We had a 10:00AM reservation for breakfast at The Quod. This is a hotel restaurant, the hotel being The Old Bank. When we went up into the University Church tower the other day, we were looking down on the the roof of this hotel.
Linda and I had whole kippers, ironic because we both moaned mightily when we were served fish for breakfast in Cornwall in 1976. Alan & Ed had English breakfasts with bangers, grilled tomatoes, eggs, blood sausage and mushrooms. Dad had avocado and Cornish crab on toast with an egg, and Barbara had an omelette.
From there we walked to the Pitt Rivers Museum. It is an annex on the Natural History Museum and has many artifacts typical of such a museum but weirder and organized by use rather than era or country of origin. Some examples were shrunken heads, and a witch in a bottle, but there were entire rows of weapons, musical instruments, snow sports equipment, toys, clothing, tools, etc etc etc from everywhere and everywhere.
We decided to break for a drink at the Eagle and Child, an old (c. 1650) pub noted for being frequented by JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, and the other ‘Inklings’, Oxford writers who met for discussion there.
We were then met by Tiffany for the remainder of the afternoon.
Dad, Barb and I took a taxi while the others walked to Christ Church College. We walked by the gardens and then queued to tour the college. Highlight (for many) was the dining hall, which was recreated in studio for the Harry Potter movies. So many young people dressed in Hogwarts shirts there to see the hall. We got a more in-depth view of the cathedral, which we had seen a lot of on Friday for Evensong. We also saw several quads, but visitors were not allowed in. Last time I was here, Kellie Walsh and I somehow roamed the residential areas of one of the other colleges…
We then walked to a nearby pub, The Head of the River, for bloody Mary’s (‘Red Snappers’) and an early dinner. Ed had fish and chips, I had a veggie & goat cheese pie, Linda had chicken, and dad had a Niçoise salad. We sat outside and the weather was perfect as we watched boats (including punts) go by.
After dinner we took a bus home and sort of petered out.
Tomorrow we leave for Cornwall. The forecast calls for rain, so just as well we will be in the car, but it may not be the best day for scenery. Speaking of weather, it has turned chilly here. It was nearly down to freezing overnight! It felt nice though and has not been too damp. The sun today was lovely with bright blue skies most of the day. The leaves are starting to change. We had been unsure whether we would see any fall foliage this trip, as none of us have been here in autumn before. As we will likely miss the aspens in Park County this year, British fall foliage is much appreciated.