With suitcases in hand, we walked a few blocks from our hotel and boarded the bus back to Oxford at around 9:30 this morning. The bus system in this country is amazing—easy and affordable for most. And it has WiFi!! Poor thing—it was as if John Luke had been operating with one hand tied behind his back all weekend with no WiFi access. But, he wasn’t the only one; we are all quite attached to our attachments with friends and family. We looked truly American on the bus. All the Brits were calmly enjoying the countryside, while we facebooked, emailed, and googled our way back to Oxford. Oh well, it’s a tough job depicting Americans as the busiest people in the entire world, but someone has to do it.
We arrived safety and quickly made our way to our hometown bus and headed for home. It was fun showing Mom and John Luke our new stomping grounds. The city looks beautiful as over the weekend a large assortment of fall colors arrived to Banbury Street. No time for rest on this tour, though, and off we went to a walking tour of four different colleges. Even though we have now heard several tour guides, we still heard things today that we didn’t know. One piece of new information was the reason for the quad design of each college. The quad shape (a beautiful shot of one above) was needed to protect the students from the townspeople. Apparently, students in the 13th century were much like today’s students and were a tad rowdy. The townspeople weren’t terribly patient with them and instead of calling the local dean of students took matters into their own hands. Not a bad idea.
Next, we boarded the tour bus to give Mom and John Luke a look at the entire city. We had such a beautiful and warm (well, 60 degrees) weekend in London, but today has turned colder. The sun was shining, but the air was colder. John Luke and I sat on the top deck while Mom and 2 Papa went the smarter route and took to the much warmer lower level. Seeing all of Oxford isn’t quite as difficult as seeing all of London, so one hour later we had seen it all and headed to the grocery store. We don’t plan to cook, but some things are essential—juice, fruit, water, milk, bread, humus, and Pringles. You can decide who picked what. Mom brought Jif from home, so I’m good to go.
Mom and John Luke got the look-both-ways system down in three days—only one near miss with a bicycle-er today and that was me. We keep hanging on to JL at all the street crossings scared to death he’s going to run out like an undisciplined three-year-old. I’m sure he really appreciates three old people holding his coat. Fortunately, he’s a nice kid and hasn’t complained. Mom is holding up to all the walking and stair-stepping like she’s been a mall-walker for years and I don’t think she’s ever walked a mall except to really shop. She noticed that not many people her age are out and about and finally concluded that people her age have “been there, done that” and are at home taking it easy. We’re glad she didn’t go that route and came on over.
We did go back to the flat for an hour to unload groceries, let Mom drink some coffee, and give John Luke time to chow down on Pringles. Then-- you guessed it-- time for more food. It was suppertime, so we went to one of our favorite Italian places (I think the count is up to fifteen favorite Italian places). Lunch was French so tonight warranted Italian. Fantastic as usual.
The day ended with some much-needed relaxation and TV time. It was a great day!
Another incredibly interesting part of Oxford is the small portion of the original wall (1100 something)that protected the city from outside enemies. Interesting how the city needed protection and then the students needed protection from the city. Feeling safe is a need we all have and we built walls to protect us from outside harm. How comforting it is when the wall we build is built by God and nothing else.
“But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3
Love you all.
Hugs, 2 Mama