Oxford, England

We took the train from London to Oxford Monday morning. Piece of advice...be sure you can dead lift your luggage while schlepping any carry-ons, handbags and treasures you've gathered along the way, because you will encounter stairs everywhere! It's been the kickstart to a fitness routine that has eluded me for years!
We walked to our hotel, called The Buttery. We stopped on the sidewalk (I thought we were lost) and Harrison opened the door to a pastry shop. What a surprise to know this was the entrance to our hotel. It was the cutest, tiny little shop and at the back was a set of stairs (of course) leading up to the reception desk. We checked in, drop our bags in the room and headed across the street to St. John's (one of the Oxford Colleges) to meet with one of Harrison's fellows, Dr. Mattli, who teaches International Political Economy. He was kind enough to greet us and provide us with a private tour that not many receive. He took us to see their private library that held books rivaling those found in the Smithsonian. He pulled out an atlas from 1712 and showed us the US, which consisted of West Jersey, East Jersey, part of Virginia and a lot of frontier. After our tour we went to The Eagle and Child for lunch, where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were regulars. As we were enjoying our lunch, we were totally surprised by one of Harrison's classmate, Blake, who walked in with his stepdad and mother. They were visiting on their way to London. We sat with them and talked about their adventures. Some of which should have been withheld until more time had passed... After we left lunch, we met another of Harrison's fellows, "Dr. Dan", for tea and a brief tour of Balliol (the Oxford College Harrison attended). Dr. Dan teaches Rectifying International Injustice. Let' just say Harrison is on a totally different learning level than I was in school.
As we walked around Oxford I was in awe of the beauty and character. The only words I could find to describe it are, it is perfectly old. It was like a movie set. We took in everything we could in such a brief visit. The next morning came pretty quickly (lights out at 1:30 am). Breakfast was a selection of pastries from their pastry shop and a traditional English breakfast of eggs, sausage, English bacon (American ham), tomato and baked beans! I would definitely stay there again!

(Having some technical difficulty adding captions to the last three pictures. The third picture is of the dining hall at Balliol. It was like something out of Harry Potter. The fourth picture is a view of Balliol from the center courtyard, and the third picture is of our dinner, which is similar to nearly every meal we've had in England)

View of Balliol from our room at The Buttery

Oxford classmates reunited!