Our trip to Oxford heralded a landmark occasion for the two of us — our very first stay in a hostel. A 12-bed dorm would be our home for the next two days, it set us back £16 pounds ($AUD33) each and actually wasn't as bad as we had anticipated...
Worn out from our chilly Cheese-Rolling experience, we hung out in the hostel for most of the arvo — watching Sky TV and making the most of the free internet facilities. Once night rolled 'round, our guts had other ideas, and we hit the streets in search of some grub...
After sharing some nachos at a local pub, we hot-footed it across the street for a hot chocolate before heading back the hostel. I took charge of the remote and proved to be a show-picking legend, clicking out crowd-pleasing favourites like Friends and American Dad before we called it a night.
Luckily, the main part of Oxford can easily be covered by foot, so the next day we put on whatever clothes we had that weren't wet from the Cheese Rolling, and did some serious pavement hitting while checking out the sights.
The main Oxford attraction is Christ Church, a college of the university. The college is so magnificent it was the location of the Harry Potter films and 13 British Prime Ministers have studied there... it also means they charge £4.90 ($AUD10) just to go in and have a sticky beak! Rather than fork out 20% of our daily budget, we decided to do the free Broad Walk which takes you around the outside of the grounds, and up to the river...
One thing we did fork out for, was a climb up the Carfax Tower (admission £2.10). The 23-metre-tall tower is all that remains of the 13th century St Martin's Church. So we made our way up the winding 100 odd stairs, in hopes of a decent view of the city...
...before getting the giggles on the way down...
We also checked out the Bodleian Library, one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With 8 million items on 117 miles of shelving, we had visions of towering bookcases with ladders to climb up them, but yet again, you had to pay to get in, so we took a stroll around the grounds instead.
That evening, it was off to chow down some flavour-packed burritos... Craig crashed as soon as we got pack to Oxford Backpackers, while I enjoyed an evening of Shrek with my fellow hostelmates.
Next stop: Bath
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