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Oxford Got my Shoes Dirty

December 6th, 2008 2 comments

And Brighton got my shoes wet. The past two days I’ve been taking advantage of the rail system within the UK. It’s one aspect that I find truly amazing about this country. You can get from one point to another by train in a very short amount of time and it doesn’t cost a lot. Yesterday I made the journey to Oxford. I was actually very close to it when I went on my road trip. I figured it would be best to tackle the city without having to worry about a vehicle.

It definitely is a unique town. I quite enjoyed walking around it. I made sure to drop by Christchurch. It has some significance to Harry Potter. I’ll have to wait for a resident HP expert to chime in, Kim!! I ended up walking through a park and made it to out skirts of town. It was a long walk back in but I made it! At this point I was starting to really feel the effects of the cold that I was hoping was only a sore throat. Check out the Oxford album, there’s some good photos!

Today I boarded a train to Brighton. It’s on the southern coast of England. It is know for it’s rocky beaches. I didn’t quite know what to expect. The beach is completely covered with what we would call river rock. It’s much smaller, about an inch in diameter. It’s the weirdest thing! So I went down to the waters edge with a goal in mind. I wanted to touch the water!! This is when things went terribly wrong. I studied where the water would come up to and finally felt comfortable going near it. Well, one of those random large waves decided to rear it’s ugly head and before I knew it I was in water up to my ankles. OOPS! So I had some wet feet for the remainder of the day, great for being sick as well. I walked along the edge of the beach. They have a sort of board walk there. There is also Brighton Pier which is like an amusement park suspended over the sea. 

Upon arriving back in London I made my way to Oxford Street. We Americans have Black Friday, Londoners have the first Saturday of December. Oxford Street and Regent Street is closed to traffic and as I found out people swarm the area. It was unbelievable the amount of people that were out. I also made what will probably be my last visit to the Regent Street Apple Store. 

Tomorrow I’m heading to Canterbury. Check back tomorrow evening for those details. I have also dropped below a week remaining in London. I’m still in shock that this is my last Saturday in the city. Quite amazing! I can almost see home from this point!!