Bright and Early

We finally made it home after a long flight and an extremely long line to disembark the plane and exit the airport. US travel is highly inefficient, bottom line.

Enough about coming home my last day has yet to be documented! On our final day with one another we decided to visit Windsor Castle. Since we stayed out until the crack of dawn the night before we were not too chipper in the morning so we left Worcester College around 10:30am and headed to Heathrow. We checked into our hotel and began our trip to Windsor Castle. Up until this point transportation had not been too bad but this day proved that transportation in the UK is not always peachy. We waited an hour for the bus to come and pick us up from Terminal 5 at Heathrow so we made it to Windsor quite late but it was well worth it.

Once we were finished at Windsor we were starving so we went to the local Pizza Hut to share a pie and then headed back home. Once we got there we were drained, I ate my final dinner of fish and chips and then went to sleep. We hit McDonald's the next day for breakfast then checked out and flew off.

Grateful...

I didn't post it yet but on Thursday we went into London to explore the sights and enjoy dinner. Our original plan when we left the states was to go to London on March 26, 2010, however our group influenced us to go early and we went to discover Windsor yesterday instead.

This was truly God looking out for me. Their are huge rifts here in regard to the financing of public education here which at one point was provided by the state. Students pay roughly $3,000.00  now and the fees are set to increase to around $13,000. This is what caused the massive protest yesterday and Trafalgar Square (Piccadilly Circus, home to big ben, london eye, buckingham palace, etc.) was closed. Over 200,000 people took to the streets to speak their mind and the gorgeous Ritz Carlton which were present at on Thursday was vandalized by anarchists yesterday. Watching this on television exhibits that there definitely was a mighty power at work and He was watching over us on this trip.

Last Supper...

So I pretty much have lost track of the time here and it has flown by way faster than I wanted it to. Today was a long day with 3 lectures and I was pretty tired from being out in London the night before, but I sucked it up and mustered some strength to pull another long night with the group. Today was another gorgeous day where the sky was blue and not a drop of rain has fallen since we have been here. They asked us if we could stay since we brought the rain but unfortunately we return on Sunday. After lecture we had a 3 1/2 hour gap before dinner so Sofia and I went to the Ashmolian Museum which is the university's museum of antiquities. It was amazing and we did not have enough time to see everything but here are a few things one being a statue which I have seen in art books before.

After wrapping up the Ashmolian we went and purchased some postcards from here in town and went to the local shopping center. We came back got spiffied up and then had a cocktail reception of champagne. Our dinner was once again delicious. We began with a fennel and grape salad followed by baked salmon as a starter, the salmon was followed by Duck Margret with cherry sauce and it was all topped off with my favorite part, DESSERT! We were served a chocolate toffee tart which was amazing. I can't get over how hospitable everyone was here and how delicious the cuisine is as well.

After wrapping up dinner we headed to the local night club called the The Bridge, yes the one Sofia and I visited the other night. I went to the back bar and I asked the bartender to make me a drink and he made the most delicious martini (pictured below). It was incredible, a definite work of art as he drew a heart on the top with passion fruit syrup.!We stayed there until closing and then everyone was off to bed to go to sleep and fly away tomorrow but I am lucky enough to not have to leave until Sunday even though that is too soon as well.  

The Aftermath...

So I had originally planned to blog each day about the events which occurred but last night was a little skewed.

Our day began as normal yesterday and we ate breakfast and attended 2 lectures in the morning and one after lunch. Once we completed our third lecture Sofia and I hit the town, we opted out of the Mini Cooper Factory tour since there was limited space and decided to explore Oxford. We visited the church which Mike's parents were married in, St. Aloysius, and it was absolutely beautiful. For a small church it is still huge, definitely not the 8 x 12 office space which we have back home.

After St. Aloysius we made our way to St. Mary's where we intended to climb to the top of the clock tower and look over the whole city. It was absolutely amazing and on the way we were confronted with a Bollywood movie shoot which we observed for a short bit. Definitely weird that the first time I would encounter that would be here rather than home. After viewing the city from one of the best views in town we crossed high street to the official University of Oxford shoppe.

We loaded up on goodies and gifts for the family and made our way down High Street investigating the clothing shops. There so many pretty things it was hard to be good but we were. We finally settled on a place to eat, The Living Room, which is right next to Oxford Castle. One of the best places I have ever eaten! They also had my favorite dessert of Sticky Toffee Pudding which I thoroughly enjoyed after my 21 day aged fillet, yum. After dinner the best part of our adventure began we made our way back to Worcester College to drop off our purchases and then made it over to the Eagle and Child which is one of the old stomping grounds of CS Lewis and JR Tolkien.

 Was extremely small and we enjoyed a bottle of wine where we met two American students from the east coast.

We then began our pub crawl which was not planned at all. We stopped at The Bear and The Kings Arms, then hit the night clubs on Park End. We met a group of gentlemen celebrating a chap's birthday at The Bear and we tagged along with them for the rest of the evening.

Definitely fun to hang out with the locals and enjoy some brews. The nightclubs were fun but I believe I enjoy the pubs a bit more. We went to Wahoos and ended our night at The Bridge. All in all it was a fantastic evening and I am paying for it today. 

We are off to London now!

Wait for Me!

Today was the third day of my adventures here in Oxford and it has continued to be a blast. We began our day with lecture again and today's speaker was by far my favorite. Leslie de Chernatony was a bubbly little man, as he was very animated and he gave great insight into the branding of a product.

Following our coffee break we were greeted by Eric Thun who took us step by step into the Chinese Economy. He brought the perspective of doing business in China into a whole new light and created an understanding of the political system within China.

After Mr. Thun was finished with his lecture we headed to lunch where we had BBQ Pork Loin, potatoes and zucchini.

We quickly wrapped up lunch and made our trek to Blenheim Palace. The grounds were beyond gorgeous, we were not allowed to take pictures within the palace but we took plenty from the outside. Here are a few depicting the entrance and the courtyard.

After conducting a tour through the home (birthplace of Winston Churchill) we went outside to the grounds. The lawn here is immaculate just miles of green and the family stopped a creek to fill up the valley into a lake as you see it above. The exit to the palace is through the gift shop however when I went to purchase my gift the clerk took 15 minutes and I nearly missed my bus. Thankfully they noticed I wasn't there yet and waited. :/ Our events of the evening however were not over yet, we attended evansong at Christ Church at 6:00 pm. The choir was beautiful and the church was absolutely gorgeous. Definitely a thumbs up even if you are not Catholic by faith. 

After we went to evansong we made our way to the dining hall which inspired the movie Harry Potter as this was the school which Hogwarts based its dining hall off of. It was closed and a group was dining there so we were instantly asked to leave but we all got pictures anyway.

Dr. Jasso made a recommendation of a local pub called the Head of the River which was literally on the bank of the Thames River in Oxford. We enjoyed some fish and chips and brew and then made our way back to campus.

I wanted to have something sweet and the dessert menu at the Head of the River just wasn't cutting it so I went with 4 others back to the Four Candles and we all ordered dessert. Earlier in the week I had spied Sticky Toffee Pudding on the menu and have been dying to go back and try it. Ever since enjoying it at 29 at the Rivera in Palm Springs I have wanted it again.

For those who have not heard of it, it is a warm cake with butterscotch sauce surrounded by a warm pool of custard (by far one of the best desserts ever). The picture below does not do it justice.

I turned in early this evening, hence the reason that this was posted the morning of the next day.

Today Sofia and I are going to explore Oxford while the others go on the Mini Tour, we are genuinely looking forward to our adventure and much more fun is definitely going to ensue.