Harry Potter and the Incredibly Exhausting Weekend

On Friday morning I had no plans for this weekend. It turned out to be my fullest one yet...

FRIDAY
After our Friday afternoon class (that will thankfully be over in 2 weeks), H and I went down to the Tate Modern for afternoon tea. It was a great way to wind down, and H and I are never short on topics to discuss. We'll definitely have to go back soon, but certainly not beacuse of the waiter I may have flirted with just a little bit.

In the evening, H and I went to dinner in Chinatown with three other girls from the program. We ate at Wong Kei, which Jenna recommended to me a few weeks ago. When searching for a website to use as a link, I came across the perfect quote to describe the Wong Kei experience:

Wong Kei is undoubtedly Chinatown's most famous restaurant, providing some of the cheapest meals in town, along with arguably the rudest service. And that's what makes a visit here so appealing - trust us, it's really good fun! With a slap-up meal costing about a tenner (including drinks), you'll be marshalled to a table, hurried to make a choice from the long menu, hurried through each course and then asked to pay up pretty sharpish!

I couldn't have written it better myself.

After dinner we headed to Gordon's Wine Bar near Charing Cross. Established in 1890, it is London's (and perhaps the world's) oldest wine bar. The bar is housed in a cellar, part of which has an incredibly low ceiling. (Check out the pictures on the website; I didn't have my camera that night.) We were luckily enough to find a table in that part for our whole party. At first I felt a bit claustrophobic, but the atmosphere definitely grew on me. Or maybe it was just that excellent Shiraz I drank.... Anyway, I also managed to befriend a table of proper Brits, with whom I played a few "drinking" games (e.g. "Funny Bunny" and "Twenty-One"). After Gordon's closed, we went to The French House in Soho to finish out our night with a bit of dancing. It was definitely one of the best nights I've had in London.

SATURDAY
On Saturday I traveled to Oxford with my friend Jen. Our first stop was The Rose, a tearoom H fell in love with when she studied at Oxford. It was definitely love at first bite (of my warm scone) for me. The Classic Cream Tea was a scrumptious way to start our day.

We strolled around until we came upon Christ Church College, one of the largest colleges at the University of Oxford. The college is incredibly beautiful and has many points of interest. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was inspired by and written in Christ Church while he was a student there. It is also the only college in the world with both a cathedral and college chapel. The cathedral was so incredibly gorgeous that we were inspired to spend 45 minutes in it. Okay, so maybe the real reason we stayed for so long was to see the dining hall, which was closed when we arrived. You see, the dining hall serves as the Great Hall in the Harry Potter movies. We just had to see it!

After satisfying our inner HP-geeks, we went up into the tower of The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It was a pretty tight squeeze up the stairs and at the top, but we managed to get some nice aerial photos of Oxford. I put several of these in my latest Flickr Batch (as well as various other pictures from the weekend). Next, we took a quick jaunt to see the shrunken heads at the Pitt Rivers Natural History museum. H had told me about these, and I just couldn't resist seeing them. I must admit, they were pretty cool, if a bit unsettling.

Our dinner plans got pushed back an hour so we decided a snack was absolutely necessary. When Jen suggested a return to The Rose, I readily agreed. And this time we really went for it by splitting the Cream Tea Special, which includes fingerling sandwiches (pairs of salmon, cucumber, and cress), a scone, and a piece of cake. Delicious!

Re-energized by the tea and goodies, we browsed the shops for a couple hours. We were good and didn’t buy much, but I'm afraid we merely delayed the inevitable (most of the stores in Oxford also have London locations). Jen and I are now planning to shop for a dress for her to wear to a wedding over spring break. And I might try on a few for graduation while we’re at it.

We met up with three guys from school for dinner. One of them (Brian) studied at Oxford for a year in undergrad, and he still had a good friend (Pete) in school there so we got a pretty authentic experience. We drank and dined (on BBQ burgers!) at the Turf Tavern and then got a quick tour of Brian and Pete’s college, Sir Edmund Hall (aka Teddy Hall). We even got a beer in the Teddy Junior Common Room (JCR). At this point, Jen and I were pretty exhausted. The guys made sure we got on the bus back to London, and we got home around 1:30 AM. It was a much longer day than we had anticipated, but it definitely worth it.

SUNDAY
I went to a soccer football match! Eight of us from school went to Chelsea v. Colchester in the afternoon. Chelsea is a big-spending club (think Yankees or Red Sox) and current leader of the Premiership, while Colchester (think Royals) plays in a lower league. The two clubs were playing as part of the FA Cup, which is the giant knockout tournament open to all UK teams (674 teams entered in 2005-06). The Cup gives the lower-tier teams the chance to play the big boys in the big stadiums. And sometimes they even manage an upset.

But such was not the case on Sunday. Chelsea ultimately prevailed 3-1. Colchester technically struck first, but it was an own goal. The visiting fans, who stood and sang and cheered all game (like the student section at college games), went completely nuts. Down one-nil, the Chelsea players (and fans) finally started showing some intensity and tied it up before halftime. The second half was tight as well until Chelsea broke through with two goals in the last 12 minutes, including one in the final minute.

Generally speaking, it was definitely a new experience to watch soccer football with so many passionate fans. It’s a lot like going to a collegiate American football game in the States but much, much shorter (hurrah for the running clock). And though I had a really great seat, a part of me wished I was sitting in the visitor’s section. Chelsea is one of the "posh" London teams, and its fans were much less vocal. The game convinced me I need to see at least one more match before I leave. I’ve now promised H and Jen that we’ll all go to a match so I need to start looking into it.

I had an amazingly fun weekend, but I’m glad next weekend cannot possibly be so jam-packed. I’m housesitting/teenage son-minding for one of the program’s professors for a few days, and I’ve got my English Legal Systems exam to study (yes, study) for. As for the week, I don’t have anything planned, but I have no doubt some fun things will pop up.