an ideal husband... and OXFORD

Sunday I bought my ticket to Geneva, Switzerland! We decided to start there, move our way in to Germany and Austria, then down through Italy and fly out from Naples. Next we need to buy our train tickets and the ticket from Naples back to London!! But it's official! I'm going to be a legit Backpacker :)

Monday, after my stellar classes, Ashley and I went for a run to Buckingham Palace. So so pretty! But the main event of Monday was going to see "An Ideal Husband." It was quite funny and witty, and I really enjoyed it, but a lot of the humor was British humor and making fun of British politics that I haven't covered in class yet, so I was sometimes a little lost.

My friends here in London are so much fun!

Tuesday, I went with some friends out to Kew and walked four miles along the Thames, through Parks, by Churches and graveyards, and by historical buildings. And we had a guest lecturer visit, which was good for us.

But now for the good stuff.......
OXFORD

I got to go to Oxford today and see where my brother studied! I am so lucky, because both Brady and Amanda sent me suggestions, and Brady even sent me a map! All I did during the bus ride was look back and forth from my three Oxford maps and the lists of places to visit that I had accumulated and map out my route. I needed to get to all of them efficiently, because I had lots to do in the 6 hours we were there J

After much thought, I had a nice little schedule planned out on my Ipod:
(which I referred to constantly)

-Alice's shop
-Head of the River pub and river
-Christ's Church (Harry Potter dining hall)
-Merton College
Chapel, dining hall, middle
common room, back gardens,
real tennis court
-St. Mary's Church (climb tower)
-Radcliffe Camera (photo op)
-Sheldonian Theatre (graduation)
-Turf Tavern
-Bridge of Sighs (take picture under)
-weave down Queen’s Lane to examination school (tour?)
-Magdalen College (deer field)
-Broad Street (souvenirs)
-Cornmarket Street (fun pedestrian street)
-Covered Market (Ben’s Cookies, Moo Moo’s shakes, cute dresses)

Since I had such a boss schedule planned, I had lots of followers!

Alice’s shop was the inspiration for some shop in Alice in Wonderland. After living in London, Alice was my niece Millie’s favorite, so it was really fun for me going to this shop.
(Don’t worry Mom, I found an Alice charm…)

The Head of the River pub overlooks the Thames River where Oxford and Cambridge have their boat races. The pub itself looked huge and very neat, but it was early in the morning, so we didn’t go inside.

Then we went to Christ’s Church College. They filmed loads of different Harry Potter scenes here, including the Dining Hall, so of course we went inside. I wish I had gotten a better picture, but it was neat. Very small, but cool. The chapel was gorgeous, too! And I loved the grass commons area with the fountain- very pretty. We were behind probably six French Jr. High schools, so it was taking forever, and the group got split up L

Merton College was my next stop. This was the best part, because my brother was a student at Merton College. There was a big sign in the entrance that said it was closed to all visitors, but I went inside and asked a man in the office if I could walk around, since my brother went there. (I didn’t think he would let all 15 of us in, so Liz and I broke off from the crowd for this part.) He recognized Brady’s name immediately and let me right in to wander. Well, nothing’s labeled in Merton College since it’s not the visitors’ season, so we had no idea where anything was! We finally found the Chapel that Brady told me to visit, but it was kinda spooky. We went inside and there was nobody there. It was so strange being in a cathedral without all of the annoying little tour-guides, and it was neat!!! Then we stuck our head in the Dining Hall, even though it said absolutely no visitors were allowed inside. It was much smaller than the Christ’s Church dining hall, but the food smelled a lot better. And the Merton Gardens and grounds were so pretty and green; flowers are starting to peak into sight!

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to visit the Merton Library since it’s only open to students. Technically, we weren’t going to be able to see the MCR (Middle Commons Room- the room for Masters students to study and hang out) but the man working in the office personally took Liz and I up there to see it. It had an interesting smell (not good but not bad at all) and lots of nice looking couches. It was fun talking to the man, because he remembered Brady and was asking what he was up to now. He even told us how to get to the “Real Tennis” courts. It’s a mix of racquetball and tennis, and the court was cool. Henry VIII used to play there!

After Merton, we climbed to the top of St. Mary’s Church and looked out over the city from the chapel’s spire. Amanda and Brady were right—it was gorgeous. And from the top, we had an excellent view of the Radcliffe Camera. Oxford is gorgeous. It was the smallest (skinniest) staircase I have encountered so far. Claustrophes beware!

(View from the bottom)

(View from the Top)

Then we went to look at the outside of the Sheldonian Theatre, where they hold graduation and other big ceremonies. It looked like it would be incredible inside.

By now, we were hungry, so we made our way to the Turf Tavern. This is not only where Brady would go hang out with friends, but also where Bill Clinton “smoked but didn’t inhale!” Liz and I were brave and split the fish and chips!!! It smelled really fishy, but tasted pretty good. If it hadn’t had the fish skin attached to the bottom, I would probably have thoroughly enjoyed it! Getting to the Turf was fun, because we were winding through these tiny little alleys.

THE FAMOUS TURF TAVERN

(AN EDUCATION IN INTOXICATION)

Their tribute to Bill Clinton....

Like any Oxford Tourist, we found the Bridge of Sighs and took a picture underneath! Then we wandered down Queen’s Lane and found the Examination Building. Unfortunately, the outside was under construction, but I went into the lobby and imagined the students wearing their full tuxedos walking in to take their tests, and felt completely stressed!

From here, I went to visit the Magdelen College. The college was cool, but I was most excited to see the Deer Field and all of the neat grounds. It was so green and picturesque! I love springtime and cannot wait for the rest of England to catch up to Oxford and get some green grass and flowers!

After this, we made our way back up to Broad Street and did some souvenir shopping, of course. Pretty sure our whole room (13 girls) all got some sort of Oxford shirt, hoodie, or sweatpants JWe all match! And we walked down Cornmarket Street and there were awesome street artists playing their brass instruments.

But the best way to end the day….. The covered Market. Thanks Amanda for the tip about the dress store. We found the cutest dresses I have ever seen! I have never seen so many perfect dresses all in one spot before. And I got the Fresh Strawberry and Chocolate Bar shake from Moo Moo’s just like Amanda suggested; bliss. It was in the top five shakes that I have ever had. So so so so good.

Thank you so much Brady and Amanda for all of the Oxford tips and suggestions! I had such an incredible time there today, and could never have visited half of those places without your help. I’m so jealous that you were able to live there for a full year!