A tour of Oxford (punctuated by pubs)

So technically, a pub crawl, although I don’t want to label it such.

I’ve been in Oxford for about 6 months and one of the city’s most endearing features is it’s abundance of good watering holes. In terms of nightlife after 11pm, it’s slightly lacking, but for an after work beer or a lazy afternoon’s drinking, it’s perfect.

A few weeks ago, together with my trusted drinking companion Martina, we decided to test out the latter.

The Jericho Tavern, Walton Street

Our first point of call, and we eased ourselves into the afternoon with a diet coke. Very rock and roll. I’d only been to the JT in the evening and thought it was quite a good place. Lively, nice (if a little overpriced) grub and some very attractive clientele. However in the mid-afternoon it was a little lacking. The clientele was still attractive (it was really only myself and Martina in there) but there was no atmosphere. To replace the lack of atmosphere they decided to blast us with music. It didn’t work, so we drank up our pop and left.

In its defence, it is a music venue by night, so maybe we just didn’t start in the best place.  (**)

Jude the Obscure, Walton Street

Much better. Comfy armchairs, a good table, the low hubbub of civilised conversation and our first beer of the voyage. I really like this pub and in future will completely bypass the JT in favour of its next door neighbour. I’m a big fan of the pop art and poster bills on the way to the toilet.

I’ve just realised that all sounded a bit pretentious. Sorry. But I think the pub is going for a bit of an arty vibe.  (****)

 

Amtrak Adventures – Sittin’ on the dock of the bay

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

San Francisco

Left Vegas on the bus and transferred at Bakersfield to an Amtrak California train (better seats, much better food), and then transferred again at Emeryville for a bus into San Francisco. Arrived at our hostel in the Mission after a long day’s travelling, without really taking much in of the city. The next morning we ate the free breakfast at the hostel (cake and more cake) and then jumped on the BART to Embarcadero as we wanted to go to Alcatraz. It was fully booked for the day so we bought tickets for the next day and decided to take this day to see some sights around the city. It was some kind of free transport day in San Fran so we took advantage of this by, um, walking everywhere. We went to Fisherman’s Wharf, which I thought was a bit touristy and nothing-y, but we did have a yummy salmon steak sandwich. We then walked through North Beach and Chinatown, found City Lights bookstore and spent a lovely hour browsing. Martina and I went our separate ways in the afternoon and I found the Cartoon Art Museum which was small and quiet but interesting. The political cartoons from around the world about America were particularly good.

Amtrak Adventures – St. Louis

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

We ran for the train in Chicago and jumped aboard the Texas Eagle just in time. Arrived in St Louis at about 8pm and were greeted by the most desolate Amtrak station so far. Niagara Falls hadn’t been too inspiring, but the St Louis station appeared to be down a dirt track with no sign of life. You’d think this would have given us a clue but we rashly threw on our backpacks and headed towards a main road to find a bus or some kind of public transportation (we were on a pretty tight budget). This move wasn’t the best one because in the space of twenty minutes we bumped into a few of St Louis’ less salubrious residents. Slightly creeped out and very tired and hungry, we took shelter in a hotel where we called for a cab to rescue us.

We’d booked ourselves into the dubiously named Econolodge. If the name wasn’t inspiring, the locale wasn’t either. But safely locked in our room we ordered Domino’s, showered and watched cable TV until we fell asleep.

In the light of morning everything looked more positive and promising. Except the headline on the local newspaper: “The hottest day EVER?”. Oh dear.

Amtrak Adventures – Washington DC

This is the travel journal of two British girls travelling across the great expanse of North America. Spending most of that time on very slow trains…

Washington DC was one of the places I was most excited about visiting and I’m pleased to say it didn’t let me down. During the train journey alone we notched up more and more US states. We’d so far only managed New York state but three hours later we’d added New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware to the list. Good effort. (We didn’t technically set foot in any of these states… but we certainly travelled through them and admired from the comfort of our reclining armchairs.) Arrived about 7.30pm in DC and jumped on what I lovingly termed the ‘retro metro‘ (a brilliant piece of 1970s concrete modernism) to head to our hostel – HI-DC.

We made an instant enemy in the form of the woman on the reception desk. Just a word of advice, do not mess with a sweaty pair of British girls. As she laboriously checked us in I could feel my life slowly ebbing away – a few hours on the train had made us desperate to get out and explore. But this misery was soon forgot about when we met some very chirpy Japanese girls in our room. Then we set out to explore the Capital…

Taste of the Baltic – part two

Sunday 

Determined not to succumb to the cheap beer as early as on the previous day we thought the best plan would be to try and see some of the sights early on. Also most of Riga’s museums don’t open on a Monday, so this was our one and only chance to see the sights. This pressure weighing firmly on our shoulders, we emerged from the hostel at about midday after a drowsy hour and a half to dress ourselves.