Oxford with my son

Not so many moons ago, my son Jimmy, the Devil Childe, moved to Oxford to do his Phud. I mean, you would have thought that as a smart boy, he would have learned from the suffering I went through but no, he wanted to test it out for himself. In any case, since he's decided to set up digs in Oxford and I haven't been there before (yet), it was decided that I should fulfill some motherly duties by attending Evensong (yes, Church) with him and have a leisurely formal dinner. 

I took the Oxford Tube bus there and I'll say this - I FULLY RECOMMEND THIS FOR FUTURE TRAVELLERS. It was a 16 quid return ticket on a coach, departing from Victoria but also going to Marble Arch (where I boarded), running 24 hours and free wifi on board. How do they get the wifi on board?! The website says you have to pre-buy your ticket, print it out and hand it over to the bus driver upon boarding (which I did) but Jimmy said afterwards that I apparently could have purchased one upon boarding? No matter.

Family reunion

Meeting up in the late afternoon, Jimmy took me on a furiously quick tour of the town. 

 Peeking through the gates at All Souls

Ummm...can't remember what this was.

The 'Bridge of Sighs' linking the old and new quads of Hertford College. Looks more like the Rialto to me.  

Jimmy gives me more information

Can't remember this one either. I don't think it was the Bodleian :S

One of the heads on the fence surrounding the Sheldonian theate. 

Exeter College, I think...

Oh, I know this one - it's the Radcliffe Camera!

Since Jimmy hadn't eaten yet, we headed into town for him to grab something (a pastie) and we looked around the Covered Market which was unfortunately largely closed :( 

Nice

We walked past a cake shop that had epic decorations in their window

Oh, I know that that is! Mmmm, edible...

This one's for you, Kahunes!

And then we got some cookies from Ben's Cookies. Me with my delicious oat and raisin cookie. 

Now, the richest and probably the most famous of the colleges at Oxford is Christ Church. Jimmy told me that unlike most colleges which are free to visit (preferably if you're accompanied by a member of the study body, though), Christ Church charges people to enter their grounds. WHUT?! I said we could walk over and see what the charge was. It was £7 for adults. WHUT?! There was a concession for students and luckily Jimmy went to pay first because when he flashed his card saying he was a student, they waved us through. Huzzah!

The wishing well!

Here's one reason why Christ Church is famous - recognise this staircase, anyone?!

Ah, it takes me back to my days in Hogwarts...

The Great Hall at Hogwarts was also based on the Great Hall at Christ Church. But Jimmy gave me this tidbit - because the Hall is too narrow, the filmmakers built a larger replica set!

It also has a cathedral which was not used as part of a HP movie set. 

Pretty impressive!

Christ Church's Tom Quad.

Eating my cooking in the Quad. 

The exit we used to return to town. 

The sun was slowly setting so we rushed through Jimmy's own college - Magdalen, amusingly (to me) pronounced *Maudlin*.

The courtyard 

The chapel in which we'd sit through Evensong!

The Cloisters. P.S. Keep off the grass

 The Magdalen Tower

Jimmy explained that the Cloisters are decorated with sculptures illustrating various virtues...and these guys strangling each other...and a pelican.

The common room that Jimmy took me to go get some water and look out over the quad. 

The view out of the window over the quad 

 The New Building. Built in 1733

 If you look carefully, there are deer in that thar grove!

The sun was setting and it was getting pretty cold at this point. Jimmy gave me two options for us to get a drink before heading to Evensong - 1. The Oxford Union, the proud and famous home of the Debating society, champion of free speech and host of many notable speakers; or 2. The Turf Tavern. A no less illustrious location, the site where two famous Rhodes Scholars, Bob Hawke and Bill Clinton respectively set the world record for downing a yard-glass in 1953 and *did not inhale*. Off to the Turf!  

The board commemorating Bob's 11 second deed. Some people were sitting in front of Bill's board. 

Alas, a yard glass was beyond me but a year of training meant I was easily able to down my pint. 

Now nearing 6pm, we furiously rushed back to Jimmy's lodgings for him to change into a suit and grab his academic gown. Alas, I didn't bring anything formal or my PhD gown and had to sit through Evensong and dinner feeling underdressed. Seriously. One of the readers was wearing a tuxedo. But because we were late-ish and arrived during the bell tolling, we were instructed to sit in the front row. As we listened to the sung mass, something occurred to me. Many years of sitting through chapel in school have instilled in me a desire to go to the toilet. No disrespect is intended to any religious people reading my blog. It couldn't figure out why I was busting to go to the loo given I'd gone while Jimmy was getting changed, and I wondered if perhaps it was due to conditioning at school because the only way to reduce the amount of time having to sit in a cold chapel was to go to the toilet. I think this is a fairly good theory. 

Anyway, after rushing back to his rooms again so we could both relieve ourselves (I'd shared my theory and Jimmy agreed wholeheartedly!), we went off to Madgelen's Great Hall for dinner. Now, Pooey always used to tell me how horrible college food is...this was pretty good! Okay, we had to pay for it, but still...a 3 course meal + after dinner port for £11? Sold!

Jimmy in his formal get up

Talking to the German (!) sitting next to him. His gown is more obvious over his grey suit.

How nice, they have crested serviettes

Entree - Tomato soup with real tomatoes. Bonus Jimmy showing how Asian he is.

Main - Roast chicken with sweet potato mash

Dessert - profiteroles with chocolate sauce

The thing about Formal Hall dinner is that it's followed by a glass of port. And it was really good port as well! But all good things must come to an end and although we debated whether I should take a later bus because the Oxford Tube bus runs 24 hours, the London Underground Tube doesn't and so rather than take a night bus back to Smee's place, we had to catch a bus that brought me back in time to catch the second-last tube home. But a plan has been made for me to return so that Jimmy and I can climb various Oxford towers. Looking forward to it!