Back Down the Rabbit Hole

I went back to Oxford because I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something magical about the place. Was it the sand-coloured College buildings? Those doorways? Or just the fact that we visited on a sunny day? I half expected it to become a dingy ugly place on second visit.



Nope, Oxford still had a certain charm about it, despite the weird weather conditions we had - little showers of hail all afternoon, bouncing off my umbrella, then back to golden sunshine.



It might be the air of secrecy that lurks about the place. So many colleges and Uni students with their minds full of dreams. So many alleyways and locked doors leading to mysterious rooms. You can hear the odd stream of piano music escaping, a conversation here or there echoing through stairwells or cloisters.




To add to Oxford's charm, we found some fantastic places to eat. We had high tea at the Grand Cafe, which served cream teas on tiered cake stands. For dinner we ate in this Chinese restaurant that was all dark wooden tables, filled with steam from the kitchen and the scent of chilli and rice. It was incredibly atmospheric and the food was great. We stumbled back on the train buzzing from so many cups of Chinese tea and half wishing we'd lived in Oxford for a while.