Oxford and Brighton
English cities
The United Kingdom is a country, which you can visit many times and every time you will discover something new. The same applies if you are in a London. Just to mention that London contains 4 (!) UNESCO World Heritage Sites – the Tower of London, Kew Gardens, a complex consisting of the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret’s Church, and Greenwich.
On this page there are just two very short episodes from many visits outside London, although we have visited many English cities; more blog posts about those are jet to come.
Oxford
Oxford is one of the most beautiful cities in the UK. The city is widely known for its medieval Oxford University. Buildings in Oxford demonstrate an example of every English architectural period since the arrival of Saxons, but especially impressive are the buildings of the University of Oxford.
There are roughly 100 major academic departments, which are overseen by the four academic divisions: Medical Sciences; Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Humanities and Social Sciences. There are 38 Oxford colleges, which are financially independent and self-governing but relate to the central University in a kind of federal system.
The best way to get from London to Oxford is by Oxford Tube bus company, it takes less than 2 hours from central London. A bit more expensive option is using a train. If you travel by train to Oxford, you have to leave from Paddington station by Great Western Railway or from Marylebone station to board Chiltern Railways.
Brighton
Brighton is a very popular seaside resort town located about 90 kilometres (50 miles) from London. Brighton is a festival town with many attractive events during the summer season.
Brighton has a 5.4-mile-long shingle beach all owned by the city council. Each year during May, the city hosts the Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe, which is the second largest arts festival in the UK after Edinburgh (Scotland).
To visit Brighton from London, there are very many frequent train services (Southern and Thameslink) and it would take about one hour to get there.
South-West of London there is another, perhaps, even more popular resort town Bournemouth. The best means to travel from London to Brighton and also to Bournemouth, might be by train, however ticket prices during the holiday season may get very high. For example, a return ticket to Bournemouth may cost more than one hundred pounds.