Camden Market and Oxford

A few weeks ago we visited the most wonderful market. It was part of one of our day trips on the program. We first got to go to a place called Little Venice where people literally live on boats on a man made river. We then got to take our own boat for about a 50 minute ride to Camden Town Market. This has by far been my favorite market so far. When we arrived we first had to take an hour to warm ourselves up in a local coffee shop because now 40 degrees is absolutely freezing (feel free to be jealous). As we began to explore the market we realized how hungry we were. Just as that thought was implanted in our heads we entered the food...Oh. My. Gosh! There was everything! From Mexican to Chinese, donuts to fudge. Everything was real, fresh and best of all cheap. Lindsey and I decided we wanted some real Chinese, so we went up to a stand and it was only 5 pounds for whatever we wanted. After getting my chow mein, chicken and veggies we literally got it down in about 10 minutes. It was unbelievably good. Now that we were feeling good and fed we decided to browse the market. Every single stand had something either handmade, handpainted or just something incredibly beautiful. I fell in love when I passed a stand with oil paintings. The woman selling knew that she had already made the sale before I even asked. I purchased three beautiful oil paintings from her. One is a black and white of the city with a red phonebooth, another is all different bright colors representing the London Eye and the last and my favorite is another black and white of Big Ben and Parliament along the boardwalk with a single pink-leafed tree. We ended up hanging my paintings in our room so they wouldn't melt in their rolled up state but they also make it a bit more homey in our little room. After my purchase I decided I really had to get out of there today before more damage to the pocketbook was done. But I have every intention of going back.

This weekend we took another day trip to Oxford College. Or as I like to call it The Halls of Harry Potter. I'm sure by now you are sensing a theme of what I think is most important in the sights of London haha. Oxford is everything you think of when you think Oxford. Several times I found myself staring at people in awe as they walked past just thinking, "geez they must be smart." Needless to say I got some strange looks in return, probably reference to my strange looks and gawking in amazement at them. We first visited Christ Church College in Oxford. In case you are like me and didn't know, there are actually 38 colleges within Oxford itself. So if you ever ask a person where they went to school and they reply Oxford, well first you gawk and then you ask what college? Christ Church is the most tourist friendly college because it is the home to the Great Dining Hall in Harry Potter. When we entered I was shocked to see the size because it is actually quite small. It was also weird not to have the pictures move...haha. The second bit of Harry Potter history is the staircase that Professor McGonagall stands at the greet the first years in Book 1. I took many, many pictures that I will hopefully post soon. Overall the day in Oxford was fun but completely unexpected. Oxford is a college town but not a "college town" if you know what I mean. Madison is a "College town" Oxford is more like a little town that happens to have beautifully historic buildings and a ton of smart students in it. There was no campus feel to Oxford. We spent the rest of the day searching for Oxford gear. I purchased a T-shirt and a few other gifts for people.

London's damp has begun its attempt to take over my health. I have been battling a bad cold for about 2 weeks now. The weather here is usually raining or now we still had a little snow today (not like DC). I'm sure I'll win out but wish me luck! The rest of the week is getting ready for Scotland time. Expect a lengthy blog about our trip sometime after this weekend.

Love