when Don in the corner pipes up who has been sitting diagonally across the aisle from us talking to the man who picked up my coin.  The first thing he asks me is if I’m single.  Now normally that’s a weird way to introduce yourself, but it’s even weirder when you’re about 65 years old with gray hair and don't really fit the mold for flirting with twenty something year old's on the train.  So you can see why I was a bit put off.  He then asks me a bunch of other questions about how old I am, etc. etc.  He then tells me that I need to get with his friend Adam here.  Adam is the guy that picked up my coin for me.  Come to find out Adam is 18.  He was a nice enough kid, but 18 is a little bit too young for me seeing that’s younger than my baby sister.  Just weird.  Come to find out Adam had just met Don on the train as well.  I thought they were best buds by the way they were talking to each other earlier.

Poor Embarrassed Adam

Anyway, Don keeps pushing and pushing and pushing me to give Adam my number and I try to be nice at first and laugh it off, but he just won’t quit.  So I gave Adam my number who than gives me his.  We made Don happy so I thought he would be quiet and leave us alone.  Nope!  Not the case.  He then started on about how I have to go to Adam’s for tea and have crumpets with his family.  Just weird!  We then start asking him questions about himself and that’s where he clams up and gets weird.  He told us about his 10 properties he has all over England and how rich he is with his millions of pounds.  He then starts talking about how he’s going to die and who he’s going to leave his millions to.  It was BIZARRE!  Leonie was just laughing the whole time, meanwhile Adam and I are just thinking about the fact that this guy is off his rocker.  I checked out his fingernails and they were caked with dirt and I smelled a funky smell coming from his direction.  Not really the makings of a millionaire but I guess they come in all shapes and sizes.  Finally it was time to get off the ½ hour train ride where the three of us got off the stop at Gerrards Cross and just looked at each other like, “What just happened in there?”  I got pictures of both Don and Adam because Don asked me too.  Haha…Seriously the train is an interesting, interesting place. J

 You know what's wrong with this country?  One word.  Well two if you put the article in front.  THE WEATHER.  The rain it haunts me here.  Seriously HAUNTS!  This country hates me.  I'll spend 3 hours cleaning in the morning while the sun is shining, birds are singing and it's a beautiful day.  The second I step out of the house to go anywhere, a torrential downpour comes out of no where and follows me all the way into town.  I don't have a car here, so I walk everywhere . . . in the rain . . . with my terrible umbrella.

Queen's Theater

I had been looking forward to going to see Les Miserables at the Queen's Theater in the West End of London town.  Met my friend Anna at the train station and once we got to London, the downpour began.  We had a wonderful dinner at Franco's Ristorante and Pizzeria, had a cup of coffee and cake at Cafe' Concerto.  We tried to get into this place called Bocca di Lupo

Food from Cafe' Concerto

(Mouth of the Wolf) which was recommended by Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor, but we were hungry at 4:30 and they didn't open till 5:15 pm.  Poop.  Next time.  After our dinner and coffee we were off to see the show.  It was absolutely amazing!  The slow motion scenes made me hold my breath because they were so spectacularly done.  The singing was amazing, acting was amazing and I have found a new favorite musical.  I have never seen Les Miserables before except a terrible version that LCA did without any music.  Awful.  We only paid 20 pounds for our seats, and they had a great view.  We left the theater on a Les Miserables high to another torrential downpour.  Ran to the subway station and rode the train home.  This was all fine.  Than I had to face the 1/2 and hour journey home in heels with a broken umbrella.  Here we go...

The teyible weather

Said my goodbye to Anna and got the umbrella out.  The minute I open my 2 pounds 50 umbrella, one of the spokes breaks.  Great just great.  As I started to walk to the city center it kept hitting me in the face.  I got nervous because it was pretty sharp and looked as if it would and could take my eye out.  Mishap number one.  I'm in a dress and tights, and as I walk my legs keep getting wet from under the shelter of the umbrella.   I don't know what it is about this town but they do not have proper street lighting.  It's very unnerving when you're walking home late because you seriously can't see a thing.  They also do not trim their hedges.  Mishap number two I step in a puddle that is about a foot deep due to the fact that I can't see the freaking side walk.  My boots were totally covered to the top with water and water seeped inside making my tights and feet squish at every step.  Mean time it's 11:30 at night and all I want is my bed because I have a throbbing headache due to being dehydrated.  The tap water here is absolutely awful and I forgot my water bottle at home, so no water for this girl.  Mishap number three, due to the untrimming of hedges I get whacked in the face and side several times.  As I'm walking and getting bombarded with shrubbery I start screaming about how much I hate this country.  The rain is the most depressing thing ever here, and I sincerely can not understand why people live in England by choice.    As

The Puddle that drenched me

I'm walking the wind decides to kick up and my umbrella flips inside out.  I'm so angry at this point I start beating the shrubbery with the umbrella.  "I HATE THIS COUNTRY!!!"  Can't you picture it right now?  I probably looked like a crazy wet drowned rat screaming to herself.  At this point it's still about a 20 minute walk home and I start crying because I just want to be in my bed.  I'm just standing there and a nice Audi drives by in a huge puddle and completely drenches my entire body in puddle spray.  I just stand there.  Completely covered in water with an inside out umbrella and squishy boots.  Due to the events of the night I just stand there and start laughing and crying at the same time.  If I had been on the outside looking in on my unfortunate situation I think I would've been on the floor laughing.  I was the absolute definition of pathetic.
It took every ounce of me to walk myself home that night.  I think I was to the point where I would've curled up on someone's front porch and just slept there due to my terrible misery.  I finally made it home and collapsed on my bed.  My feet hurt due to wearing heels and they were wet, cold, and squishy.  Bed never felt so good.  I can't wait to get home to warm weather, sun, and my car Scuttle.  Getting behind a wheel of a car will be so exciting.

Ready for the Theater before the Rain Came

Ready to GO!!

Eating at Franco's because Bocca di Lupo had no openings

Just taking pics at Caffe' Concerto

Oxford.  It just screams high class intellectuals doesn't it?  I had the opportunity of walking these great halls where people like Lewis Carroll, Albert Einstein, J.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and John Locke walked and learned.  Just being in the city made me feel a little bit smarter.

Radcliffe Camera

I hit the road with some of my traveling buddies.  It's really difficult to find a mode of non-public transportation around here, but fortunately for us Elena was able to use her "Au Pair Mobile".  It's an old clunker, but it gets us around.  It also has a steering wheel on the left hand side just like home.  Train travel around here is a bit expensive and it was going to cost about 18.50 for a return ticket to Oxford, so this was a good little treat of only 6 pounds per person for petrol!  We started out by walking past Magdalen College.  C.S. Lewis had an office here and it looks over the Deer Park where he got his inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia.  The town is just absolutely gorgeous.  I love it.  I would live there for sure.  Made our way up High Street, and into The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin.  Because it was Sunday, we weren't able to actually go in it unless we were attending service, but we were able to go into the tower.  Now the tower stairs going up to the top were like little metal blades of death.  It was so scary walking up those things because they were doing repairs and it was simply

Up in the Tower

scaffolding that we were walking on.  We then had to make our way up another set of stone spiral stairs to the very top.  We had a spectacular view of the whole city of Oxford and the Radcliffe Camera building which is the most photographed building in Oxford.  Leonie and I made friends with these people who were on their porch.  They were living in the building that we wanted.  It was this cool loft in a multi-colored building.  You'll see it in the pics I took.  After our near death experience up the tower, it was off to the covered market to waste some time before our tickets started to the Bodleian Library.  Of course, while in the market, most of the places were closed, but I was able to buy some post cards for family and friends back home.  Score!

Duke Humphrey's Room

It was now time for the Bodleian Library.  I was super excited about this place because it’s one of the oldest libraries in the world 1602-1620 it was built, and the Divinity School built in 1427 which is right below the library.  It also is one of the many film locations for Harry Potter which it made it extra special.  I was fascinated at the history surrounding this place.  Little fact for you, the students in Oxford and the towns people there never really have gotten along.  Kind of like in Lynchburg where all the townies are annoyed by the influx of students every year.  Well in on St. Scholastica's day a drunken brawl got out of hand

In the Divinity School

and the chancellor of the school rang the university bells and all the students rushed to the brawl.  At the end of the day on February 10, 1355, yes 1355 a truce was called.  The next morning however the towns people ran up the recruits and entered the town square with pitchforks, axes, shovels and pikes.  By the end of the day 63 students had been killed and 30 townspeople.  Yikes!  Imagine trying to go into class and you're faced with an angry towns person with a pickaxe.  Not cool.  Not cool at all.

Statues in the back of the School

Anyway, the Divinity School had all these cool statues located on the back wall of St. Peter, the Crucifix, etc.  During the English Reformation, when King Henry VIII declared himself head of the English church, he sent out representatives of the Crown to get rid of any Catholic icons.  In the school there is a decapitated St. Peter and also they took down the crucifix.  It’s a big red stain on the history of England.  Henry you're crazy. Beheading your wives and then stealing church icons.  RUDE!

Harry Potter in Bodleian

We learned all about the Divinity School which was interesting, but I was ready for the big shebang!  The Bodleian Library.  This place was so awesome.  I’ve seen the Library at Trinity College in Dublin, and this one was just as cool.  It wasn’t cooler, but it was just as cool.  And it helped that Harry Potter was filmed here.  Does the Harry Potter photo look familiar to the other one?  The Librarian in there was extremely protective.  Our Tour guide took us to the other side of the main room which was supposedly "more modern." Just ya know 16/1700’s while the other part was around 1500’s.  I guess that’s not normally a place the tour goes and the librarian watched us like a hawk.  She made me uncomfortable!  I hated the fact that we weren’t allowed to take photos, but whatever.  I got a post card.

Huge Queue

After our library tour from history back in the day it was time for a coffee break.  We went to this place called the Missing Bean which looked like the perfect college hang out.  Being in Oxford made me want to go to Oxford.  Why didn’t I try harder to get into a prestigious school?!?  Oh well, in my next life maybe.     The next stop was to go to Christ Church College.  Lewis Carroll, writer of Alice in Wonderland, graduated from this specific college and lucky for us, it was the 150^th anniversary of the writing of his popular book.  I don’t know what it is about Alice in Wonderland but it just keeps popping up in my life.  I played Alice during my senior of High school and ever since then I can’t be rid of her.  Not that I want to.  I actually got inspired by Alice in Wonderland which is the reason for the name of my Blog.  They were having a big Caucus Race in the Christ Church Meadow.  We decided to visit the college first and got in the HUGE queue to get in.  It took us about 30 minutes before we reached the front of the line.

In the Grand Hall of Christ Church College - The Dining Room in the Harry Potter Films

Great Hall Entryway

Christ Church Cathedral

 Christ Church is one of the biggest colleges of Oxford University, and one of the most well known.  It also houses Christ Church Cathedral and the Great Hall which was the inspiration for the Great Hall in Harry Potter.  When you walk in this place it’s like you’re being transported back into time.  It was so amazing to walk through these medieval halls. There were tourists everywhere, but I mean whatever, we all wanted to see this amazing place.  It was 7 pounds to get into which was a little steep, but you just gotta do it. :)  We went into Christ Church Cathedral afterwards, and the little old 80 year old woman handing out pamphlets to give more information about the place was stunned when we asked for a pamphlet in German, French, Spanish and English.  We're such a multicultural group of friends.    In the church, there's the "Jabberwocky Tree" in the courtyard that's over 400 years old.  So cool!  Lots of Harry Potter movie magic around this place too.  Just loved it.

Entryway into Hogwarts

The Great Hall

Tom Tower in the Tom Quad

The Mad Hatter at the Alice Shop

After our Christ Church College visit we went to the Caucus Race.  It was absolutely bizarre.  There were a bunch of people dressed in costume running around singing, "The best way to explain it is to do it.  DO IT!"  We left pretty quickly because all of us were a little freaked out.  We had to stop at the Lewis Carroll Alice shop before leaving the area and I got several post cards for friends back home and then of

Coffee at Queen's Lane

course a pin.  :)  Afterwards it was coffee time at this place called Queen's Lane Coffee Shop which was established in 1654.  Who establishes a coffee shop in 1654?  Everything in Oxford is just so stinking old and I absolutely love that.  Got myself an Irish Cream Mocha which was super sweet, but ya know good all the same.  Afterwards we headed over to the Bridge of Sighs replica at New College.  It's definitely not as beautiful as the real Bridge of Sighs in Venice, but it was still cool.  Had to get my picture in front of it anyways.

Bridge of Sighs Replica at New College

After our walk around it was time for my favorite part of the evening.  DINNER!  I had been looking forward to going to the Eagle and Child Pub which is famous for the fact that J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would meet for their book club called the Inklings.  The pub was established in the 1650's, and was really one of the main things I wanted to do while in Oxford.  Got myself some "Italian" Focaccia which wasn't Focaccia at all. It was terrible.  Simona told me I wouldn't be able to find good Focaccia outside of Genova, IT and I think she might be right.  I don't even know what this stuff was.  It was bizarre.  My fish and chips were way better than my appetizer, but I still ate it anyway because I was FAMISHED!  We sat back and had a pint where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien would sit and contemplate life, and I definitely felt smarter again.

By the River making Asian Poses

Afterwards it was time for a glass of wine down by the river and then we had to make the 45 minute drive home.  It was an absolutely wonderful day and all four of us had a great time.  I love Oxford and I wish that I would've at least applied to the University.  Haha...I know for a fact I wouldn't have gotten in, but just being there made me want to be a student all over again.  Maybe one day in my next life . . . :)

Eating at the Eagle and Child Pub

"A" is for Austen and Allison.  She is my LOVE!

Posing in front of the Radliffe Camera Building