Expressionate: Last days of Oxford

My last few days in Oxford have been delightful.

After a huge day at Stratford on Saturday, I had a very quiet Sunday and went to the Ashmolean museum for some gentle sightseeting. The Ashmolean is Britan's first museum and it has a great collection. It was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours and the sunny canteen courtyard was also a nice way to spend some time - napping in the sun.

I checked out of my hotel that morning and in the afternoon I went into a student hostel at Mansfield College. All the universities of the UK open up their student accommodations during the holidays and it's a cheap and interesting place to stay.

Mansfield College has the distinction of being one of the city's "youngest" colleges - it's only about 400 years old! The rooms were small and simple, but very comfortable and also very quiet! I was on the top floor (hard going with a suitcase but worth it for the view) and my room looked down onto a beautiful garden. This morning I looked out and saw some squirrels chasing eachother up a tree and a young fox trotting through the garden.

Breakfast was included with the room and was served in the chapel, and while it wasn't quite Harry Potter dining room standard, it was certainly a very old and interesting place to enjoy your egg and sausage brekkie. The college is only about 10 mins walk from town so it was quite convenient to get around.

On Monday I caught a bus to Abington village for a ramble. Abington is a charmingly picturesque village that is only about 20/30 mins away from Oxford. It sits on the banks of the Thames and boating is a focus of the area. There is also a lovely Victorian garden and ruined Medieval abbey.

I walked around the abbey and through the gardens and then crossed into the park and walked along a little river. It was cool and green and the walking was easy and I kept meaning to turn back but wondered what was beyond the next bend, so it ended up being quite a time before I turned back. I ended up in a pub overlooking the river where I had lunch and a chat to the waitress who had spent two months in Australia and loved the country.

The day ended back in Oxford at dinner with my friends who gave me the best farewell gift - they let me use their washing machine and dryer. It sounds simple, but getting all your clothes washed and dried while you get to drink wine and chat to friends is absolutely the BEST thing you can get when you are travelling. Laundries are hard to find on the road and suck up precious sightseeing hours, so you hold off till you absolutely have to and then you bite the bullet. I ended the trip with a fresh load of clean clothes and excitement about what's ahead. Next stop - Paris!