Don't Go on Vacation!

I am so exhausted from returning to work, that it seems like a really bad idea to have taken a vacation - or perhabs it's because I got used to getting up late (around 8 or 9, compared to 6 am normally) :) Anyway, as I expected there is quite a bit of catching up to do, and I probably should get some work done this evening, just to be back to normal regarding my projects. It's amazing how many things can change in a week, and how difficult it can be to get on top of it all again. Katrin and I had a great time in London, visiting friends and relaxing. I think one of the most relaxing things we did was to go to bookshops. Somehow that is one of the most relaxing things I can think of, besides perhabs reading the books after buying them. The really cool thing about the english bookshops (we went to a few while we were in Oxford too - just to see if they had a better selection, or something :) ) is that you grab a basket, fill it with all the books that look interesting, and head for the coffee shop to get a cop of coffee and calmly look through the books you've selected. I took a huge pile of books on our last trip to a book store, just to get an idea of what all the topics was about, and it was really nice to be able to sit down comfortably and skim through the books to get an idea of whether they are interesting or not. In Denmark you would probably not even be allowed in the store if you were strange enough to actually have bought a coffee-to-go, let alone sit down comfortably and make sure the book you selected from the shelve is interesting enough to buy. There are never any nice chairs or sofas to sit in, no coffee shop and I bet that in most stores they'll complain if you start reading a book (I always expect to hear a voice cry "It's not a library you now!"). Besides spending time in book shops, we went to Oxford as i mentinoed before. Oxford is awsome - if you haven't been there yet, start planning. It has this really brittish feel about it with the old buildings, tea houses and people wearing strange kinds of cloaks that probably have a significant meaning. The city center is fairly condenced, and there are loads of small ally ays, back streets and squares, to make a walk around town very interesting. We ate at a place called Tootsies (apparently a chain that specialises in goog quality burgers - and they do that well) which was actually in the old Oxford Castle! They've taken the old castle, renovated it from top to bottom, and let people open restaurents and offices in the buildings. It was quite a spectacular experience to walk around inside the castle walls, not in gloomy and scarry looking damn corridors, but in a series of bright and airy courtyards with the old wall illuminated in a trendy way. It was quite clear that it must _the_ place to party (we were there on a wednesday which was fairly quiet). A bit by chance, we staid in a B&B at this nice Australian woman named Vivian, in a place called Heather House. It was fairly priced at 66 pounds for a night including breakfast, and the room was quite nice. The only downside was the shower, which seemed to have the intention to deliver water, but lacked in will-power and ability to perform. The B&B was luckily within a fair walking distance to Oxfford centre, and we could leave the car in the lot the day after, while we toured the city and it's huge number of colleges. Oh, one last thing if you ever go to Oxford, make sure to climb the church tower near the old library (I've forgotten what either place is called) It has the most fantastic views of all of Oxford, and it so happened that on the day we were there, the sun was shining and there were not a trace of a cloud in the sky - beatifull! :)