Friday, June 8, 2012

Oxford, Oxfordshire RETURNS.

I can be spontaneous. Ask anyone. More specifically, ask Alice, who was my partner in crime on a spur of the moment trip out to Oxford last Friday. She’d never been. I hadn’t been since last September. The urge to rectify this situation proved uncontrollable.

Our day began with an epic train chase through Paddington. We left Alice's house with what seemed like plenty of time to spare, only to arrive at Paddington a mere ten minutes before our train left. Alice made the terrible decision to follow me as I ran towards our platform only to discover that our platform was, in fact, in the complete opposite direction. We pivoted and legged it back towards the train, and somehow made it with a good minute to spare. Who needs the Olympics with this stuff going down?

Once in Oxford, we made our way to Christ Church College, the only college fully equipped with its own paddock. The college was as beautiful as I remembered, all decked out in dreaming spires and ivy and other glorious bits and pieces. Instead of going inside, we strolled along the nearby river and had adventures.


I finally found the Magic Faraway tree.


Alice tested the strength of a ‘Weak Bridge’ and made tourists think she was about to do a Sherlock.


Having made our way back around to Christ Church College, we peeked in at the garden that inspired Alice in Wonderland and then took a wander through the backstreets of Oxford. Admittedly, the wander wasn’t supposed to be quite so directionless, but we did eventually manage to find the Bodleian Library and all the accompanying spires.


We grabbed lunch and headed back to the lush grass just beyond Christ Church for a picnic. One of us eventually checked the time, and we hurried off to the Eagle and the Child – the Inklings’ pub – for a quick pint.

And then we hopped on the train, and we didn’t even have to make a run for it this time. Victory. 

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