Oxford

After suffering from some mid-term I can't read any more books angst, a trip was in order. Along with cricket friends Annie and Marie, we voyaged from lovely Leamington Spa and down the 40-minute train ride to Oxford. Pretty city. Wouldn't it be nice if my university were old and pretty and had things to do in its town?

nah.

We wandered through the botanical gardens, drank caffeine in the oldest coffee house in Oxford, and then wandered around various university properties including Christ Church College, namely the dining hall where Harry Potter was filmed. Good day overall!

Warwick and a journey down the Canal

Since I attend the University of Warwick, one would assume that I live in Warwick. One would also assume that since there's a "w" in the middle of Warwick, one would pronounce it. Neither happens to be the case. Regardless, I live about twenty minutes, via bus, from the town/village of Warwick, home to one of England's most beautiful castles. I still haven't been inside--I manage to arrive at the castle about thirty minutes before closing time every time. Instead, I went for a mini jaunt around the high street areas in search of a book for one of my courses.

A few days later, while headed out for an angst filled run, I came across the canal in Leamington that leads to Warwick, Stratford, and if i were to run far enough, up to Liverpool. I found a pub, houses lining the canal, and most importantly, houseboats. I think i might be able to get used to the houseboat life.

Toronto

Toronto and I go way back to the days of high school band, the clarinet, and crushes on impractical boys with bowl haircuts. I had my first foray with the big city life at the age of sixteen on an elusive symphonic winds trip and fell in love. with it all: the travelling and transport, the people, the bustle and movement. You could say I caught the travel bug in Toronto.

So heading back there on the four hour car ride for New Year's Eve festivities was quite welcome. Nasim, Sahar and I trekked to visit their family before heading into the city, where, to our surprise, everything had closed early. and it was raining. regardless, a trip to pizza pizza (the canadian little caesar's), and then subsequent pub hops made the evening lovely. We ended up in a basement bar cum microbrewery with fifteen different flavours on tap, then headed to several other fine establishments along Yonge Street before heading to watch the baby ball drop in Nathan Phillips Square. it was raining, we'd been drinking, it was great.

and on the way back to our hostel, i ran into miss erin suvada. small world aint it?

The rest was pretty uneventful, and unfortunately we couldn't stay to take in the rest of the city's splendor. My flight back to London via New York was leaving the next day so we made our way back to detroit rock city. From the car, leaving on some Queensway expressway or another--perhaps the 401, I took photos of the city itself. well, photos of the CN Tower to be exact.

but no trip to canada is complete without coffee and donuts at Tim Horton's and cranky yet yielding American Customs officials at the Sarnia-Port Huron border. good trip, good trip.