Oxford Blue

Cheers from Oxford loyal followers! Today, we're going to recap our first full day in Oxford.

We started the morning with breakfast at Brown's Guest House. Rosemary had the cornflakes, toast, yogurt and fruit, orange juice and coffee. Winston had toast, scrambled eggs, orange juice and coffee. The breakfast was decent, however, it wasn't anything like Mark's breakfast from Nineteen Guest House in Brighton. After an early breakfast, we hopped on the number three bus to the Oxford city centre and walked to the train station. We had to purchase tickets to our next location. Where will Winston and Rosemary be heading next? Any guesses? 5...4...3...2...1, guess not. Tune into the next post to find out where we head off to next. Until then, let's get to the rest of our Oxford Saturday.

After purchasing our tickets, we headed to a coffee shop called the Missing Bean. It was a superb coffee house that held true to the Italian coffee shop roots. No flavors, no frills, only fresh espresso and coffee. I ordered a latte and Rosemary had the iced latte. It was quite tasty and the baristas performed some of the most amazing latte art I've ever seen. It was a bit too strong for Rosemary, but it was just the jump start we needed for the day.

We did a lot of exploring in Oxford after the coffee. In fact, that is pretty much the M.O. of how we approached each day in a new area of England. We didn't partake in a lot of tours and exhibitions; we just walked around, looked at the main sites and tried to get a real sense of the city and it's vibe and culture. We feel we really achieved that. We walked by numerous amazing structures in Oxford, including, but not limited to University of Oxford, Trinity College, Magdalen College, Radcliffe Camera, Oxford Castle and Bodleian Library to name a few. Oxford is just an amazing place. It's a huge college town and it's just bursting with activity and history. The architecture is absolutely breathtaking. For those of you who don't know, here's a little history on the University of Oxford:

- University of Oxford was the first university in the English speaking world
- Students from more than 140 countries and territories make up the student population of more than 20,000
- Over a third of the student body comes from outside of the U.K.
- Teaching at University of Oxford existed in some form since 1096
- Student population grew immensely when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris

After exploring and shopping at some stores and boutiques, it was time for lunch. We decided to go into a small pub called The White Horse that was located on Broad Street. We had to step down into this small pub and it was like stepping back into time. There was very little seating, a fully stocked bar of great English beers and it was bustling with activity. Winston ordered the fish and chips and Rosemary was excited to see a chicken fajita on the menu. Winston ordered an Oxford Prospect beer and Rosemary had a Pepsi. The food was delivered shortly and the fish and chips were absolutely delightful. In fact, it may have been the best fish and chips I had on the entire trip (could be why everyone in the entire pub was ordering the dish). Rosemary's fajita left a lot to be desired. I guess she'll never learn that you don't order a Mexican dish at an English pub :)

After a little more exploring and some down time at Brown's Guest House, it was time for an evening drink and dinner. There was a small pub that was just down the street from our guest house and it had received great reviews for it's atmosphere and handmade pizzas. So, we headed to The Fir Tree. We were greeted with a warm environment, a good beer selection, a rasta English bar tender and the John Butler Trio playing over the speakers. I ordered the Green King St. Edmounds and Rosemary had a Beck's. The bar tender was extremely friendly and we were really digging the vibe. However, our spirits were slightly crushed when we found out that they don't serve any evening meals. The bar tender recommended a few places to eat and we decided to take him up on one of them. After dinner, we had all the intention of returning to The Fir Tree, but that didn't quite work out. A small pub just a few streets down named The Oxford Blue was the choice. It was a small "hole in the wall" pub that had a few "townies" present. We ordered a few drinks and debated the menu for awhile. After waiting for the lone bar tender to finish his own dinner, we ordered. Rosemary had the lasagna (which seems to be standard pub fare in England) and Winston ordered a bacon cheddar burger. The food was decent, but the atmosphere did not compare to The Fir Tree. After finishing our food and drinks we decided to call it a night and head back to the guest house.

It was a good day in Oxford and we really enjoyed seeing the city. It was a good choice for us and tomorrow was the beginning of our next adventure.