Oxford and Suffolk

Our trip is still going well. The rest of our time in Oxford was a lot of fun. On Sunday we went to Church near Anne’s. It is the church that CS Lewis (and mom and dad for that matter) went to. It was a nice service and we saw CS Lewis’s pew. No one offered to show us mom and dads pew. After church Anne and Del and Lachlan picked us up and we went to Blenheim Palace. Mom had told me how great it is and she was right. Huge rooms, beautiful decorations and a great exhibit on Winston Churchill (he was born there). Weirdest exhibit has to be his curls, which are lovingly framed. 

On Monday Allie and I went to the Natural History and Pitt Rivers museums.  They were great. Lachlan went at the same time to get his vaccinations, so when we came home he was pretty grouchy.  After Anne persuaded him to sleep we took him and went and sat in Anne’s garden. It’s really really nice. The sun was hot, the baby was sleeping and it was lovely. 

Yesterday Allie and I met Anne downtown in Oxford. We took the Bodleian tour, and Anne didn’t because she has a card and can go anytime. I am quite jealous of that. Then we went with Anne and Lachlan to the Turf Tavern. I thought L would join me in a pint because he was the only other one not  pregnant or breastfeeding. However, he decided to stick with milk. 

Today is May Day which is a big deal in Oxford. Lots of people gather on the Magdalen Bridge at 6 am, and the Magdalen College Choir sings some hymns and there’s a prayer. It’s been happening for 400 years. So Anne Lachlan Allie and I got up before the crack of dawn, trekked down and heard the choir. There were tons of people- many of them folk who had been out all night in anticipation. After the ceremony we sat and watched a very odd hippy type band and then (much more entertainingly) some Morris dancing. There was also a man dressed as a tree, and a drunk guy who was getting in the way of the dancers. We had to wait for normal bus service to get sorted after the crowds on the bridge, so we went for a nice Pimms in the 14th century Congregation Room at the Church of Saint Mary. 

Allie and I had to leave Oxford today. We went south, to Suffolk. There is a castle here that is a campus of Queens University (the Queens in Kingston). Allie did her first year of University here, so we came for a couple nights. The views are beautiful - all these long rolling fields. Incredibly English vistas!