Christmas Markets and a Round Table

Considering the fact that Christmas lights have been up in Oxford since before Halloween, you would think that the holiday season in England would be magical, but so far I have just been a little disappointed and confused.

Friday night was a Christmas parade and festival in Oxford City Centre. We were planning on going to see a male a capella group at 6pm and then watch the parade. With Thanksgiving over, we were all excited to get in the Christmas spirit.

Our bus was supposed to get us into the city centre with just enough time to walk to the stage. Unfortunately, the bus was fifteen minutes late due to traffic and it was nearly 6:30pm by the time we made it even half way down the festival street because of the crowds.

We ended up pausing on a sidewalk to watch the parade. The parade was not very exciting, just grade school children holding paper mache lanterns following a small band that was playing carols. Some of the paper mache creatures were cool including a large polar bear, emperor penguins, and two birds that were rigged up to flap their wings when the person carrying it pulled on a string.

I understand that there were no floats since the streets are so narrow, but no one was even dressed up in silly things like reindeer antlers. There was also a disappointing lack of carol singing. I am wondering if that is they only Christmas parade they have or if there is a bigger one closer to Christmas.

Once the little parade of children passed us we followed behind them looking for the stage, even though the a capella group would have finished a while earlier. We had to avoid a carousel and a ferris wheel that rotated way to fast in my opinion, all while pushing through the tons of people squeezed together between two rows of tents. Some tents sold food like Spanish paella, roasted meat, brautwursts, and olives in bulk. There were also craft booths with jewelry, ornaments, and scarves.

I really dislike large crowds because I feel like I can't move freely. The fact that it was dark outside made it even more difficult to maneuver, forcing Caitlin, Amy and I to hold hands to avoid losing each other. By the time we forced our way to the stage we were ready to go home, but then a rock version of "What a Wonderful World" started playing as a giant paper mache sun attached to window cleaner machine rose up into the air. When the song was finished, flashing sparks shot out from behind the sun, illuminating much of the street.

This made no sense to any of us. Wasn't this supposed to be a Christmas festival? What does rock music and a giant sun have to do with a winter holiday? It was just really strange all around.

I don't feel like this festival and parade could be classified as Christmas themed, maybe just winter themed. Perhaps it is because people are not as religious here, plus there are many more people of different religions here who probably do not celebrate the Christian holiday. The only really exciting part about the night was seeing the lights strung up over the streets finally turned on. Some of them have been hanging up since before Halloween. I like the ones shaped like chandeliers best, but the one in the shape of a tandem bicycle is also pretty cute.

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Then on Saturday we went to the Winchester Christmas Market. Winchester is known as the "Christmas Capital of England," so we had pretty high expectations of it being a Christmas wonderland decked out in lights and garland.

The weather was absolutely miserable. It had been raining almost constantly for several days with flooding causing delays for the transportation systems. This wasn't just a sprinkling like usual. It was a steady rain that would get you soaked without an umbrella or rain jacket.

On our way from the rail station to the Christmas Market we stopped at the Great Hall of Winchester Castle to see King Arthur's Round table. I was surprised to find that the table was mounted on a wall. The 18 foot in diameter, 2,645 pound circle of oak has actually been hanging from the wall for at least 400 years. Around its outer edge are the names of Arthur's twenty-four knights.

I loved the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as a child. Though there is of course a lot of debate on whether or not he actually existed, to see what could have been the actual Round Table was amazing. Seeing places and things from stories makes them seem so much more real and vivid.      

Next we made our way through the rain to Winchester Cathedral where the booths for the Christmas Market were set up. Since the market lasts for over a month, the booths are not in tents, but instead in small wooden buildings about the size of a storage shed. They were decorated in green garland and lights. One stand near the entrance sold garlands made from dried citrus fruit and cinnamon sticks. It smelled delicious, like cookies and other goodies. There were candles, soaps, ornaments, clothing, and other items being sold. One section featured just food stalls selling hot chocolate, roasted peanuts and chestnuts, meat sandwiches and bratwurst.

The market was smaller than we were anticipating with only about thirty little booths arranged in a circle around the small ice skating rink. It was difficult to even see the items for sale because of the need to avoid hitting other people or their umbrellas with our own umbrellas. Our look around yielded nothing tempting enough to buy so we decided to wander down the main road until we found the River Itchen which was rushing swiftly, swollen with rainwater until it almost reached the path.

We took a stroll along the river looking for Wolvesey Castle which is really ruins. The walk was nice and we pause often to take pictures. When we found the entrance to the castle grounds the gate was closed, probably due to the rain. We settled for reading the sign outside the entrance telling use a bit about the castle's history. There is a house on the grounds where someone still lives.

We eat lunch at a small cafe, taking the time for our clothes and umbrellas to dry while sitting on a cozy couch which served as the chairs for a small table. Some more wandering yielded nothing more of interested so we headed to the rail station at about 4pm.

We were all ready to make our way back to Oxford and our warm flat but the train we were planning on taking was canceled due to "a shortage of train crew." We asked the man at the ticket window how we could get back to Oxford, the next train we had written down to take would not come for another hour, and we told use quickly to "take the 4:16pm, get off at Basingstoke and Reading."

Now, this was confusing to us so Amy asked him if he could repeat himself, and when he did, Amy repeated it back to him for clarification. He just said rudely, "That's what I just said," but the way he gave the directions was confusing. We just hoped we were correct in think that he meant take the 4:16 train to Basingstoke, get off and board another train to Reading, and then in Reading switch to a train headed for Oxford.

Our journey which would have been simple and straight to Oxford became one with three trains and two changes. Each of the legs of the trip were just long enough for you to finally relax when you would have to get off again. We ended up having to literally run to catch the train from Basingstoke to Reading and then wait half an hour for the train to Oxford to arrive. Then, of course, because this always seems to happen, the bus that would take to our flat arrived at the same time our train did. That was 30 more minutes of waiting in the Oxford train station for us.

I guess it was bound to happen some time since we have been so lucky with our transportation so far on our trips. The annoyance of it was just magnified by the fact that Winchester was a bit of a disappointment in the Christmas department and the three of use were a bit irritable from being wet and cold.