suchnone #370 Day 5 Oxford

I was more excited about going to Oxford than when I first landed in London. May have been since I was jet- laggless or maybe it was because I was in where Tolkien and Lewis lived, taught and wrote for most of their lives. On the downside it was the coldest day I was in England. Think it is right at or below freezing with a constant wind. We arrived midmorning and made our way to one of the bookstores to find a map of the town and other literature on the area. After two stops I found a nice pamphlet that gave a walking tour of the Tolkien and Lewis sites around Oxford. We could not do all of them due to the cold and some where in outlying areas of Oxford and the buses were not on a regular schedule, but we did see a good deal of Oxford. We went into three of the pubs that the Inklings frequented including the Eagle and Child and the Turf. The Inklings met once a week at the Eagle and Child and that was where Narnia and Middle Earth were first talked about and read. The Turf was where Tolkien and Lewis met on Mondays for mead since it was halfway from both of their respective colleges. The Turf was my second or first favorite pub, very homey, very warm and the food and pints were very good. The Turf is also the place where Bill Clinton did not inhale.
Some of the other highlights were: The Radcliffe Camera, a circular library in the middle of Oxford University, The Bridge of Sighs(replica of the one in Venice), Christ Church where the dining hall scenes of the Harry Potter movies are filmed.








That evening I had fish and chips from a local chip shop in Moseley called Atlantis. It was the best, it fed me for two meals. Two big meals. I did not get a chance to go back there. They had reduced hours due to the holidays. We capped the night off with a few more pints.



Oxford Pictures
Next - Day 6 Stratford