Oxford & Bath

Hi from mild London! That's right...it's been at least 10 degrees for most of January! The weather has been much better than we imagined so we have embarked on a couple of trips to other parts of the UK –Oxford and Bath.

The train system here is fantastic and makes a trip to pretty much anywhere in the UK very simple. 1.5 hours west of London is Oxford. The town is very much a university town where bicycle seems to be the most appropriate mode of transport. The colleges that make up the University are scattered around the small town –they are all amazing old stone buildings with centuries of history. There were plenty of book shops to shelter from the cold wind in, so we managed to kill some time perusing the shelves of some very academic looking books –Mat was looking for a specific kind of dictionary but it is a Rogers Dictionary....something that proved pretty hard to find in Oxford!!!


Christ Church

Oxford University Library

Bath was amazing –just under 2 hours out of London it was another very easy day trip. We went with some of Mat's fellow classmates from Unitec –Peter and Rachel, so architecture was definitely a hot topic. Our day started at the Bath Abbey –with a vaulted ceiling that is 67m long it was very impressive (FYI it's an Abbey and not a Cathedral because there is no Bishop)! It is also pretty cool from the outside –with its gothic architecture and flying buttresses (note this is Sam here and, my, hasn't my architecture knowledge improved!!!). No trip to Bath is complete without a visit to the Roman Baths. Apparently the English are still struggling to come to terms with hot water bubbling out of the ground! The audio guides provided gave us a really good insight into what used to happen at the baths –it was mainly a place of healing for pilgrims.



Mat and I at the Roman Baths


Rachel, Pete and Mat with their audioguides


The Bath Abbey


The Royal Crescent

Bath is an old Roman town that has been re-built, and highlights of the re-built architecture are the Circus and The Royal Crescent. The Circus is a set of houses set out in a circle and the Royal Crescent is just that –a crescent of expensive houses built in crescent shape. They are all classical buildings with a traditional order of roman columns (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian...there I go again!!!!), and are famous for their shapes.

Mat would like to comment that the Cider there is pretty good too, and it was also the highlight of fashion for me, as we heard about a store that sells boots by both foot size AND calf size.....watch this space!!!

Cheers –Mat & Sam

When Kiwis go to London they.....
Are surprised at how good the post-Christmas Winter weather is
Are told way too how good the Kiwi Summer is (and how it's the best in the last 10 years!!!!)
Struggle to decide which country to go too next!

The best meal we've had since our last update was.....
Tapas with Flick and Ben at a great little Spanish restaurant in Putney! Not sure how Spanish Banoffee Pie is……but it's highly recommended!

Underground countdown
Our total so far is 56/320 and new entries include:
Putney Bridge