Past week in Photos

Cooked dinner @ Carmen's

Galleries of Justice

Green's Windmill:

Breakfast and Morning walk at lakeside

Oxford Christchurch

Wollaton Park Run/Tour

Sukho Thai dinner at Beeston

Frisbee @ The Downs

York: Betty's Tea room

York Minster

Getting down to updates

Since the day trip to Oxford, my week's been pretty filled.. either studying/doing my coursework (a big headache), or have been going out/going places.. And it's less than 5 days to Easter and the one entire month of pure travelling!


Summary of highlights the past week:


1. Oxford + Bicester Village

Visited Christchurch in Oxford mainly.. and it's where Lewis Caroll got his inspiration for Alice in Wonderland! Didn't get to visit the Dining Hall though (think madhatter's teaparty) because it was closed then..

Bicester Village is the shopping place for designer brands.. factory outlets. Super price reductions, but given the brands, they're still very expensive.. haha. Bought a small Radley London wallet though :)


2. Home-cooked dinner feast on a sunday night

New friends (+ one long lost childhood friend) from Singapore invited me to their house for dinner, super nice of them! Each made at least one dish, while I only bought them fruits.

9 dishes - Oven-roasted chicken, pork in curry sauce, mixed veg in some sauce, chinese stir-fry veg with mushrooms and chicken, honey-soya sauce grilled chicken wings, shark fins soup, roasted duck, braised pork, chilli beef and broccoli, and ending off with freshly made chocolate cake for dessert.

And this dinner kinda helped me set my clock right for UK time.


3. Bowling

Wednesday nights = 2 quid per bowling game. Played 2 games - "warm-up" round score: 70-sth, and next game: 130-sth! Long time since I've bowled..


4. Frisbee!

Finally got to touch and throw the disc last thursday! The weather was so much better last week (weekdays only).. the sun was out, and there were so many people just hanging out at The Downs! Picnic, BBQ, rugby, soccer, frisbee.. So fun, I really like the atmosphere!

I want a picnic too! When the weather is warmer and the sun is shining.. :)

5. Thai dinner out

Had a first outside dinner with LY, Sharon and Yunleng at Sukothai.. I was actually looking forward to noodle soup, but a pity they didn't have! Not a big fan of other thai food, haha.. but had Chinese veg - xiao bai cai and tougei which was so nice and crunchy!


6. International Students event at Beeston-free church The international students bible study group organised this event and I went with Yunleng.. Lots of food (mostly made by them, impressive!) and the topic was "Do all good people go to heaven?"


7. First visit to Wollaton Nature and Deer Park!

Ok, a lot of firsts.. Wollaton park is just right beside my school.. and Wenbang brought me there as promised! Had a Johnston-tour there, and he wrongly led us into a private golf course haha. But it was a good thing because that was when I got the closest to the deers! :)


8. Why I hate birds flying above me. (or not even flying)

BIRD SHIT DROPPED ON ME WHILE I WAS INNOCENTLY WALKING!

On my hair, on my face.. shirt.. No toilet nearby... Get the picture? Enough said.


9. York

Went to York just this Saturday with the people from the bible study group. Beautiful place! Visited York Minster, and the guided tour was really helpful! Learnt quite abit.. But since I've been to so many cathedrals already. Even though each is special in its own right, I think I might be off them for a while. Wanted to go to Jovik Viking centre, but we supposedly didn't have time.. downside of travelling in a big group.

But anyhow, we went to have tea at the famous Betty's Tea rooms.. I realise I can't really appreciate exquisite cakes and such, but the atmosphere is nice! Oh and our train got cancelled.. supposedly it's typical for UK. Haha.


10. Jaz in Nottingham

Spent sunday with Jaz! So a further exploration of Nottingham.. Went to Green's Windmill and Galleries of Justice.. and in the evening I cooked for the first time in Nottingham! There's no kitchen in my hall, just a pantry, so I never had a chance to cook.

But on sunday, we cooked at Carmen's place.. even though it was super simple (and we cheat).. I enjoyed dinner and the company. Plus there was strawberries, blackberries, and aftereight mints (that Jaz bought!)

Also brought Jaz to Wollaton Park to run.. and I saw male deers this time! With antlers! They were basking under the sunlight, in the morning mist.. Didn't bring a camera for the run though.


Some pictures in the next post yeah.

Windsor Castle, 19 Feb

Windsor Castle

An extremely delayed post of my day trip to Windsor Castle with Travel Society. They organise trips to nearby areas for kinda relatively cheap transport prices. Didn't expect much of it then, in fact I was initially very lazy to go but I paid for it already so I went anyway. And it turn out to be really interesting

Journey There and Back
3 hour plus long bus ride to the castle.. It was raining and super cold, and even on the entire 3 hour bus ride I was still not warmed up :( When we reached, we had to wait at least half an hour to get our tickets into the castle...
Spent the 4 odd hours we had there just in the castle, there wasn't really time to explore other attractions. Anyway, it was the main attraction so I guess it was ok. Haha.
Took another 3 hours journey back.. It's like spending 2/3 of the day out travelling and waiting.

Windsor Castle
It's the largest and oldest inhabited castle in Europe. And yes, it's one billion times better than the pathetic Nottingham Castle (which wasn't really a castle). It's the Queen's favourite place.
There was an audio guide tour about the castle, so it definitely gave a lot of insights about England's history, royalty, and even on some artists! There was so much info, I don't think I remember them all :(
So I regreted not buying the Official Guide to Windsor Castle book! It was £4.95.. I couldn't decide if I wanted to spend that money, and I end up not doing so :(

Entering the castle - Cold and wet!

So there's the State apartments, and semi-state apartments.. St George Chapel (more about it later), and there was Queen Mary's Doll house, and some exhibition currently on Prince Philip. Sadly, changing of the guards was not scheduled that day.

There's the lower ward, middle ward and upper ward.. I can't really remember where's what(no guidebook bought to refer to) But it was built by William the Conquerer as a fortress sort of thing.. And then later when Henry I was in rule, the royalties started using the place, and later, the famous Queen Victoria (I reccomend watching the movie to know more about her) started using it even more for enterntainment. In 1992, there was a fire that broke out in the castle, but they manage to salvage and restore the castle.

Where the soilders shoot arrows out from!
Angled such a way so that they don't get hit, but get to shoot their arrows up and out.

*I didn't take a photo of this at first, and in order to go "backwards" - I lied that I dropped my glove! Just to take a picture of this.. hahaha.

So we entered the Upper Ward to see Queen Mary's Doll house (I was so thankful to be indoors, because it was freezing and raining outside, I was shivering from head to toe - literally.).
Basically, she was fascinated with miniture things - so the huge Doll house, which was never played with.. Every item is made with such great detail, and given as gifts to Queen Mary.. It's super huge for a doll house(It's the largest in the world, supposedly)
Then it was Prince Philip's exhibition - wow, he is super talented - military leader, painter, engineer... everything to sum it all.

Next was the highlight of the castle for me - entering the state apartments, seeing all the rooms, the super pretty designs/detail.. learning the functions of the rooms, restoration work after the fire.. learning about the Coat of Arms and the Order of the Gartner.. I'm still quite confused about the history and all, but it made me want to find out more.

Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures anywhere inside..
There's this room (I forgot the name) - It's like a large dining hall - and during Royal functions or some sort, a super long table will be stretched out - sitting 160 guests! Quite cool huh.
And some rooms have painted ceilings, and wood carvings on the wall.. totally magnificant and palace like.

No pictures allowed inside - what a pity!

Next up, after exiting the state apartments: St George's Chapel. - Home to the Order of the Gartner, and for services, they have boy choristers.

Gothic style - St George's Chapel

During the annual gartner service, they will proceed from the state apartments there (i think) to the chapel for service.
And the banners (Heraldic banners, if I am not wrong) are hanged above.. they are permanently there, not just for the service. Super grand.

By then, we were quite ready to leave. Went shopping in the shops - magnet for mom, cup for dad.. but now.. ?
Anyways,

Hello guard.
PS: I think the guard's hat/helmet was tickling his nose, he kept blowing the fur up, haha.

And that was the end of the Windsor Castle trip. I think it kinda stopped raining by the time we were out in the open, so it was good.

**
On a separate note, i've been dreaming alot of dreams.. hah.

Jetlag?

Monday 14march - Tuesday 15march:
- sleep 430pm
- wake up 630am

Tuesday 15march - Wednesday 16march:
- sleep 7pm
- wake up 230am
- laze 530am - 7am

Wednesday 16march - Thursday 17march:
- sleep 730pm
- wake up 145am
- sleep (again) 330am
- wake up 730am

Thursday 17march - Friday 18march:
- sleep 830pm
- wake up 430am
- laze 430am - 530am

Friday 18march - Saturday 19march:
???

Is this jetlag?
Taking really small steps to sleep later and later..

Oxford trip with Travel society tomorrow, leaving 730am.
I'm 100% confident I'll be awake.

back in the same notts, but it's nott the same.