Warwick and Oxford

Back in April I had 3 days off in a row... Because it happens so rarely we immediately decided to go on a weekend getaway to.... Warwick and Oxford daytrip too :)

At first we kind of freaked out that we have to change train stations, not just trains, in Birmingham! Get off at new street and walk 5-10 mins to Snow Hill station... It was supposed to be easy but as Mr. Special was dreading it we changed trains earlier to get us on one that takes us straight to Snow Hill. When we did get there we realised it just on the other side of the Bullring :D easy peasy lemon squeezy, on our way back we even grabbed lunch in the Handmade Burger co. :) Probs my fave place in Birmingham, and Bills really... don't think I've been anywhere else :D

Anyway Warwick seems such a lovely little town. Charming :) I could definitely live there. 

Since we got there quite late during the day + were starving for food we only had a short walk through the town, in the cathedral, where there was a band practising. When we exited the cathedral we realised we could've gone up to the tower but it closed literally 10 min ago :( We also narrowly missed the chance to visit the site of an old hospital, at first I wasn't that disappointed as we knew we most probably won't make it. No planning beforehand you see, only mindless wandering around... But when we got there and saw the amazing old building with the gate still open I got excited... only to be turned down at the gate saying they close in like 15 minutes or so and there is just no point for us to pay the entrance fee as we would see virtually nothing... :( reason to go back though

Second day was dedicated to Oxford which is just an hour away - although getting there was a hassle aswell as the early morning train was replaced by a bus, but where does the bus go from? No signs or anything... Sheeep... Tried phoning the train company but they had no idea other than yes there is a replacement bus but where... who knows, ask at the station... umm... it's closed... Finally a taxi driver told us that indeed we have to walk back on the main road where there are bus stops and that's where the train bus will be as it would never be able to manouvre up to the actual station. Got there just at the nick of time, bus was just pulling up. 

In Oxford we just wandered around seeing everything we could see, the countless colleges and you could walk in to some of the courtyards, pretty fancy place to study indeed. Oxford also has the Original Alice in Wonderland Shop which we couldn't miss. I love quirky little shops like this.

The only downfall of Oxford is the sheer amount of homeless people :(

Radcliffe Camera closed for visitors :(

Botanical Gardens were open though :) Quite dear to get into but who can resist pretty flowers :) Lol I haven't actually put any photos of them here but you can take my word for it :D Guess I'm not a big fan of taking photos of flowers, much rather admire them in real life.

These lemons were HUGE the size of my hand

And this was a tiny pineapple

And to top off our day we had a fancy pancake

I believe this is THE Oxford University? Maybe not though :D there were so many :D

On the last day we found a nice cafe in Warwick to have breakfast and they gave me this cool tea timer.

Then we made our way into Warwick Castle, which is a huge castle managed by the Merlin Entertainment group. For about £10 extra you could go to the Dungeons as well. OMG for the first time I was actually called out to take part... The last 2? times I've managed to fit into the crowd and not stand out to be called to demonstrate or sit somewhere or say anything which I'm totally happy with. 

The castle itself

There was also demonstration of birds of prey flying over our head and WOW they are BIG!!!!! Unfortunately it started raining half way through :( British weather eh?

And lastly we went into the Terrible Histories labyrinth, which was surprisingly amusing given it was designed for kids mainly :D

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...