48 Hours in...Oxford part II

In part one of my guide to Oxford, I highlighted some of my favourite places in and around the High Street and the Covered Market. In this section, I've picked out a few spots in Jericho, in North Oxford, and given some more general and more touristy information about the city.


View Oxford favourites - Jericho in a larger map

Jericho
Little Clarendon Street, which we've always called Little Trendy Street, is about a ten-minute walk north of Carfax and is the gateway to the hip (well, for Oxford) area known as Jericho. There is a bigger branch of Taylors on the corner of Little Clarendon Street and St Giles, which is a deli as well as a purveyor of sandwiches. 

At 55 Little Clarendon Street is George and Davis, a branch of the G and Ds cafés that specialise in ice cream and bagels. They always have quirky, tasty ice cream flavours and if you don't find one you fancy, you can write your suggestion into their book and if enough people endorse your choice they will make up a batch; Dime Bar Crunch always used to be my favourite flavour. 

Just opposite is the Duke of Cambridge (no. 5-6) a studenty but cool cocktail bar. Its sign is now adorned with the current Duke's portrait but don't let that put you off because it's a nice place to hang out. Pierre Victoire (no. 9) is a long-established and popular French bistro. In need of a giant but stylish red hammock? Search no further than Central (no. 33-35), which sells all sorts of gorgeous (if pricey) furniture and homewares. Uncle Sam's (no. 25) sells vintage clothes, and there are a few boutiques near the junction with Walton Street.

Walton Street is home to Oxford University Press, but it also has a number of interesting shops and eateries. I haven't been to Raoul's (no. 32) for years but it always used to be one of my favourite cocktail bars. Two doors down at no. 34, Albion Beatnik is a lovely independent bookshop and café. 

You'll see Freud (no. 119), a gorgeous café-bar housed in a former Greek revival church, from halfway down the street. It's open during the day for coffee and lunch, and then in the evening for cosy, intimate drinks, when the high-ceilinged room is dotted with tea lights and colourful flowers. There is usually live music, spanning a range of genres, and they also sell the artwork that adorns the walls. This is probably my favourite place to go for a drink in Oxford.

Freud by day

Further along Walton Street, the Jericho Tavern (no. 56) is great for a drink and the food, including the brunch, is also good. Branca (no. 111) is a smart, Italian-influenced brasserie, Mamma Mia (no. 102) serves delicious pizza, and Brasserie Blanc (no. 71-72) is a good choice for a more formal — and French — meal. 

Finally, at no. 57 is the Phoenix, the first cinema in the Picturehouses anti-chain, and one of two lovely independent cinemas in the city. The other, the Ultimate Picture Palace, just off the Cowley Road on Jeune Street, offers more of a faded-charm experience, but is just as characterful and shows a quirky mixture of new movies and old classics.

Freud by night

Tourist information (see this post for a map)
Oxford is about an hour by train from both Oxford and Birmingham and the station is just off the Botley Road, about a ten-minute walk into town, and most buses come into the Gloucester Green bus station--about five minutes from the city centre. The Oxford Information Centre on Broad Street (another former employer of mine) offers a range of guidebooks and leaflets, and they also book guided walking and bus tours.

Oxford has a few hotels in the city centre — the Old Bank and Malmaison are both very cool, the latter being situated in a former prison, and the Randolph is a more traditional alternative. Cheaper accommodation can be found in the numerous B&Bs dotted around the city. 

I used to book accommodation when I worked at the tourist information centre and there are a few dodgy B&Bs out there; the tourist information website has a list of places to stay that have been vetted by Visit Britain or the AA. In the summer, especially at the weekend, Oxford gets really busy so do book well in advance, unless you want to spend the night in Reading or Banbury.

The Dreaming Spires - taken from Queen's College

Most of the colleges and some of the university buildings open to the public for at least part of the day--usually during the afternoons--and some charge for entry, particularly those in which parts of the Harry Potter movies were filmed, such as Christchurch. 

Of the other colleges, I like Magdalen, Merton and Queen's, although the latter is hard to enter. Radcliffe Square, which hosts several colleges, the Radcliffe Camera and the University Church, is also beautiful. Nearby is the Bridge of Sighs, but it isn't as nice as the one in Cambridge! 

You can rent a punt or book a guided punt tour from Magdalen Bridge, although unlike in Cambridge, you won't see many colleges from the boat. The most famous museums are the Ashmolean (art and archaeology), the Pitt Rivers (known for its shrunken heads in jars) and the Natural History Museum, although the History of Science Museum is also quirky if you're that way inclined. In the summer, open-air theatre is one of the biggest attractions. 

Both Creation Theatre and the Oxford Shakespeare Company regularly put on performances in the gardens of the colleges.

Punts raring for action

If you're in need of dinner and are happy with a chain, most of them are located on George Street. The first Jamie's Italian is at 24-26 George Street; also of note is the Pizza Express in Golden Cross Walk, next to the Covered Market, which is in an attractive, historic building. 

Here are a few pub recommendations: the Head of the River (on St Aldates), if it's a nice day and you want to sit by the river; the Bear (Alfred Street), one of the oldest pubs in town in which the walls are decorated with ties; and the Turf Tavern (Holywell Street), studenty and touristy but with a good range of beers and a network of outdoor courtyard drinking areas, Bill Clinton reportedly "did not inhale" here. To be honest, though, most of the pubs in the city centre are pretty., historic and studenty so it's hard to go too far wrong.

48 Hours in...Oxford part I

As I mentioned yesterday, I made a quick pit stop in Oxford yesterday afternoon, and took the chance to a few old favourites, and to discover some new places. I've now put together a short guide to some of my recommendations for shopping, eating, drinking and caffeinating in Oxford, organised this time by area. As I ended up with quite a long list of places, I've split the post into two; this part covers the city centre and the second part will cover the Jericho area, as well as a few tourism basics.


View Oxford favourites - city centre and tourist information in a larger map

The High
Oxford's city centre is dominated by the historic university, and most of the central areas of interest stem from the four streets that meet at the Carfax crossroads. One of these streets is the High Street, known locally as the High, which houses several of the prettier colleges, some of the more interesting retail opportunities, and more sandwich shops than you can shake, er, a baguette at.

Starting from eastern end of the High, there is the Sandwich Shop of Dreams (then called Harveys, now part of the Taylors empire, at no. 58). I am slightly biased as I used to work there part-time when I was at school but they have a great range of sandwiches made to order and plenty of other light viands. The breakfast baps are pretty good; Freddie Windsor used to order the turkey, crispy bacon and three cheeses ciabatta; Paul McCartney and the then Heather Mills-McCartney opted for soup and a salad; Harold Bishop had a sausage bap. 

The Grand Café (no. 84) is one of several places in Oxford that claim to be England's first coffee house; their posh afternoon teas are a lovely treat, but they also serve cocktails in the evening. Pod (no. 86-87) has an eclectic range of jewellery, girly gifts and pretty homewares, and Lexington (no. 36) is perfect if you're dressing for an American Independence Day-themed party: almost all of the clothes they sell are red, white and/or blue. I liked the look of a blue and white starry scarf but it was over £100, so I gave it a miss.

Quod - good burgers and cocktails

Quod (no. 92-94) in the Old Bank Hotel has been a family favourite restaurant over the years and despite a few dodgy menu/chef changes at various points, it remains the best place in town to get a good burger. The cocktails are pretty decent too and it's a nice place to spend a Friday or Saturday evening. In summer, you can sit out on the terrace and, this being Oxford, they also do afternoon tea. Crammed full of reasonably priced but pretty jewellery, party frocks and accessories, Aspire (no. 21) is another great shop for girly gifts.

The Covered Market and its surroundings
Approaching its 250th anniversary, the Covered Market, which can be accessed from the High, Cornmarket Street or Market Street, houses more traditional market shops (including butchers, bakers and pasta makers), and many other independent stores. Similar to Aspire, Fresh (9 Golden Cross Walk) sells jewellery and women's clothing, including lovely lace-trimmed cardigan and cami sets in a wide range of colours. 

Chocology does a good line in (surprise, surprise) chocolates and chocolate-related products; Cardews is one of the city's best tea and coffee merchants; Covered Arts has framed most of my family's pictures and they sell lovely Oxford-themed prints; and the aisle that runs parallel to Turl Street is lined with independent jewellery sellers. 

Food-wise, I spent many a Saturday afternoon eyeing up Oxford students at Brothers; Mortons is good for a sarnie; Brown's is my favourite greasy spoon; and there is always a line outside Ben's Cookies.

The Covered Market

Just outside the Covered Market at Lincoln House on Market Street is a new shop called Objects of Use. Rather than selling beautiful-but-useful objects, they try to see the beauty in ordinary objects. The objects in question are wonderfully presented and it's a lovely place to browse; Robert Dyas it ain't. Around the corner at 14 Turl Street is The Missing Bean (see my full review here), my top choice for a good macchiato in town.

Turl Street: mind the inevitable bike(s)!

Cornmarket Street and Queen Street are full of the usual boring chain store and fast-food joints you will find in every other town in the UK (Mission Burrito on St Michael's Street and The News Café on Ship Street are good places off Cornmarket Street for a quick lunch). They have been redeveloped countless times in the past 20 years but they still look ugly, so it's best avoid them, except as a means of getting somewhere more pleasant. Speaking of which, my guide to Oxford continues here...

The Caffeine Chronicles: The Missing Bean, Oxford

While I was visiting my parents this weekend, I spent a few hours in Oxford before catching the bus out to their village. I rediscovered a few old favourites, which I'll be rounding up in a forthcoming blog post. For now, though, I thought I'd review The Missing Bean, where I paused for a macchiato this afternoon.

Oxford finally gets an espresso bar!

Oxford isn't exactly famed for its independent espresso bars — sandwich shops, cafés and tea shops are much more common — and The Missing Bean claims to be the only independent specialty coffee shop in the city. I've been there with Dad a few times to pick up a post-early-morning-run coffee, but I've never drunk in before. 

The Missing Bean is always busy on Saturdays, especially on warmish Saturdays in June when students are seeking post-exam caffeination and there are plenty of parents in town. The place was rammed when I first got into town, just after lunch, so I came back a couple of hours later when the queue had subsided and I managed to score a stool in the corner.

Double mac

Located on Turl Street, just off the High, and surrounded by several Oxford University colleges, The Missing Bean is a cool place to hang out — the clientèle is almost entirely young and hip and there is a nice selection of cakes, pastries and sandwiches on offer. 

The window seats are also great spots for people-watching. I ordered my usual double macchiato, which was very good. The Missing Bean really is an excellent start for what I hope will be a burgeoning Oxford specialty coffee scene.

The Missing Bean. 14 Turl Street, Oxford, OX1 3DQ. Website.

The Caffeine Chronicles: Monmouth Review

Monmouth Coffee's original Covent Garden branch was one of the first independent coffee bars I discovered in London and for a long time, it remained my favourite. I love the tiny, wooden seated area at the back, particularly the mini "cabin" just big enough for one man and his macchiato (and his Mac), but the place tends to be rammed on Saturdays and a number of newer, cooler espresso bars have since sprung up, many of which use Monmouth's own roasts.

Come prepared to queue!

As for the Borough Market branch, I've only been a few times and the queue is always as intense as the espresso. It always strikes me as odd that Monmouth is about the only good coffee shop in "London's most renowned food market," but the coffee is worth the wait, in my opinion. And if it's a Saturday, you will wait. 

I queued for about 15 minutes just to get a take-out macchiato (the Borough branch is more spacious and airy than its Covent Garden predecessor, but it's still a bit of a scrum and really requires at least one partner in caffeine). I realised later that as I was buying some coffee to brew at home in my Aeropress, I probably could have ordered the macchiato at the separate counter for buying beans and ground coffee. In fact, I could probably have got my macchiato for free to "test out" a new blend before buying.

Oops: I started to drink before taking a photo but my macchiato came with nice latte art.

As it was, my macchiato was good — rich and smooth, with just the right dash of foam. The ground coffee was pretty good too — I chose a Brazilian coffee I've tried before, which claims to have chocolatey and nutty notes. Aeropress coffee isn't always subtle enough for these flavour notes and I think the coffee was ground a little too finely for my liking, but it has still produced a good home brew. 

If you manage to score a table, you can also enjoy a pastry or a cake, but it always feels a bit of a waste to eat in when the delights of Borough Market are only steps away; I was lured by the cheesecake brownies being sold next door and Konditor & Cook.

The cakes get more space than the customers!

I'm in the process of hunting for a flat in the general vicinity of Borough, so I'm sure I'll find a few more interesting and obscure macchiato options in the area before too long but in the meantime, for a good coffee in SE1, you could do a lot worse than Monmouth.

Monmouth Coffee. 2 Park Street, London, SE1 9AB (Tube: London Bridge) and 27 Monmouth Street, London, WC2H 9EU (Tube: Covent Garden). Website.

Aliens vs Anthropologists

Before this weekend, I hadn't seen any of the movies in the Alien franchise, but I felt I ought to see at least the first movie before checking out Prometheus, in part because I was worried the former might not compare too favourably to its newer, flashier relative 30 years on. And I was a little disappointed by Alien. I wanted to be scared and excited, but I was really just a little bored. Visually, it's a stunning film, of course, but Ridley Scott seemed to be working way too hard on the build-up without enough pay-off for my 21st century eyes. 

Maybe I've just been tarnished by too many flashy, showy blockbusters, but it felt like there wasn't enough plot and there definitely wasn't enough dialogue for me (I was amused to read on IMDb that a lot of the lines were ad libbed — but about 90% of the dialogue consisted of characters calling out other characters' names).

Enter Prometheus — not a prequel but a story taking place in the same universe as Alien, 30 years earlier. It is 2089 and palaeoanthropologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) have just discovered some ancient cave paintings on the Isle of Skye that seem to hint at humanity being created by a benevolent extraterrestrial presence thousands of years earlier. 

Thanks to the wonders of commercial space flight (fast becoming a reality), three years later our researchers find themselves being de-frosted on a spacecraft about to reach a very distant planet — one that they believe may contain the key to our origins. As someone who often works with palaeoanthropologists, I'm not sure I would send any of them into space, especially not when the two in question are also an item, but there we go.

Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) runs a tight ship, assisted by David (Michael Fassbender), an android created by Peter Weyland (a prosthetic-drenched Guy Pearce), the aged owner of Weyland Corporation, which funded the mission. It transpires that the motives of the Weyland Corporation (and therefore Meredith and David) may not entirely match those of our scientists, however. 

Nonetheless, on landing on the planet, the team are initially elated to find signs of life — less so when said life turns out to be a) hideous, b) violent and c) really scary. Is it worth hanging around with such unpleasant hosts to potentially discover the true story of human origins? Again, the team's opinions differ here. The plucky Elizabeth has faith in her thesis, but David tends to disagree and begins working on an experiment of his own, the consequences of which may not be what he had intended.

The basic structure of Prometheus is very similar to that of Alien, but it has been heavily adapted to suit a 2012 audience. Scott had initially considered a romance sub-plot for Alien, but it was canned, presumably to give the film a tighter focus. In Prometheus, meanwhile, Elizabeth and Charlie are so in lurve, and there is even an off-screen sex scene between Meredith and one of the other crew members. There's also a hell of a lot more dialogue. Oh, and it's quite funny and keeps things moving. The explosions are bigger and so are the scares — there is a particularly horrible scene in which Elizabeth must undergo surgery conducted by a machine in manual mode. I thought the first hour was great but during the second hour, it seemed to lose focus and dragged on maybe 15 minutes too long.

Rapace puts in a strong performance as the tough Elizabeth, who is both handicapped by and strengthened by her faith. Fassbender, as ever, steals the show as David the Fassbot, who spends hours learning as many ancient human languages as he can and who learns how to act human by watching old movies and spying on the crew's dreams while they are in a cryogenic sleep. When asked why he is putting on a helmet to go out onto the toxic planet when he can't breathe, he explains that he was designed to be the way he is because humans aren't always tolerant of or receptive to those who are different from them. In any case, Fassbender got the terribly polite tone / dead eyes trade-off down to a T. Oh, and Rafe Spall, who plays a geologist, is a good laugh too.

Overall, I was entertained by Prometheus but hardly blown away. Some may find it sad that I enjoyed it more than Alien, and part of that may be down to seeing the former on a big screen at the cinema and the latter on the small screen. Incidentally, I saw Prometheus in 2D and I really don't think the 3D version would have added anything because I felt suitably immersed in the action.

A Rough Diamond Jubilee

As I'm fairly ambivalent about the royal family, don't like big crowds and hate standing around in the rain, it may sound rather odd that I decided to brave the weather and the hoards this afternoon and headed down to the Thames to watch the 1000-boat flotilla sail along the river in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. 

E works in London Bridge, though, and she had a spare wristband that gave us access to a special area for local workers right in front of Tower Bridge, which was spacious and had a great view. In fact, we were right in front of the press zone, as evidenced by Eamonn Holmes sitting around chatting for the entire river pageant (he was presenting Sky News's coverage of the festivities).

Eamonn Holmes having a good LOL

Oh, and we didn't have to show up early either — we arrived 30 minutes before the fun began and still got a great spot. Naturally, as soon as the boats started sailing through, the heavens opened and it was pouring with rain for the next 75 minutes and beyond. Thanks, weather.

Tower Bridge opens for the Spirit of the Chartwell

Although we had front-row seats (well, a front-row space in which to stand) and could see all the boats, it was hard to identify anyone. Obviously, the royal barge, the Spirit of the Chartwell, was fairly ostentatious — Tower Bridge even deigned to open to let it through — and I took a few paparazzi shots on my camera, where you can just about distinguish the Queen, Prince Harry, Prince William, Kate Middleton and Camilla.

Paparazzi shot (L-R of the people under the canopy: Prince
Harry, Kate Middleton (in red), Prince Wills, Camilla, Queenie

I took some shots of the Elizabethan too, on which the rest of the Middletons were supposed to be riding, but we couldn't really tell who was who. The pageant was quite impressive, with rowers, dragon boaters, kayakers, foghorns, cannons, bell ringers, musicians and the emergency services, among others, making their way through.

Diverse pageantry

Slightly weirdly, the royal boat came thorough roughly in the middle, which meant interest soon waned after that, although there was then the obligatory musical/firework finale, after which we retreated to E's office to dry off and warm up while the crowds dispersed somewhat. Normal bank holiday service will resume shortly. I hope.

That's enough jubilation (ed)

Encore un Jour Se Lève

Almost five years ago, I went to see Two Days in Paris, in the middle of spending two days in Cambridge with an ex. For some reason, Julie Delpy films often ended up having inordinate significance for us, but although my memories of Two Days in Paris are now tainted by the context in which I saw the film, at the time, apparently, I rather liked it. 

In the film, Marion (Delpy) and Jack (Adam Goldberg) are on their way back home from holiday to New York, via Marion's crazy French family in Paris. Plenty of culture clashing, awkwardness and hilarity ensues. Meet the Parents meets Before Sunset, directed by Woody Allen, the Grauniad explained.

Enter Two Days in New York. Several years later and Marion is back in New York living with her new boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock), a radio DJ. They each have one young child from previous relationships and life is generally good. Until the French invade. Marion's mother has recently died, and her father Jeannot (Albert Delpy — Julie's real-life father) and sister Rose (Alexia Landau) are coming to visit for the titular two days. 

Naturally, it all goes horribly wrong, with Rose showing up with her boyfriend Manu (Alex Nahon), who also happens to be Marion's ex, and both Manu and Jeannot being detained at customs for, of course, smuggling cheese and sausages into the country. Tee hee.

Marion and Mingus's lovely New York apartment suddenly feels terribly small with all these crazy French people, whose crimes include: walking around the apartment naked, getting up to no good with an electric toothbrush in the bathroom, smoking weed in the elevator, making references to the colour of Mingus's skin and laughing every time they say Mingus's name because of a certain word with which it sort of rhymes. Tee hee. Naturally, Marion and Mingus's own relationship suffers when her family harm a potential career opportunity and continually prevent him from getting laid. But they are her family so can he really force her to kick them out?

Two Days in New York is funny and sharp and I did enjoy it. Marion and Mingus are likeable characters and we want them not to be torn apart because of her family. We want them to make it. It is a little less biting and a lot less bittersweet than its Parisian predecessor — maybe it's just because we're seeing the same wacky family members and the same old issues that were shown in the first film. 

As I was leaving the cinema, I overheard a dude saying this to his buddy, "You know Zoey Deschel [sic]? That annoying, quirky woman? This is like the movie version of her." I think that is being a little harsh on Two Days in York because although it's plenty quirky, it isn't really very annoying.