A Day in.... Oxford

What do you do when it gets hotter than 15 degrees in the UK?
You pull out your hotpants and don't go inside before sunset, cause who knows how long it will last!

Our original plan was to go to Brighton, but we changed that to Oxford a few days beforehand. To get the most out of our day, we met at Paddington Station to catch our 9:35am train that would take us to the famous university city. All of us have been to Oxford before as far as I know, so we were more or less relaxed without the pressure to see everything there is.

Our first stop was Sainsbury's. Yes, we are all human and need food.

The first real destination is one Harry Potter fans might be interested in. The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest lecture halls in Oxford and the place where the hospital wing scenes as well as the hilarious dance lesson in the fourth movie were filmed. It's only 1 pound and is empty except for a few benches and spider webs. You could also book a tour through the library where, you guessed it, the library scenes were filmed, it's a bit more expensive (8 pounds) and you need a guide to access it.

When you step out of the building you see the Radcliffe Camera which is only accessible to students. You may know it from TV, it's a popular screenshot of Oxford. Next to it is a cute little cafe that I've never been in but is supposed to be good.

Since we already had our lunch we went straight to the Botanic Garden that's basically just around the corner. It's 3,5 for students if you are interested, just look out for aggressive ducks that will steal your cookies! Unbelievable...

On a serious note though, just like most Botanic Gardens this one is really nice to look at. It's a good thing it was sunny and we were able to sit down for a while, nobody likes soggy mud. You can even sit down next to Cherwell, a river that leads to the Thames. There is nothing like laughing at tourists who make fools out of themselves while trying to not crash against one another. And once you are sick of looking at flowers, you can leave and cross the street and rent a boat yourself.

First we went to Christ Church College though. This place is yet another place where scenes from Harry Potter were filmed, like the arrival of Harry in his first year, when he meets Draco for the second time. The dining hall was a direct inspiration for the Great Hall. And a few scenes were filmed outside in the garden. 

The place has other things to offer, too. A Cathedral with impressive windows and history. The architecture seems typical for Oxford and is definitely worth a second glance. A lot of famous people went to school here, including several British Ministers, philosophers like John Locke, Albert Einstein for a Research Studentship and the author of 'Alice in Wonderland' Lewis Carroll.

And like I already mentioned, a great idea for Oxford as well as Cambridge is a boat tour. Now, if you want to save some money, you can decide to try and operate it yourself. The original plan was for the four of us to change through, but in the end I was basically the only one really doing anything. Guess I'm a bit of a control freak, but it's not like the others were too eager to do it. The only downside is that my back hurt like a bitch the next two days, even worse than my arms for some reason. Worth it though!

The day pretty much ended with ice cream for me and my efforts and a quick snack dinner on the train back home. We were all exhausted, me more so than the others obviously, because of the heat and the walking around, so we went straight home once we got to Paddington. Thanks for the great day!

A Day in... Manchester

Second stop of our little trip through the North: Manchester!

Day 1

After the shock of Leeds and totally exhausted from carrying our bags around all day we arrived at the coach station in Manchester. We all agreed to go straight to bed, only problem: Because I booked after my friends, they had a double bed in an ibis budget hotel and I was in a hostel not too far away. So we said goodbye for the night and went into different directions.

I had a bed in a mixed 28-bed dorm. And honestly, the first night was totally fine! There was only me and three other guys and we managed to spread out so I couldn't even really see them. Only negative things: the shower in the basement is freezing cold because the ventilation didn't stop and the lights in the room didn't turn off until midnight.

After a short breakfast my friends and I met up at my hostel and walked to the National Football Museum (I mean, it's Manchester, come on) which is free and explains a lot about the sports history, developments and aspects like tragedies, women's participation, LGBT+ members and famous footballers. Not only football fans will find something worth looking at in here.

Next point on our list was the second largest China Town in the UK, which was... really disappointing. When you are used to the tourist attraction that is London's China Town the normal looking part that we walked through just looks like any other. The archway was cool though!
At this point we were so hungry we went into a buffet restaurant lust opposite of the arch and made our way through everything they had including dessert. The guy at the counter was really nice and it was cheaper than a single meal in any of the other restaurants we walked by so check it out.

If you are in China Town you just have to walk a few minutes to get to the Manchester Art Gallery. If the weather is bad or you need to go somewhere where you can stretch your legs for a bit a museum is always the best option and this one actually has nice paintings. It also has an entire level dedicated to modern art which is not really something I enjoy in most cases. Like, ok, that a picture of an empty vase. Nice. Ok. Next!
One exhibition my friend was looking forward to in here, and me too when she told me about it, is the Imitation Game. Apparently it's about how an AI can 'grow' and develope by learning. You ask it a question, it learns from it... somehow. I say somehow because it didn't work when we got there. It was set up and you could tip in your question, but it just didn't react. Disappointing, but nothing we could do about it.
For all those who are still kids in there hearts, one tip I can give you is to play "If I were you..." in a museum. The possibilities are endless, there is almost always someone around who would be scandalized by the ridiculous dares you can come up with and if it gets out of hand declare it an art project! Perfect.

And because we were not finished with culture for that day we did a quick stop at the gigantic beautiful library that you can actually see from the museum. It's one of those old ones where you are afraid to breath too loudly in case a stern looking woman with glasses shushes you. I love it. Makes me really excited for university and the unavoidable question 'why am I doing this to myself, I could just start as a stripper'.

Because we still had time to kill we walked through the gigantic Arndale shopping centre and then headed towards the ibis hotel. I just wanted to take a shower in a place where I wouldn't have to freeze to death as soon as I turned out the water. And hell, the showerhead even shone in different colours! And they had a TV! I almost didn't leave.
I wish I hadn't when there was a problem with the room and who has to go into which bed until the manager, with a guest list in his hand, figured out that two guys slept in the wrong room. At this point every bed was occupied and I was still the only girl. A+ logistics, really. Good thing I was too exhausted to really care.

Day 2

Day 2 started out by going to yet another museum. This time, it the People's Museum next to the river where I met my friends. Again, it is really cool, with a temporary (?) exhibition of old photografs from the very beginning of this new technology. It shows workers and how they lived, worked,  looked like. Really interesting, to look at all those faces of people with history, families, problems and to not know anything about them and what went on in their heads. It makes you feel small and unimportant. One day, our photos and selfies will be hanging in museums and people will stare at us und try to figure out how we lived. It's easy to get lost in thoughts like this when looking at blurry,  washed out grey-and-white pictures of strangers.

On the second floor a history of wars and revolutions leads you through the centuries all the way up to the Second World War (what else?). There are several interactive computers that show you the history of several generations of one family as well as dress-up stations. Just don't get lost!


After a more or less quick lunch outside, the sun came out at last!, we went on our way again. Our original plan was to go to one of the universities, only did we figure out we were on our way to the wrong one halfway through so we turned around and gave up on that plan in favor of going to the Northern Quarter.
Or, well, I did and my two fellow au pairs went into the shopping centre once again. To be fair, we knew the Northern Quarter are supposed to be more of a hipster vintage part of  Manchester which is my style, not theirs. It actually has a really nice second hand book shop, vintage shops that sometimes wanted more money than I could offer for a skirt and a forbitten planet. There are also all kinds of coffee shops that look like the cutest little things, god I love those.
Actually, one of those coffee shops was our next destination. We made it our mission to have an actual tea time at least once and this was it. We orders tea and scones for my friends and magnificent madeleines for me. as I mentioned, it looks really cute and lovely with small details you wouldn't even think about. The cake table was hugh and the tea really good. Plus point out of luck: my madeleines didn't come in time, no idea why, so they gave me two and said I had to wait another ten minutes for my food because they were freshly made. It wasn't ideal, but whatever, at least they will be fresh. They tast like vanilla and are eaten with whipped cream by the way.
And in the end, my whole order was on the house, so I didn't even have to pay one cent! I honestly didn't expect that and would have been ok with waiting, but I also won't say no to a kind gesture like that. It's called teacup kitchen and I can definitely recommand it (because of  the food and the service, don't worry).

I felt like I couldn't eat anything anymore for the rest of my life.
From there I went to pack my back at the hostel and straight to the train station where we met up once again to get train tickets to Liverpool. That's just a lot more comfortable than a coach and faster. With the amongst of travelling we would be doing that week we sure as hell deserve some comfort.

So off we were, on to our final destination.