It is my final weekend in Oxford. No time to be sad, though... too much left to see and do! I woke up this morning and went for a run. Of course, I was awoken twice before that because of a fire alarm, and then housekeeping. It is *impossible* to sleep in late here. There's always something that wakes me up before my alarm: loud people in the courtyard, intrusive maids, false fire alarms, garbage trucks, etc. So loud! Alas, my run was really great. I had to weave my way through large tourist groups on my way to the park, but I made it into a challenge - an obstacle course of sorts (dodge the school group, then the hundreds of Asians, then the people hopping on and off the buses).
Brad, Amanda, and I grabbed lunch at a place that I've read about in all the travel books for Oxford. It's called "The Mission Mexican Grill." It was almost exactly like Chipotle! YUM! After lunch, we went to tour the Oxford Castle. It is one of the oldest buildings in Oxford and was used most recently as a prison until 1996. (And any of you who know me know that I'm always game for a prison tour! This makes the 7th prison that I've toured.... such a strange obsession that I have!) Here are a few pics that I took on the tour:
Oxford Castle
101 narrow stairs up St. George's Tower
View of Oxford from St. George's Tower
Amanda and I at the top of St. George's Tower
Looking through a keyhole of one of the prison cells
Far too happy to be in prison...
Just one of the boys...
After touring Oxford Castle, we came back to campus to do some homework and eat dinner. Dinner tonight was a smoked chicken salad with baked potato, and cheesecake for dessert. The food is getting better! :)
After dinner, we decided to visit the most famous pub in Oxford, "The Eagle and Child." This pub is famous because it's the meeting place of the "Inklings," a literary group including JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, and other famous writers. They met here to discuss their writings, and made the first public readings of The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland. But the most exciting thing about this visit was what I found sitting on the table:
HP Sauce!
That "keyhole" picture is very cool and artsy! :)
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