Day 35 - Oxford

Today I went to Oxford. I've been through there several times, as it's quite close to Reading. But I've never really seen Oxford. It's a hard city to see. The old buildings are very nice, but they block your view of everything else. There's no place (on the ground) with a good view of the city. But today I went up into St. Mary's Church tower, and really saw Oxford for the first time.

It's an amazing city. Here are a couple pictures. If you'd like to see more (I took 105 today), just email me.



Two things were very frustrating though. 1) Garbage cans are very hard to find. I had to cary an empty coke can and sandwich box around for about an hour. Then later I had to take my empty coke bottle & cup on the train with me and eventually throw it away in Reading.

2) It's very hard to find cold drinks! It was very warm today, which only made it worse. The Sainsbury's Local had cold drinks, but it also had 20-minute-long line ("queue") to buy anything. Most places just have cans and bottles in refrigerators - which LOOK cold, but in reality the average temperature inside of them is about 60F. I was fooled by one place with a sign that said "cold drinks". I guess their idea of "cold" is anything below room temperature. I stopped at a few cafes to try to at least get a cup of ice, but none of them even had ice. Just warm drinks in the refrigerator. Yuck! Fortunately, I eventually found a place that had ice. I asked for a cup FULL of ice, and a bottle of coke. It probably seemed to them like a strange request.

Otherwise I had a great time there, and will probably go back again before too long. And I was able to make it back to Reading in time for a great healthy dinner with some friends.

posted by Matt @ 11:24 PM