http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/njmontes/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from njmontes en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 09:59:14 +0000 Wed, 22 May 2013 09:59:14 +0000 After a long day of driving through the swiss alps and taking a brief short cut through Italy we finally arrived at the seaside city of Nice in the French Riviera. Apparently its a very popular place for celebrities to vacation or build second houses. After unpacking our things we had dinner as a group at a French restaurant. Predictably the food was very good. We then headed over to the histor http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d-Azur/Nice/blog-637134.html I have a feeling that Switzerland is going to be my favorite place we visit the whole trip. After driving all day from Paris we finally arrived in the evening in the tiny village a few miles north of Interlocken called Lauterbrunnen. The village was nested in a mountain valley and at the end of the valley you could see the snow capped mountains that made up the northern edge of the Swiss Alps. In http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lauterbrunnen/blog-637132.html Tuesday morning we departed from London by bus heading towards Dover. We got to see a spectacular view of the White Cliffs of Dover as we took a ferry across the English Channel to Calais France. Once in France we spent the rest of the afternoon driving to Paris arriving around 6 pm. We then went out to dinner where I tried some French cuisine including escargot snail. After dinner we took a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-637091.html For some reason I found the prospect of being in London by myself for two days to be pretty intimidating even though I had already done it before my trip. So yesterday i decided to go back to Oxford. I just wasn39t ready to leave. I visited all my favorite locations and also took a long walk north of town to visit Wolvercote Cemetery where J.R.R. Tolkien is buried. That took the better part o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/London-City/blog-634982.html Alas despite my best efforts St Peter39s College Summer School came to an end today. It has been bitter sweet. Given that we only had five weeks here I feel like everything was super accelerated and before we knew it it was over. I really made some good friends while I was here and saying goodbye was very difficult. Fortunately quite a few of the kids go to Michigan and others have already http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-634566.html THis one is a little brief but oh well I realize its been awhile since I39ve posted anything. Things have been really great around here although we39ve all been busy finishing up our final papers and projects. We did a few fun things the past two weeks including going to the top of Magdalen Tower having dinner and the Eagle and Child Tolkien and Lewis39s favorite pub as well as takin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-634565.html As I mentioned in my last entry last weekend a group of about twenty of us went on an excursion through Wales. Basically we drove all across the country in a charter bus seeing some truly amazing sights. I39ll try to break it down by day just so it doesn39t get too confusing.Day 1 We departed Oxford at 0830 and headed south towards Avebury. Our first stop was less than thrilling as we l http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Wales/blog-632983.html Just wanted to give everyone a heads up. All is well here I39m still having a great time and was really sad when I realized our program ends in less than 2 weeks. I just got back from a four day trip around Wales which I will describe later this week in great detail. I39m pretty busy at the moment working on a paper but I just wanted everyone to know I39m still doing well. More to come http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-632327.html This past week was for several reasons. First off after having tried quite a few different pubs around town all of which were great on Wednesday night I went to one that absolutely topped the rest. This place is called the Half Moon and it39s on the less crowded east side of the city. This is where most of the college students and locals hang out and while they still get a bit touristy they http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-629824.html As I mentioned in my last entry we saw MacBeth Tuesday night performed by the Royal Shakespeare Club. Even though I had never seen nor read the play and didn39t always exactly know what was going on I still really enjoyed it. I then went home and stayed up until 3 am to finish my first paper fun stuff. This morning I felt like death when I woke up I think its mostly form lack of sleep and t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-628718.html So this past weekend was pretty low key. On Friday a few of us went for a hike out into the country to ta place called Boar39s Hill. We got to see a pretty great view of Oxford from there. A few of us checked out a pretty cool ethnic bar on Saturday i think it was spanish. It had a definite Mediterranean feel instead of chairs they had cushions that you sat on. It was pretty cool. Sunday was http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-628487.html So we just wrapped up our first week of class. It39s interesting there is even less class time here than at American universities and by far the majority of the work is done outside the classroom. We have one hour and a half lecture each week and the rest of class time is pretty much just for discussing material. I really like the small class atmosphere because you definitely stay more engaged http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-627762.html So its been a few days and now I39m more or less settled in Oxford. While I really wasn39t sure what to expect of this place before coming here I definitely underestimated the place. Literally everywhere you look are towering spires as well as churches and buildings that are 500 years old. Its really incredible. I39ve also been really surprised by how welcome the college has been to us http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-626733.html Let me start by saying I dont intend to do this daily all summer but considering how many new experiences Ive had the past few days Ive pretty much had to write daily to remember everything.This morning I checked out of my London hostel and caught a train at Londons Paddington Station to Oxford. It took about an hour to get to Oxford during which I caught my first glimpses of the E http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Oxfordshire/Oxford/blog-626193.html So tommorrow begins my long anticipated trip to the UK. I39m really curious to see how much of my current knowledge of the UK will end up being right and how much is totally wrong. I39m going over there not really knowing anyone which I39ll admit has me a bit nervious but at the same time very excited. While there I really hope to take in the culture as much as I can. I hope to meet som http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Detroit/blog-624998.html Well after a long flight during which I didn39t get much sleep I arrived in LondonHeathrow airport at 730 am local time. I didn39t have any trouble getting through customs although it took me a while to find the train I was supposed to take into central London. Finally I arrived at the hostel. There was a group of about 20 kids outside and I have to admit I was a little concerned when e http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-625500.html Well after spending two days in this city I39m beginning to realize why everyone travels using the Tube London Underground. Today alone I walked over 9 miles. I took a boat tour on the River Thames saw the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace and spent the rest of the afternoon in the British Museum. I have to say the food has been average at best. Yesterday I had some fish http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-625867.html