Oxford: A Suki and Kitty Roadtrip
A few months ago I asked kitty_poker1 if she would like to come to Oxford with me for a little trip. My urge to go there was incredibly powerful and it was for two reasons. Firstly, I decided I had to the see the Percy Shelley Memorial. I discovered it was at Oxford and that gave me a bit of a jolt, because Oxford was where my brother died. Oxford was the place I tried desperately to get to before it was too late, but failed. Weirdly, both Percy Shelley and my brother were 29-years-old when they died. Fate was definitely calling me to this place.
So yesterday morning off we went!
Now, what you need to understand about Kitty and I is that we tend to get lost wherever we go. Example: Kitty picked me up at my house and we turned the wrong way out of my road. Yup, we are that terrible at directions. We had no map, the TomTom Sat Nav wasn't working and all we had was a destination address. But by sheer luck we got to the Hotel without getting lost. Yes, we had to, uh, stop a couple of times to take stock of our surroundings and ask directions, but never actually went the wrong way. It was some sort of miracle.
The hotel was perfect. From the outside it was two large cottages joined together. On the inside it was a modern, spotless, luxury paradise. We didn't have to go up any stairs, which is usually a feature wherever we stay (sweet_exile, you remember Northampton as a prime example of that), and our room was slap bang next to the Breakfast Room. Massive bathroom, TV on the wall, extra-comfy beds, fantastically helpful staff.
After dumping our stuff we got caught in a downpour on our walk to an Italian restaurant. I ate pizza while I dried off. (Note to self: mini-umbrella, useless for two people). Next we made our way to the nearest bus stop. It began to rain again so I held my umbrella aloft, opened it and ... tipped all the residual water from the last downpour all over poor Kitty. Whoops! Sorry, luv, I swear it wasn't deliberate!
Considering the beautiful weather we've been having in England all last week, the torrential rain was a little disappointing, but it stopped by the time we got off the bus at Oxford town centre and it didn't rain again all day. In fact, it was lovely.
I wasn't sure what to expect from Oxford. Of course I've seen pictures, but you can't really get quite how beautiful everything is until to you see it in the flesh, so to speak.
This was our first stop, Christ Church College.
Gorgeous place, and home of ...
The hall which inspired the Great Hall of Hogwarts!
It felt very weird going up the exact same staircase from the film!!
Our next stop was University College, which took us a little longer to locate. Oxford really isn't the most well-signposted town in the world, although we certainly had lots of fun working out which way to go, and every step is a pleasure in a place like this. Amazing architecture every way you look.
The college seemed to be closing, but we slipped in just before they shut the giant wooden doors, and Kitty marched up to a man in a window and asked if we could see the Percy Shelley Memorial. He was kind enough to show us where to go. Erm, in a nice way!
The memorial stands in a room of its own, behind ornate iron gates. It's hard to tell from a photograph, but it's truly beautiful. We were the only ones there so late so we got Percy all to ourselves. The whole trip was worth it just for those moments.
I'll definitely visit him again. It was odd, but it felt very intimate, like we were being honoured with a great presence. I'm probably talking out of my arse, but I felt something that could have easily choked me up if I'd let it. It was a very moving experience. He seemed so isolated, just like he was in life.
Next stop: pub.
This is Kitty's pint This is the River Thames. It was gone five in the evening and we were ready for a sit down. Gorgeous and the weather was dry and mild. Lovely.
After this we went back to the hotel for coffee and a chat (not that we hadn't been gassing non-stop all day anyway). After deciding that neither of us had room in our tummies for a big meal, we decided to drive to the Tesco on the parade, pick up snacks and sandwiches and have a Torchwood slumber party.
Kitty fell asleep and missed the snog.
Today we searched for a few places that had caught our attention the day before.
The Bodleian Library was beautiful but it was such a shame we weren't allowed in. So instead we wandered.
I lit a candle for Steven at St Mary's and then bought some tat in the gift shop.
The journey back was a complete nightmare and I thank all the gods Kitty is an excellent driver. Torrential rain, thunder and lightning. At times we couldn't even distinguish the lanes on the motorway. About halfway along, a big white van on the other side of the road lost control and smacked headfirst into the crash barrier. Thank fuck for that barrier, because without it he would have skidded right across our path. He seemed okay as we passed him and it could have been so much worse.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and Kitty dropped me off at home with a hug and a crash of thunder.
We had a lovely time and I'd love to go back again one day.
So, who watched Torchwood???? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! OMG!!!