Canterbury & Oxford

Mi (ante) último post sobre el viaje a Londres, mencionando sólo las cosas un poco distintas. Ya hablé del “plató” de Greenwich, de los bancos literarios y del Museo Victoria & Alberto. Hoy le toca a los viajes de un día a Canterbury y Oxford.

This is nearly my last post about this year’s trip to London, in which I’ve been mentioning just the things that are a little bit different. I’ve already talked about the Greenwich location, the literary benches and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Hay varias localidades que quedan razonablemente cerca de Londres para excursiones con ida y vuelta en el día. Brighton, por ejemplo. Pero nosotros hicimos Canterbury y Oxford. En tren. Las dos, totalmente orientadas al turismo. Al menos en verano.

There are several places that are quite near London so you can go and be back to London the same day. Brighton, for instance. But we went to Canterbury and Oxford. By train. Both of them, completely touristy towns. At least in summer.

Claustro de la catedral de Canterbury / Canterbury's Cathedral Cloister

A Canterbury desde Charing Cross o London Bridge, por ejemplo. Brevemente: Canterbury es un encanto. Aunque la universidad de Kent estaba celebrando ceremonias de graduación y ocupaban parte de la catedral, pudimos ver bastante de ella. Pagando, eso sí. Es un pueblecito agradable en la que los turistas nos repartíamos bastante, así que aunque las calles estaban atestadas, no sentías demasiado agobio. Y como es habitual con algún parquecito encantador donde descansar y leer un rato, viendo pasar las bateas por el río. Lo recomiendo.

You can go to Canterbury from Charing Cross or London Bridge stations. To sum it up: a very charming place. Although the University of Kent was occupying part of the Cathedral because of graduation ceremonies, we could see quite enough of it to enjoy this wonderful catedral in the Gothic style. Paying, in this case.

Canterbury is a very nice villaje in which all of us tourists were scattered in its streets, and therefore, although the streets were full, you were not very uncomfortable. And, as usual, you could find little parks to rest and read for a while, looking to the boats on the river. I recommend this short trip.

Para ir a Oxford tienes que ir desde Paddington. Oxford estaba hasta la bandera. El día gris. Todos los turistas apelotonados en el mismo par de calles. Excuse me & sorry todo el rato. La arquitectura es muy interesante, y hay cierto merchandising de Harry Potter, porque parte de las películas se filmaron (o se inspiraron) en algunos de estos colleges. En este blog hablan de localizaciones de las películas de Harry Potter. 

If you want to go to Oxford, you have to use the Paddington station. Oxford was overcrowded. A grey day. All the tourist were in the same two streets. ‘Excuse me’ & ‘sorry’ all the time. The architecture is very interesting. And you find some Harry Potter’s merchandising b/c part of the movies were shot here or inspired by some of its buildings. In this blog (it’s in Spanish) they talk about Potter’s films’ locations. 

Entrada principal del Christ Church de Oxford, bajo la Tom Tower (1681), diseñada por Christopher Wren. / Main entrance to the Christ Church College, Oxford. Tom Tower (1681), designed by Christopher Wren.

Nosotros buscábamos más la huella de otro famoso residente: J.R.R. Tolkien. También nos valía algo de C. S. Lewis. Ejem. Cero patatero. Como mucho, puedes intentar localizar las casas en que vivió Tolkien. Nos unimos a ambos en espíritu (y una cerveza) en el Eagle & Child, que según nuestra guía Lonely Planet “se remonta al año 1650” y “fue muy frecuentada en su día por Tolkien y C. S. Lewis”.

We were looking eagerly for the steps of another resident: J.R.R. Tolkien. Or we would have been satisfied if we could have found something of C.S. Lewis. So… Nothing at all. You could try and locate the houses where Tolkien lived. We joined these two writers in spirit –and a pint of beer- in the Eagle & Child, that, as our Lonely Planet says ‘goes back to the year 1650’ and it was ‘frequented in his day by Tolkien and C. S. Lewis’.

Sobre los ferrocarriles, pues una de cal y otra de arena. A Canterbury muy bien. Puntuales, con montones de asientos a pesar de ser plena temporada turística. Tranquilo salvo el ratito en que un grupo de adolescentes españoles que eran de por la zona barcelonesa nos hizo pasar vergüenza ajena por sus gritos y su comportamiento en general.

About trains. Well. Something good, something bad. Everything was great towards Canterbury. On time. With a lot of places to sit down, even in high season. Quiet, except for the little time in which a group of Spanish teenagers from near Barcelona made as feel embarrassed b/c of their shouts and their general behaviour.

A Oxford vaya. Trenes repletos. Y, a la vuelta, se saltaron uno, así que los pasajeros de dos trenes acabamos en uno solo. ¿Resultado? De pie hasta que se bajó gente en Reading.

Oxford? The trains were full. And in our journey back to London, a train ‘disappeared’ in the time table so all the tourists for two trains were in just one of them. In the end? We were standing on foot until some people left the train in Reading.

No obstante, puede que fuera algo puntual, porque hemos ido en plena temporada turística.

Nevertheless, it could have been just bad luck, b/c we went in high season.

Otro día hablaré de las tonterías que me llaman la atención y que me gustan de Londres.

Another day I’ll talk about silly things that attract my attention and that I like about London.