Oxford: Round One

The next day I took the train to Oxford.  I was hoping to see my former tutor from my time studying abroad and to meet a scholar I admire.  The scholar and I had been e-mailing, but we hadn't set a firm time to meet.  I thought perhaps I could just drop in on her, as per the advice of a professor from back home.  I put on a nice outfit, took a taxi to Paddington Station, and bought a same-day return ticket to Oxford.  In short order I found myself passing the smokestacks of Didcot Parkway and veering right towards the spires of Oxford.  Everything is just the same as four years ago.  Stepping off the train I made my way towards the high street, passing familiar shops and buildings.  I think perhaps the name of the pub by the canal has changed, but that's only superficial.  It was very hot, so I stopped in at the Pret on Cornmarket Street for water.  Then I headed towards the college.  Neither my tutor nor the scholar were there.  Back out on the street, I wondered what to do with my day in Oxford.

In the end, it went quite well.  I surprised myself by how much I remembered of Oxford.  I walked back up the road and turned down the street towards Christ's Church College.  I stopped in at the Alice Shop-- where Alice "in Wonderland" Liddell used to buy her sweets as a child, and which now sells only Alice in Wonderland themed merchandise-- and then up to George & Danvers for some ice cream.  I then wandered down Cornmarket Street and stopped in at a few shops.  I ended up with an adorable new red jumper, a pair of tan flats, and a pair of sea-green cropped pants.  Then I walked up to Blackwell's and restrained myself from buying books-- two for the price of one on all classics!  I have too many books that I need to read already.

I ended by trying the porter at the college again to see if either my tutor or the scholar were in.  Success-- my tutor had popped in for lunch!  I had a lovely couple of minutes talking with him about where I was now, and he told me he was going on a cruise down the Adriatic the next week.  What a wonderful man.  I absolutely adored him at the time, and I daresay he looks even better now than he did four years ago when I was his pupil.  Feeling at last as if something had been accomplished by the coming to Oxford unannounced, I bought a Cornish pasty for lunch and made my way back to the train station, and soon found myself again in London.

As my parents were out on their Olympics Package, I decided to walk up to the British Museum to have a look around.  They just installed a Shakespeare exhibit, but unfortunately it was the only exhibit to cost money.  After looking through the exhibition book, I decided I didn't absolutely have to see it.  Instead, I wandered through their world-famous Egyptology sections, seeing ancient statuary and mummies (!), I browsed some Greek and Roman statuary, and then somehow found myself in their new Picasso exhibit-- which was really fantastic!  I ended, finally, in an exhibit called Living and Dying, which intrigued me so much that I returned to it less than forty-eight hours later.  Afterwards, I took to the nearby pub for some fish and chips and communal watching of the Olympic track and field events before turning in early to read.

Stay tuned for continuing adventures at the British Museum, Covent Gardens, the Banqueting House, the Olympics Closing Ceremony, and Oxford: Round Two!!!