Oxford is a cute city. All of the buildings there are made of white stone and have very ornate architecture. Lucas and I discovered that just picking a direction and walking is a great way to see Oxford. But first thing's first: the food.
I've already hit quite a few restaurants in London and have some favorites picked out. But the lunch I had in Oxford at The Grapes was unforgettably good. I ordered a steak and ale pie that came with mashed potatoes and peas, a standard British side dish. The pie wasn't round. It was a cube shaped box made of pastie dough and was stuffed with hot steak and mushrooms with a thick brown ale sauce. I was in heaven.
Lucas and I left The Grapes and decided to take a meandering path around town until we found a pay phone. My friend Kevin is studying at Oxford this summer and I wanted to meet up with him for a bit. A word of advice regarding the over-romanticized red phone boxes that dot the streets in England: don't open one that looks like it has liquid on the floor. Every single phone box I have tried to use so far has been visited by someone with an over full bladder and an urge to call home. When I found a clean phone box, I realized I didn't know how to call Kevin's number. I plan to go back to Oxford to visit Kevin and see a few things I missed.
Here's what I did see.
The Museum of the History of Science
A very wordy building name, but surely an important institution. I didn't go in and find out, but I liked the way the building looked.
A skybridge
Isn't this the coolest looking passageway? At work we have a bridge that connects our main building with the building across the street, but this one just blows it out of the water. Lucas and I walked about a mile on streets this narrow and were eventually re-deposited on Oxford's High Street.
Once we reached the High Street, Lucas and I agreed to go punting, an attraction that draws both locals and tourists all summer long, but one that neither camp seems to be able to do. Punting looks a lot like what they do in Venice. A long, flat, narrow boat is propelled along the river by an equally long pole being pushed by either a member of your group or a hired chauffeur.
This boat is not a punt
I had spent some of the morning looking at videos on YouTube of people getting stuck around trees and losing their poles to a sticky patch of mud. When Lucas and I arrived at the dock, I saw that they had row boats. Instead of having an awkward, wet afternoon, I decided I'd do what I knew I could handle and we rented a row boat.
Who can tell me what these are?
There were great things to see on the 35 minute tour around an island. Ducks, geese, and swans as well as these odd little birds. I'm not quite sure what they are. A few chauffeured punts were filled with people sipping Pimm's, a drink favored by the British on warm, sunny days.
That was yesterday. Today, we visited Westminster Abbey.
Wow, right?
Here is the front of Westminster Abbey. We Americans feel a great sense of pride when we visit a building that has been around for 300 years. Westminster Abbey's history goes back more than 1000 years. Go back and count those zeros again - there should be three.
Take a good look...
I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside. The other Eric got a stern verbal lashing for snapping a picture in the main hall of the Abbey so I didn't want to get myself into any trouble. We were allowed to take pictures of the College Garden that sits in the middle of the Abbey. I took a pair of panoramic shots so you could see just how big everything was.
And one more.
What time is it, Mr. Fox?
The largest bell is actually Big Ben, not the clock tower itself.
Somebody get this kid a belt!
Class met today. Zak and Chip a demonstration of some software tools. Lucas and I have our demo next week. We've had 6 assignments due already but they haven't been too hard at all. Class meets late in the afternoon tomorrow so we can go to Buckingham Palace in the morning. Expect more pictures then! As always, there are more photos on Flickr than I've posted here so go check them out.
Pip pip, cheerio,
Eric
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