Last Trip to Oxford
I just got back from Oxford. It was a brilliant time, seeing Monica again, and just hanging out. We went to different colleges, like Christ Church, New College, Merton College, Magdalen College, Divinity School, Oriel College, and Keble College. We saw some different sites used for the HP Movies. But the big news is I went punting!
So punting... yeah. We went punting down by Magdalen College. So now I have walked around Oxford at least once... nice. Anyway, Magdalen College is the most beautiful, really hard to get into, and they stay inside their college. They don't associate with the rest of Oxford apparently. But C.S. Lewis taught here, so I was glad to see it, and the next day I would be going inside. Oh yeah. But to punting. IT'S HARD! You have this big metal poll that is huge, and bigger than two people. You have to put the pole into the water, and push it into the ground, but not too far because it could get stuck. The pole pushes the boat along, and then you just let it go behind the boat, and then repeat the process. If you need to turn, you move the pole in whatever direction you need to. Yeah that is a horrible description of punting, but it's hard to describe. It was fun though. Ann had some trouble at first, but she figured it out, and all was good. It was so funny to begin with, our boat would not stay straight. It did a lot of 360s.. we hit a few bushes, the bridge, but not other boats. No one got wet either which was really good! Amelia was really good at punting, she has experiences with boats. Meg and Monica were good, they had some tough spots, and Amelia helped them out, but they did fine. I had a nice straight part of the river, it was good, though I couldn't keep the boat straight. I didn't hit the bank though, so all is good. It was so much fun, I am so glad we did it.
After punting, Monica and I went to The Eagle and Child for the last time. Well my last time. Monica goes there often... wish I could. We got dinner, and I just love being in The Eagle and Child, there is good food, and I just love the fact that Tolkien and Lewis and their friends use to go to the pub. Another feeling of coming full circle. Going to The Eagle and Child was one of places we couldn't wait to go when we took our first trip to Oxford. Now Monica goes to The Eagle and Child all the time, and I go whenever I come to Oxford for some great food.
After breakfast, on the second day, we went to find Tolkien's grave. This was something we both were interested in doing, and we thought at first we would not be able to, the buses didn't go there, or they went at weird times. However, the bus leaves every like 5 minutes, and goes right to the cemetery. It was great. So we got on the bus, and it was great because Monica had not been been up this way yet. There is really no need, it's more of a residential area. But we had a purpose this day. I want to say we were on this bus for like 10-15 minutes, and then we saw our stop. The bus let us out right by the cemetery... it was great. We entered, and at the entrance there was a sign for J.R.R Tolkien Author with an arrow. Monica commented that she didn't know his last name was author. We followed these signs though, there was one every two feet, like those trying to find the grave are idiots or something. But we did find it, and it was nice.
The theme of this little trip was coming full circle, and I never felt that we came more of a full circle than here at Tolkien's grave. I remember when we first talked about coming to England, back in oh high school, we thought it would be amazing just to see Oxford, go to The Eagle and Child, and seeing his grave. Monica of course always wanted to go to school in Oxford, but I just wanted to see the city. And then we both applied to schools in England, we got in, and we got to see Oxford. We then went to The Eagle and Child, we ate there, and saw Tolkien's houses, and Pembroke where he went to school, and Merton where he taught. Now in the last time at Oxford, we saw his grave. Full circle. It was a good experience.
We went back to Magdalen College then, and wow. It's a very impressive college, but my favourite part was the walk we did. Lewis and Tolkien did this walk, and they call it Addison's Walk. Apparently it's named after someone, but I don't really know the story. All I do know is I walked in the footsteps of Tolkien and Lewis. It's basically where they talked about their books and religion. It was so peaceful. It was right around where we punted the day before. We walked, and talked, and just listened. There was no noise, well one noise, a humming annoying one, but as we continued the walk we didn't hear it again. It was quite a walk, I would do that walk everyday if I was in Oxford.
I left soon after the walk, I figured Monica had work to do, and we did everything that we had planned to do!
So punting... yeah. We went punting down by Magdalen College. So now I have walked around Oxford at least once... nice. Anyway, Magdalen College is the most beautiful, really hard to get into, and they stay inside their college. They don't associate with the rest of Oxford apparently. But C.S. Lewis taught here, so I was glad to see it, and the next day I would be going inside. Oh yeah. But to punting. IT'S HARD! You have this big metal poll that is huge, and bigger than two people. You have to put the pole into the water, and push it into the ground, but not too far because it could get stuck. The pole pushes the boat along, and then you just let it go behind the boat, and then repeat the process. If you need to turn, you move the pole in whatever direction you need to. Yeah that is a horrible description of punting, but it's hard to describe. It was fun though. Ann had some trouble at first, but she figured it out, and all was good. It was so funny to begin with, our boat would not stay straight. It did a lot of 360s.. we hit a few bushes, the bridge, but not other boats. No one got wet either which was really good! Amelia was really good at punting, she has experiences with boats. Meg and Monica were good, they had some tough spots, and Amelia helped them out, but they did fine. I had a nice straight part of the river, it was good, though I couldn't keep the boat straight. I didn't hit the bank though, so all is good. It was so much fun, I am so glad we did it.
After punting, Monica and I went to The Eagle and Child for the last time. Well my last time. Monica goes there often... wish I could. We got dinner, and I just love being in The Eagle and Child, there is good food, and I just love the fact that Tolkien and Lewis and their friends use to go to the pub. Another feeling of coming full circle. Going to The Eagle and Child was one of places we couldn't wait to go when we took our first trip to Oxford. Now Monica goes to The Eagle and Child all the time, and I go whenever I come to Oxford for some great food.
After breakfast, on the second day, we went to find Tolkien's grave. This was something we both were interested in doing, and we thought at first we would not be able to, the buses didn't go there, or they went at weird times. However, the bus leaves every like 5 minutes, and goes right to the cemetery. It was great. So we got on the bus, and it was great because Monica had not been been up this way yet. There is really no need, it's more of a residential area. But we had a purpose this day. I want to say we were on this bus for like 10-15 minutes, and then we saw our stop. The bus let us out right by the cemetery... it was great. We entered, and at the entrance there was a sign for J.R.R Tolkien Author with an arrow. Monica commented that she didn't know his last name was author. We followed these signs though, there was one every two feet, like those trying to find the grave are idiots or something. But we did find it, and it was nice.
The theme of this little trip was coming full circle, and I never felt that we came more of a full circle than here at Tolkien's grave. I remember when we first talked about coming to England, back in oh high school, we thought it would be amazing just to see Oxford, go to The Eagle and Child, and seeing his grave. Monica of course always wanted to go to school in Oxford, but I just wanted to see the city. And then we both applied to schools in England, we got in, and we got to see Oxford. We then went to The Eagle and Child, we ate there, and saw Tolkien's houses, and Pembroke where he went to school, and Merton where he taught. Now in the last time at Oxford, we saw his grave. Full circle. It was a good experience.
We went back to Magdalen College then, and wow. It's a very impressive college, but my favourite part was the walk we did. Lewis and Tolkien did this walk, and they call it Addison's Walk. Apparently it's named after someone, but I don't really know the story. All I do know is I walked in the footsteps of Tolkien and Lewis. It's basically where they talked about their books and religion. It was so peaceful. It was right around where we punted the day before. We walked, and talked, and just listened. There was no noise, well one noise, a humming annoying one, but as we continued the walk we didn't hear it again. It was quite a walk, I would do that walk everyday if I was in Oxford.
I left soon after the walk, I figured Monica had work to do, and we did everything that we had planned to do!