Siamese Cities

Well I'm back from my day trip into Oxford. Oxford was a great beautiful city with lots of history, but first I want to reminisce about my journey to Cambridge yesterday. We woke up at the crack of dawn to meet the coach that was to take us to Cambridge. We found out that we were heading into Greenwich (again!) so everyone can stand on the Prime Meridian. We opted to skip the Royal Observatory and headed straight to the Greenwich Market. It was a really artsy market with homemade articles. There was a man heading a booth with photographs he took of Cuba as well as other locations. I was really impressed with his black and white prints, but was quickly turned off with his curt attitude. After our quick trip into Greenwich, our group then drove to Cambridge. Our lovely tour leader Lydia, took us for a quick stroll around a few of Cambridge University's college (Clare and Trinity). The university itself is home to 31 colleges! We then headed into a few small alleys and found ourselves crossing this little bridge. Check out the view:

Lydia then lead us to the starting point of the punting tour. Here is a picture of the punts:

Our punter (don't really know if they are called that), Chris, took us smoothly down the Thames River and pointed out several attractions of interest. This bridge, called the Mathematical Bridge or officially the Wooden Bridge, is said to have been designed by Sir Isaac Newton, but that is said to be a myth.

Me and the girls on the punt (our punt was one of the larger ones; it held twelve people):

The view of Clare College (left) and King's College Chapel (right) from the punt.

After our punting excursion, we headed off in search for Manna Mexico, a Mexican place that a friend from our school's program recently visited on her visit to Cambridge. After a few minutes of asking locals about a Mexican restaurant, we had found it! I had a "Big Ass Burrito" (haha) with steak. It wasn't the best, but at that moment, it was the most delicious meal I've had in weeks!

Now that brings me to today's trip, Windsor Castle followed by Oxford. Today's tour leader was the charismatic Nigel. He was very knowledgeable about all our destinations. Our first stop, as I previously mentioned, was Windsor Castle. This castle is the Queen's favorite weekend destination. Nigel informed us on the coach that one can detect whether or not the Queen is in residence for the weekend by searching for a yellow flag. Sadly, there was no yellow flag flying today. However, before we were lead to the castle, Nigel pointed out a pathway in a park that Prince Philip likes to take his horse on. I'm not sure if he still takes his horse out seeing that he is 86 years old, but it's still a nice piece of trivia.

From Windsor Castle, we took a short ten minute walk to Eton College, located just over the river. Eton College is a public school (which is the opposite of what Americans think is a public school), which means that it is actually a private school. "Public schools" according to Americans are known in England as state schools. Several distinguished men call themselves Old Etonians including Prince William and Prince Harry, 19 prime ministers as well as a few United States senators.

I had to settle for an exterior picture because there was an admission to enter, boo!

After our short stay at Windsor, we headed towards Oxford. Nigel took us on another walking tour of the city and pointed out these heads. These heads represent the Twelve Apostles (Nigel incorrectly said 13, but I figured he wasn't raised as a Catholic so I forgave him) and were said to be vandalized during graduation time. According to Nigel, these busts are the third set to be installed!

Now comes the most exciting part of my trip, according to me at least. We were given an opportunity to visit Christ Church College a.k.a. the setting for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and most recently J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series! Here is a shot of its exterior:

Does this courtyard look familiar? I swear it's used as one of the courtyard scenes in the series! You know the scenes where Harry and his friends are often conversing outdoors?

This staircase should also look familiar. I think it was first seen in the first movie where Harry and friends are first entering Hogwarts and are greeted by Professor McGonagall. Of course, in the movie the lighting is much darker and the steps aren't painted white as pictured here.

This dining hall is used as a model for Hogwart's dining hall in the all the movies. Of course it wasn't as large, but you can see the similarities.

Outside of the dining hall, on the staircase:

Inside the Christ Church Cathedral:

That concludes my recap of visiting two of the oldest English-speaking universities in the world, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. Nigel informed us that the portmanteau for the two universities is Oxbridge (I think it's quite cute). It was simply amazing to be walking down the halls that former prime ministers and leaders used to walk to take to class. It was even more exciting to know that I was on-location of several Harry Potter movies! I'm glad that my last weekend was spent with my housemates exploring two of the oldest cities in England. It seemed fitting to stay in the country of my studies as opposed to somewhere across the English Channel.

I know this last week will fly by since I'll be working on my paper and attending classes. It will be strange to pack up and actually leave in a few days. I have called this place home for the past two months and overall it has treated me well. This is an experience and a summer that I will never forget and I am glad that I chose the University of Sussex to study at. This may sound like my last post, but I think I'm going to make one final entry before leaving for California.