The final stop of our trip was Oxford. I was thrilled about getting to visit Oxford: The Bodleian! Punting! LEWIS! So much mystique surrounding Oxford, and we got a chance to check it out.
Brad's conference convenes in Oxford every four years, so the last time it was in Oxford was at the end of his first year in the program (he didn't present then). I've told him that I expect him to submit a paper every four years from here on out. It's the only thing that makes sense.
I only had about 48-ish hours to be in Oxford, so I wanted to make the most of my time but also not kill myself pounding the pavement, as that didn't seem very Oxfordian. So I made sure to take pictures like this as we walked from the bus stop to the Air BnB we were sharing with friends:
We got into the train station, took a bus to the nearest stop to our Air BnB, and then walked a couple of blocks. I think these are Hollyhocks?
View from our bedroom window. Quaint (and compact) back gardens.
We got into town late afternoon, so we got some groceries from a nearby Sainsbury's and had an early night. Well, I did. Brad walked into town with a colleague/friend to meet up with some other colleagues/friends for a while. I got into my jammies, ate some chocolate-covered digestive biscuits, and read my book. IT WAS GREAT.
The next morning, we headed out into glorious weather for a day of wandering. Our first stop was to get Brad checked in and pick up his conference stuff. They were given tote bags, and for the rest of the day, it seemed that every third person we passed was carrying said bag.
We walked through a church yard/grave yard on our way into town. It was a lovely little stroll.
Unlike most of the places we visited in Edinburgh and London, Oxford was much more of a slower pace and looked a bit more residential for much of our walking.
Like this.
Where C.S. Lewis taught as a fellow. Part of my pilgrimage.
Logic Lane. Seems very Oxford-appropriate.
The Bodleian Library
My collection is complete.
After walking around the Bodleian and grounds for a good while, we walked over towards Christ Church College to scope out where Brad's garden party would be that evening.
And here is the building where the great hall of Hogwarts was filmed. The line was incredibly long, so we walked right on past. However, after I had returned home, Brad had something conference-y in there and snapped some pictures for me, because he loves me muchly.
Thanks, Brad! I can't *almost* see McGonagall standing there, ordering first years into place.
The grounds surrounding Christ Church were gorgeous, and I snapped approximately one billion pictures. I narrowed them down a bit for your benefit:
Then we meandered through the streets of Oxford, taking in the sights and killing some time before lunch.
Any The Royal We fans out there?
Boswells are very popular in the United Kingdom.
We made our way to the focus of my Lewis/Inklings pilgrimage: The Eagle and Child (The Bird and Baby). I've read and loved Lewis for years. I love The Lord of the Rings. I've recently come to love Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey novels. It seemed only appropriate that we eat lunch at the Inklings' pub of choice. I wanted to get there early enough to snag a seat in The Rabbit Room, which was their corner of choice, as well. I got us there so early that it wasn't even open yet. Oops. Oh well. GOT MY SEAT, SO THERE.
Tolkein
Lewis
Boswells
"Please do not obstruct this door...Aslan is watching you! You have been warned."
{Map of Narnia}
The food was good, the company (Brad) was excellent, and my reader-writer's heart was very full. So many parts of me have been shaped by Lewis's words, and it was like meeting a friend to sit where he sat and talked-argued-workshopped-imagined with his friends.
From there we walked back to our house so that Brad could change for the garden party and I could work on packing. Some sights as we walked:
Again, for good measure.
After the garden party, I walked back into town to meet up with Brad and some of his fellow Cyril scholars (yes, there is, in fact, a small group of them) at The Bear for supper. Brad and his ilk are a very intelligent, highly-specialized, and international crew. At our table: US, Australia, France, and Germany. I was the only non-scholar, so it was my job to cover for that by being charming and asking to see pictures of grandchildren, learn about summer vacations taken, and generally talking about any non-scholarly thing I could think of. It takes all sorts, y'all.
Brad and Duke colleagues at their garden party. Note: these are not his Cyril colleagues. All of these folks are doing different kinds of projects. They're all terribly smart and ridiculously well-read. And they all speak/read in multiple languages. It's a tad intimidating.
Brad stayed to talk shop with everyone after the food was gone, and I took my leaving, enjoying the walk and taking just a few more pictures:
The next morning, I got up with the sun to begin my trek to London. In true Brassart fashion, I hit a travel snag immediately. They were in the middle of tearing up roads all over Oxford, so the bus routes were interrupted and re-routed often, which is fine if you know where you are and where you're going. Less fine if you're me and don't know either of those things. I asked the bus driver to help me figure out where to get out, but his directions and my understanding of those directions were, apparently, quite different from one another.
The kindest street sweeper saw me looking very confused and took pity on me. I told him where I needed to be, and he loaded me and my luggage into his car and drove me right to the entrance of the bus station. Seriously? What a dear soul. A blessing on his head. I made it onto my bus and all the way to Heathrow...and then directly to Durham without any further incident, thankfully. That direct flight, followed by Global Entry (which is a GAME CHANGER TRUST ME GET IT YOUR LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME), made my travels so smooth and lovely, which is not usually the way I get to tell my travel stories.
After I returned home, I got a few more pictures from Oxford:
Brad and Duke friends had a meal together here, where Harry Potter cast and crew would often eat.
And then sent me the picture without text on it. She's a dear.
To say that I had the BEST time on our UK adventure would hardly do justice to my actual feelings. I'm so grateful for Brad's hard work to be accepted to present, as well as making a way for me to join. And we literally could not have gone without the help of our parents, who gladly and gamely kept our highly exuberant children. It was SUCH a blessing, and we cannot say "thank you" enough. I can't wait to take the girls with us one day! (but I don't plan to do that until well after the last one is out of diapers, so it'll be a minute)
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