Goodbye London, Bonjour Paris----Paris day 1

Welcome to the amazing and romantic world of Paris (photos later)

Today I got up at 5am in the morning so I could travel from Oxford to London then to Paris.

I took the Oxford Tube (15 pounds ticket for student within a 3 month returning period) that left Queen’s Lane at 5:52 to London Victoria station. It took about 100 minutes for the coach travel. On our way to Victoria station, we passed by Hyde Park and saw a very pretty fountain! Finally, we reached the bus stop at Victoria station. We walked about 100 yards from the bus stop to the Victoria Underground/ London Tube station.

My first impression of the London Tube: hectic!!! Even hectic doesn’t really give it justice! There were people EVERYWHERE coming from ALL directions and they all knew exactly where they are going. It’s was organized madness. I got my ticket (single in zone 1) for 4 pounds and took the Victoria Line North, which is on platform 3, for 5 stops. The 5^th stop is King’s Cross St. Pancras rail stations. To clarify, King’s cross and St. Pancras are two different rail stations that happen to be built next to each other. Thus, you get off on the same Tube stop for both stations. Many great things about navigating the London Tube are the officials are friendly and always know the answers (in my experiences), the signs are quite clear (kind of because they don’t tell you if the tube line is north/south/east/west just the name of the line), map is a must and the Tube is very fast and efficient! Basically since I survived my first Tube experience with little to no difficulties I am rather biased in my opinions of the Tube.

Anyway, I got off at King’s Cross St. Pancras tube stop and followed the sign to St. Pancras Rail Station. The station is very clean, modern and bright. Since I didn’t print out my Eurostar ticket at home, I had to print it out at the station, which was no trouble at all for printing my ticket! It looks like an airplane ticket. After getting the ticket, it was time to find the departure area. There is an Eurostar departure and arrival gates in St. Pancras. I entered the check-in area for Eurostar, the next thing is security and scanning luggage as if you were in an airport. Then I had to go through EU border (so passport is required!!!) The border agent ended with “merci, mademoiselle!” It was then I realized I am on my way to Paris!!

When it was time to board the train, the train was located at platform 6. I was in coach 17 seat 11. It turned out that it was the beginning of the train! I sat next to this beautiful British lady who is a freelance fashion agent that organizes fashion shows. And one incredible thing about her is that she has actually seen Catherine Middleton, Pippa Middleton and Carol Middleton in real life!!!! How amazing is that!?  I guess the Duchess was shopping at a lingerie shop that this British lady works in and she was there when, then Catherine stopped by for shopping. This is another extraordinary moment I have had in England and it started out with simple conversation. It’s amazing how much people are willing to share cool parts of their lives with you. I’m very honored!

The train ride was about 2.5 hours from London to Paris. I arrived at Paris Gare du nord station at local time 12:47. Paris is one hour faster than London.  I waited in line for Taxi, but the line was so long that I decided to just walk around and find a street and hail a cab there. My destination: Tim Hotel Tour Eiffel. Since I don’t speak any French beside the usual “bonjour”, “au revoir” and so forth and the taxi driver didn’t speak any English. It was quite an interesting car ride. He was able to point out many things along the car ride while I was looking at the map. My self-taught French saved me a little (just a little, like tiny bit) when he was telling all the different famous attractions.

Eventually I arrived at the hotel, checked in. It’s a nice and simple hotel, but a hotel nonetheless. After setting my things down, I went out for a lunch/dinner. My first meal in Paris: French Onion Soup!!!!! It was delicious, of course, but very expensive. According to the menu, it was only an appetizer dish and it cost me 8.7 euros! It’s so expensive! The server didn’t get us tap water, so the water from the bottle also cost me some money……

After the quick lunch, I decided to walk around. One reason that I chose this hotel was its proximity to Eiffel Tower. And it is very very true. As I followed my map, it was a mere 20 minute walk from my hotel to Eiffel Tower. It was such a magical, magnificent and overwhelming sensation as Eiffel tower appeared before my eyes so huge, so powerful, yet so romantic!!! No photos that I took can do any justice to how amazing it is! There are lifts that you can go up to the top of the tower and every single lift (4 total) was lined with seas of people.  So I knew that I wasn’t going to waste my time lining up, not yet, at least.

After looking at the Eiffel Tower, the group of us decided to take a bus tour around Paris. We went on this red double decker with an open top. This is a “hop on, hop off” tour bus, which means you could hop on anytime and hop off at any location whenever you feel like it. The fare was 26 euros  and we could use our ticket for 2 days. There are both sides to the bus tour. The good side is that you get to see the major tourist attraction of Paris (Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tour, Arc de triumphe, Invalides, Pont Nouf, etc) without sweats. The downside is the price. I semi-enjoyed the tour, it got me to all the major attractions in about 2.5 hours and I was able to take lots of photos. I finished the whole tour instead of hopping off anywhere. For a self-traveler, it’s a good way to see Paris but an expensive one.

After our bus tour, we walked back to our hotel for a quick rest. Then we were off to a boat tour/cruise. There are many boat tours in Paris and all boats travel on Seine. There is a range of boat tour in Paris, from the one-hour site tour (that generally costs around 11-12 euros) to private cruise with lunch/dinner (champagne and so forth) that could cost up to 100+ euros. We did a one-hour tour with Bateaux Parisiens at 12 euros. (This is only one story, one example) I didn’t really enjoy the tour and there are couple reasons. One, by “luck” there were many teenagers that happened to be on our boat, who made loud noises and just very annoying. Second, unless you were lucky enough to sit close to the side of the boat, you can’t really see the whole buildings. Third, I had to remain seated the entire time, which didn’t help with photo taking. With that said, there were some good things. One the tour was interesting. Second, you get to see the bridges in close proximity (there are 14 bridges across Seine in Paris). Third, watching all those people sitting on the bank, picnicking, talking, dancing, and waving at them was pretty fun. One fantastic surprise that came with the boat tour was when we were docking at the end of the tour, we saw the Eiffel Tower glittered. It was so beautiful, magnificent and romantic that I was so star-struck. It was a moment where I couldn’t believe I was REALLY in Paris, but the glittering Eiffel Tower said otherwise. Overall, I wished I had done more research into this. I didn’t plan on having a boat tour, but the girls that traveled with me wanted to.

After the one-hour boat tour, it was around 2200. My friend Clara and I decided to check out the lines at Eiffel Tower again because we simply can’t miss having the opportunity to go inside and up the Eiffel Tower. Sure enough, the lines were much shorter, way shorter than in the morning, so we lined up! Unfortunately, when it was our turn to buy the ticket, the (very) top/tip of Eiffel Tower was closed, so we could only take the lift to 2^nd floor of the Eiffel Tower, which was still very high up. It’s my strong recommendation that you book your ticket in advance online. You can choose when you want to go too! My ticket was a reduced ticket (Youth 4-24) which cost 6.6 euros to go up to 2^nd floor (which is 3^rd floor in America). Then we were off to the lift. The lift moved diagonally following the pillars of the Tower. It was very strange moving in that direction and kind of scary as you slowly ascend up. But the night views of Paris were DEFINITELY worth the wait. It was INCREDIBLE (please repeat that in all possible languages)!!! The wind was blowing kind of strongly and a bit chilly, but the views…..the lights were shined everywhere, although I could barely make out the most notable attractions. It was definitely a Ratatouille moment (for those that have seen the movie). Paris at night: beautiful. Paris at night from Eiffel Tower: stunning!! It was just magnificent.

This was my first day of Paris. Simply (or not simply) breathtaking.  I hate to say this but Paris is definitely a city you have to experience it yourself. This city of Love, Light and Romance is full of great beauty everywhere and all the time. From a tourist’s perspective, this city has so much to offer: its history, its architecture, its arts, its food, its people. I have only been in Paris for one day and I was in love. How can you not?! I think Paris was done a great job of welcoming me on my first day. 

With lots of Parisian love + bless                    

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II---Edinburgh Day 2 conti

I'm so so so so sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I have been sick. I am recovering from a food poisoning (will blog about it later). So I haven't had time to do anything but sleep and rest.
So, last entry I included two photos of the Queen. I had to zoom in like crazy to get those shots. The Queen was NOT close to me at all!!! So, that's my excuse for fuzzy photos. To top the photos, here is the address that the Queen gave that I recorded.

 

Hopefully this would make up for delay. My huge apology!!!!!

Thus, we can begin my second day in Edinburgh (July 2, 2011):

I woke up early on Saturday because I knew the first place I wanted to visit was the Edinburgh Castle. Obviously, when you hear the word castle, you know there would be lines! So, of course being the crazy person (or uper prepared :P) that I am, I had to beat the lines! My breakfast was included as part of my stay at Pollock Halls (once again, I love the place). The breakfast was the first HOT breakfast I had in over a week. I couldn't be happier! One particular thing that I want to introduce to you all is the black circular thing on the upper left hand corner. It is haggis. It is a traditional Scottish food. I had it for the first meal in Edinburgh and I didn't realize they would have it for breakfast as well. I really really like it, despite the fact that it's made out of lamb/sheep organs. It was very tasty. (side note: I didn't finish all of my breakfast, I snuggled the bread out to be my lunch, bahaha!) 

My first HOT breakfast in a week!

After breakfast, I left my hotel immediately. I had plenty of time and I planned on using it to wander around the city in the early morning without any tourists, cars,buses or noise. Here is a photo of a castle-wanna-be that is located within the vicinity of all the residence halls. I think it's a restaurant/up-scale dining hall now. I didn't go in, but it looked gorgeous from the outside. 

Castle turn dining hall

One of the great things about Pollock Halls is the area where it's situated. It's about 25-30 minute walk from Edinburgh city centre and close to is this amazing highlands:

See the highland/mountains in the back?!

The highland is actually called Salisbury crags that is part of the Holyrood Park in Edinburgh city. There is a path that you could hike up to the top to look at the Edinburgh city, but I did not have the gear or time to hike up there, but I did go up to another hill that I will explain later (yup, that's right, keep you hanging!). So, I began my wandering around. The first place I walked by was The Meadow (as it is printed on my map). The Meadow was actually really huge, I only walked around 1/4 of its circumference. There were many playing tennis already when I was there (Wimbledon was well under its way), people jogging, dogs running. It was such a nice morning. It was a great start to my day!! After walking through The Meadow, I walked through the University of Edinburgh, but honestly I wasn't sure which buildings are which because they were having massive construction.

Part of University of Edinburgh (?) 

 One thing about traveling without a tour guide or group travel is that you encounter city like Edinburgh, you are lost in its magnificent buildings but you have no idea what they are. It is a downside I would say, but the upside is the reward of walking around the city with a simple map on your hand and able to conquer all that you have planned (without getting lost). This is what I love about (semi)-solo travel! There is no deadline, no "let's meet here at this time", the amount of freedom allows me to do what I want! Ok, back to my walk:
So after passing the University of Edinburgh, I passed my the Museum of Scotland (free admission), which unfortunately I didn't have time to go in:

 The museum has a very modern look on the outside, yet the materials it used allow the museum to blend in very well all of the historic buildings surrounding it! Apparently Dolly the sheep is in there (miss it :( )
(to be continued...sorry)

Her Majest Queen Elizabeth II-----Edinburgh day 2

Just a quick post because this is quite amazing!

My shot of Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Phillip)

Journey to Edinburgh beings....day 1

Friday July 1, 2011. Edinburgh here I come....
I woke up early this morning so I can catch my 8:36 train from Oxford to Edinburgh.
To get to the Oxford Rail Station [OXF] I had to take the Red bus #8 to city centre then transferred to Red bus #5. This trip to Edinburgh allowed me to finally use my Britrail Flexi Pass, which I can't wait.
So here are the logistics on Britrail Flexi Pass (as I am speaking from experience):

1. Your pass must be validated before you use it. I purchased my Britrail Pass via Rick Steves and received my pass in the mail in the US. Britrail pass could only be purchased on of the UK, can't find them here. To validate your pass, bring your Britrail Pass with your passport to any ticket counter in any station. The ticket master will write your passport number on your pass, ask you to sign it in front of him/her (so don't sign it beforehand) and stamp your pass with date and validation. After validation, you are good to go.
2. Railpass = ticket, so don't purchase any ticket. On the day of your travel, walk toward the entry gate with a ticket master, write down the date of your travel, (so, I wrote July 1st on my pass when I left Oxford). Then show it to the master, s/he will let you in. 
3. Now, you have successfully entered the station, so find the right platform!

Note: I didn't reserve any seats, most of the time, there are seats available for non-reservers, so you don't really have to. Also, you can always buy "Today's ticket" for a cheaper price than advanced purchase. But I always check my train schedule ahead of time on the webstie for trip planning.

So, I entered the [OXF] and found platform 2, which is where my train will be.One thing I noticed about the British rails is that there are many different rail companies operating different routes. I was on the crosscountry co. rail that covers most UK across the country.

Oxford station platform 2

My train

The train I took left Oxford at 8:36, there would be one transfer along the way to arrive successfully at Edinburgh. Here was the first part of the route we took, the final destination of this train was Manchester:
Oxford-Banbury-Leamington Spa-Coventry- Birmingham International-Birmingham New Street

It took about an hour and ten minutes from Oxford to Birmingham New Street. 
Then we transferred at Birmingham New Street to catch another train. We caught a second train, whose final destination was Glasgow Central (we didn't know at the time that this bus traveled on the longer route, we just jumped on this train because it was right there and we didn't have to wait):
Birmingham New St.-Derby- Chesterfield- Sheffield- Wakefield Westgate- Leeds- York- Darlington- Durham- Newcastle- Alnmouth- Berwick (-upon-Tweed)- Edinburgh

York Rail station platform

Darlington Rail station

Castle in Darlington, seen just outside rail station

Town of Alnmouth, possibly

The second half of the route was very very long, we got on the bus at 10:03 and we didn't arrive in Edinburgh til around 15:00. But since the train traveled along the coast of the British isle, we were able to see some water from Alnmouth to Edinburgh. It was spectacular:

Beginning to see the Scottish Highlands

Finally we arrived at the Edinburgh Rail Station [EDB], which was PACKED with people. It finally hit me that I was going to the Capital of Scotland, it's a big city, not a city like Oxford.

Edinburgh Rail Station, busy as crazy! parts are under construction

We then walked out of the rail station and tried to find the Traveler's Information Center, so we can get maps and information on the city. But once we got out the station, I was so overwhelmed and star-struck by the awesomeness I was seeing. Very different from Oxford, the buildings in Edinburgh appeared old because the stones were so dark and lack cleaning (whereas, Oxford buildings were restored).

There won't just a couple of buildings, there were TONS of these buildings near the city. I was so excited, overwhelmed and worried that 3 days were just not enough time to look at this historical and beautiful city. I was basically in sensory overload: too many magnificent buildings, too many people, too many cars, so much noise....I needed to find the Traveler's Center to help ease my mind. 

The people at the Tourist centre was extremely helpful!! The lady, Fay, helped us figured how to get to where we are staying, where to go (for free) in just three days. And she even told us that the Queen is here in Edinburgh!

Yup, you heard/read it right! The Queen of UK is in Edinburgh the same weekend I am here! Hooray! How lucky is this!? I can't believe it!!!! Apparently, earlier today, there was a procession of moving the Crown Jewels of Scotland from the Edinburgh Castle to Palace of Holyroadhouse down the Royal Mile,  where the Queen is staying when she is here. Even though I miss that, the GREATEST news is that the Queen is making a public address tomorrow in the Holyroad Park and it's a free event! This just means that I am going to see the Queen! Really!? I have to shout this out, "I am going to see the Queen~~~~~" This is such an amazing timing and luck. It's incredible how things just work out and how fantastic it is. Who knew that while I was in Edinburgh for just three days, I would be able to see the Queen in person. My British-o-meter is through the roof!

After gathering this information, we left the Tourist Centre and started walking towards our "hotels". But we first stopped by for an early dinner. We went to Whiski, which is located on High Street. I ordered Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, and was ready to try some Scottish Whiskey:

Haggis, Neeps, Tatties

"Sweet and mild" whiskey

 Haggis, Neeps and Tatties are traditional Scottish food, it is really made of ground lamb, cheese, and mashed potato with chives(?) on top and a Scottish biscuit on the side. It was really delicious even though the names are really weird. And then the whiskey, I asked the (very handsome) server for an "easy" whiskey for beginners like me, he replied "something sweet and mild". But when he handed me this whiskey, there is NOTHING mild about it. When he put the glass down, I could smell how strong the whiskey was inches away, that strong liquor smell just diffused like crazy! I am pretty sure the alcohol content was at least 8% maybe more, it was so strong! But it was sweet. I managed to drink about half of it and eventually just couldn't handle it. My lips were kind of numb, lol.

After dinner we walked to Pollock Hall, where I would be staying for two nights. It's about a 25-30 minute walk from Edinburgh city centre. And it's definitely worth the walk. I booked my "hotel" almost last minute and found this place. Pollock Hall is a residence hall belonging to the University of Edinburgh. I paid 66 GBP for two nights with breakfast for a single room. It was not a bad deal at all once I saw my room:

The (dorm) room is very spacious, clean and well maintained, and yes I have a sink in my room. This is very typical of British dorm. The shower room is very clean too. The area where this hall is located is great, it's among other residence hall in a quiet area just off the busy city. I highly highly recommend anyone who wish to travel here to book this place. I am LOVING the room I got. It's worth that 66 pounds. Now we just have to see how breakfast will be....

So, here is the preview for my second day in Edinburgh:
Visiting the Edinburgh Castle at 9:30
Walk the Royal Mile and visit St. Giles ('jiles') Cathedral on the Royal Mile
Stop by the Palace of Holyroadhouse
Go to the Queen's public address at Holyroad Park

Note: I will post a link for an Edinburgh city map

until next time
bless + cheers+ love

Quick update and organization

A huge thank you to my friends and family who read my blogs! Sorry for the late posting recently.
There are couple things I still need to post

1. Day 3 and Day 4 of my time in Oxford
2. Second half of Day 5, which should be about what I did before I went to the King James Bible Exhibtion
3. Day 6 and Day 7 of my time in Oxford
4. My weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Oh geez, looks like I have a lot to get through, hahaha.
So warning, I will try my best to post them in order, but fear not, I will indicate the date of when things happen :)

King James Bible Exhibition (Day 5)

Day 5 of my Oxford study abroad: Tuesday June 28, 2011.
This post is out of chronological order because it's too amazing to post it later. I will post Day 3 and 4 after this one!

Warning: This LONG entry contains NO photos of any kind, only embedded links. Be sure to click on it!!

Today was a very very special day, where I will blog about it in two parts. First, I just want to say that my hope for this blog is to bring you all a daily account of all of my activities here in Oxford, and with my best attempts at writing and your best attempts at imagining, you could experience what I have experienced here. But sometimes, events that occurred are often beyond descriptions, narratives, or illustrations that it's hard to give an accurate account of what happened that day. And today was this kind of a day.

In order to tell you all about the Exhibition, I need to first tell you my basic understanding of the Bodleian Library. The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford. It houses more than 11 million books that it acquired since 13th or 14th century. All of the books published in the United Kingdom must submit one copy to the Bodleian Library, it's kind of like the Library of Congress in the US. A fact about the library is that it's not a lending library meaning that you can NOT borrow books, it's a library of reference. If you need a book, you need to physically show up at the library and read it inside the library. You can never check out a book, no matter who you are (a King of England, whose name I forgot, asked for a book to be sent to him but was rejected by the librarian, who was NOT beheaded. The King had to show up at the library). For Harry Potter fans, you might be thrilled to know that the Divinity School was shot as the Hogwarts Infirmary and the Duke Humfrey's Library was the Hogwarts' Library. (So, Hogwarts' Library does exist in real life!). And this is NOT a public library either, only members are allowed to use it. I am fortunate enough to be in this study abroad program and to obtain a temporary library card that would allow me excess to some of the books and amazing, Hogwarts-like (only description) reading rooms.

What's the whole point about the back story on the Bodleian? Well, not only is it one of the most historically rich, resourceful, old and incredible library in structures. It also houses the most amazing collections of books you could ever imagine. Ever since it was built and even before it was built, the library has had a copy of all books published in the UK and on top of it private donations from the wealthy (who wished to leave a 'legacy') and from scholars. And this is where our King James Bible Exhibition begins....

This is a free admission exhibition. As you can imagine, some of the most prized and famous collection of books can't be shown to the public, so the library has exhibitions where they let the public view some of the collection. And this is how I was able to look at this amazing collection of priceless books.

The exhibition is formally known as Manifold Greatness: Oxford and the Making of the King James Bible. (Please check out the website!!!) It is not a huge exhibition. But there were 11 glass displays of priceless books. The website will give you a better understanding of the history of the making of the King James Bible. I will give you some basic explanation of the works I saw and a bit of background with each display:

1st display: Before the King James Bible (KJB): the Earliest translation of the Bible into English was around 9th century. Most Bible (Old and New Testaments) were known to Anglo-Saxon as poetic adaptions. I saw: Old English religious poems c.1000 that had a color illustration of Adam and Eve with God.
There is a display of "MacRegol" or "Rushworth" Gospels c. 800 in Latin by Irish half-uncial MacRegol


2nd display: First complete translation of Bible in English was produced by Oxford Theologian John Wycliff (c. 1324-1384), but the translator was unknown. The Wycliffite Bible had 2 versions: Old and New. The Old version is a direct word-to-word translation, but the New was more idiomatic, which was prohibited. I saw a 15th century Gospel Readings from Wycliffite Bible.
Wycliffite Bible (c. 1380-1390 written) itself that had the Old Testament in the Old version, flipped to Book of Deuteronomy!
Nicolas Love's Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ c. 1415-1430.
Old English translation of Old Testament (Genesis to Judges) from 11th century translated from Latin, also called "Heptateuch"


3rd display (no background, sorry): Ann Boleyn's (Queen to Henry VIII) Tyndale New Testament. Tyndale New Testament was first printed in Germany (1525-6) then in English after the Wycliffite Bible.
Geneva Bible 1606 flipped to Genesis Chapter 3 with a map of Eden, it's also called the "Breeches Bible" (from Genesis 3:7). It was Elizabethans' favorite bible for private reading.
Vulgate Bible, Lyon 1511. It is in Latin. This bible has chapters numbered but not the verse. And in the page it is flipped to, the word 'papa' (pope) was twice erased (I saw that) by its Tudor owner, who followed King Henry VIII. At the margin, there is Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's writings.


4th display: Douai-Rheims New Testaments (1582-1609), some verses of this bible were later in-cooperated in the the KJB. It is flipped to the cover and it reads, "The New Testament of Jesus Christ, translated faithfully into English out of authentication Latin...."
'The Great Bible" 1539 which depicted Henry VIII as greater than God in the cover. This Bible remained in church 9and was used) until 1611. It became the foundation of King James Bible (but the KJB was also influenced by Vulgate Bible). For those looking at the photo in Wikipedia, I saw the copy in person and it was magnificent, beyond words. The drawings and such.

5th display: "The Holy Bible" 1611 (or King James Bible) I won't tell the history, but if interested should look it up. The Bible included calendar, almanacs, "Genealogies of Holy scriptures" and so on. It was printed by the King's printer, Robert Barker.
The Bible was huge and amazing! I got chilled down my spines when I saw it. It was THE King James Bible. THE ORIGINAL! THE BIBLE! It was thick, huge and magnificent. It was really beyond words, such important piece of history just inches away from me and it BELONGS to the Bodleian Library. How incredible is that!? I was not expecting to see the KJB to be there but, there He lies....AMEN!

6th display: Bishop's Bible of 1568, which was used by Elizabethan bishops and became the textual model of the KJB 1611.

7th display: Annotated Bishop's Bible 1602. There were 40 copies distributed around Europe to be translated in to English. This is the sole surviving one (and it's in Bodleian!?). Like it says, the Bible has annotation at the margins. Incredible!!

8th display: Handel's manuscript of Messiah (c. 1741-42). The original manuscript! One side has a huge X where Handel crossed out a page of the music. Speechless!

9th display: The Holy Bible 1769, which is the first revised KJB by Benjamin Blayney of Hertford College, Oxford. And it became the "Oxford Standard"

10th display: Literary effects of KJB
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe 1719, the original copy.
John Milton, Paradise Lost 1668, greatest Bible based poem in English. The first edition was what I saw!
Samuel Richardson, Clarrisa 1748

11th display: other Bible translators and their other works.

I guess what I am trying to say in this entry is that it is incredible, fortunate, moving, and scary. I am amaze at the quality these books are in. I could read the texts (not that I understand), I could see the illustration as if it drawn yesterday and I could try to relate how much work it went to but nothing really prepares you too see history in front of your eyes. It is a very weird feeling how close they are to you. I would think that these should be locked away in some highest of high security vault miles underground, but there they are, so welcoming, warm, and innocent. I almost felt so guilty standing so close! The chill I had when I saw KJB, it's a feeling I would never forget!

A place like Oxford could be so deceiving, you see the shops, cafes and markets all around you, so you feel like you are just in another college/tourist towns. You know the buildings are old but they don't really feel that way. You know history is all around you, but it's only with quiet and serene moments like these that you really experience that eerie-ness and magic of history and the journey men have made together. It's really is beyond us.

Until next time
Truly truly bless and with love, AMEN!

Day 2: Roaming around Oxford...part 2

Swan in River Cherwell

Punting boats

After meeting, Clara and I went downtown with Kristin. We walked from EF center to Oxford city center, which was about a 10-minute downhill walk. Along the way, we stopped at Magdalen (pronounced 'maa-dalen' not 'mag-dalen' this is an Oxford specific pronunciation, more later) Bridge and saw swans and punting boats in River Cherwell.
                                                                        




Then, we directly went to get our bus pass, the Key, operated by Oxford Bus Company. This bus pass is similar to ORCA card in Seattle, except that it doesn't cross over with other bus company, not yet at least. We got the 37 GBP for 4 weeks within the Oxford city, it's a great deal for us because every round trip bus fare cost 2.40 GBP, so more than 11 round trips would definitely worth the 37 GBP. We got the card on the 3 Floor (which is the 4 floor in US, because in UK, they have Ground Floor that is our 1F, and every subsequent floor is +1, a bit confusing at first) of Debenhams, a higher end department store in UK located at the intersection of Cornmarket Street and George Street.

After we got our card, we specifically wanted to look around Radcliffe Square (check map :-) )where Bodleian Library (pic not included here), Radcliffe Camera and University Church of St. Mary the Virgin are located.
The Brasenose College is one of the 38 colleges of the University of Oxford.
The Radcliffe Camera is not a camera, in the modern sense, at all. Camera means chamber in Latin, so Radcliffe Camera is a big, open chamber that used to be the first science library for Oxford.
The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin is one of the oldest building in the entire Oxford University, it was here around 13th century, maybe even earlier (I can't remember the history, check website!). It is OLD!! And magnificent. It's really magical how these buildings have been here for many centuries, and here I am surrounded by these amazing buildings. The buildings have witnessed brilliant histories and themselves have become history! It's overwhelming and extraordinary and incomprehensible sometimes.   

Brasenose College

Entrance to Radcliffe Camera

Entrance to University Church

After walking around the square without a tour guide, we bumped into Brian and Chuck. We talked a little and they pointed out that the King's Arms have some really good beer, so we decided to go and have our first British pub experience and have ourselves some beer.

The King's Arms

Young's Gold

My empty glass!!!

With Chuck's recommendation, we both ordered a half pint of Young's Gold, which is a very smooth tasting beer without any after taste at all. For a non-beer lover I really really enjoyed the beer, which was definitely unexpected (as many of you know!) :P Each pub in Britain has a brewer that they chose, so for the King's Arms, they use Young's brewery and their beer.
The beer was very delicious and I finished all of it, haha! And was not red or anything afterward, lol.
After we got our drink, we picked our seats and just enjoyed our beer. There were a lot of students and people in the pub. Everyone had a beer or a drink with them. They were there to talk, hang out and drink.The atmosphere was very lively! We will be trying their food next time (next blog entry). So next time if you are in Oxford, I highly recommend the King's Arms as a place for great food and drink!!

Tip:
This is how British pub works:
You go up to the bar and order your drink with the bartender and pay for it there (no tip at all). Then you can take your drink to where ever you like to sit and enjoy. There is a separate counter to order and pay for the food. There is no need to tip in the UK. If you do, they would love you, but if you didn't, it's ok. There is no shame in ordering just a half pint, even though most British drink the full pint. And you can pair your beer with whatever you desire, sweet or savory, there is no rule. The pub might recommend the pairing, but you don't have to follow. They will serve the food for you.
One rule: the British don't drink to get drunk, public drunkenness is considered very impolite and rude. So, please DO NOT do it! It's an American thing....