A Day in Oxford (Wednesday October 24, 2012)

On this day, we had elected to travel by motorcoach to Oxford. Many of the Web sites said this was a more leisurely way to travel and you would see more of the countryside.

We took our trusty 170 bus to Victoria Station and right near there is a Coach Station where all kinds of buses leave for different parts of England. We took a bus that’s actually called the Oxford Tube. It’s a big red double-decker bus, very comfortable. It’s about a 2-hour trip to Oxford. Brenda falls asleep very easily on planes and trains and coaches, so she gets lots of good rest when traveling.  So much for seeing the countryside. This coach had Internet so I played a bit on that, but we kept losing the signal so I eventually dozed off a bit too. Not sure what was going on outside the window.

We arrived in Oxford, and at the bus station there, they were having a big farmer’s market. We walked through that for awhile. There were a couple of guys who were selling their wares loudly, it seemed like something out of Oliver or something. I couldn’t really understand them, but it was obvious they were entertaining us as well as selling.

We also used the facilities at the train station and I took some photos of “inside” the loo, since Ramona had noted on her comments she wanted to see inside. Also note the sign on the outside of the door.  We’ve seen this sign in other places too. Men go in and clean the ladies’ rooms. There was a man cleaning when we walked in, but I didn’t want to embarrass him by taking his photo.  They don’t close the “toilet” when cleaning, so you just go on in and do your thing while the man is cleaning. Huh!

After leaving the market, we decided to do the “hop on hop off’ bus tour again. We had thought about going on a walking tour or even a bike tour, but it was kind of a dreary day, and this was not a little rustic, rural agrarian town. There were all kinds of pedestrians, cyclists, cars, buses, etc.  We thought sitting inside on a bus would be quite nice.

But first we wanted to eat since it was after noon by the time we arrived. Brenda’s son Matt told us about two restaurants/pubs: The Eagle and Child and the Bear. The Eagle and Child is where Tolkein and CS Lewis and others used to meet. They became known as the Inklings, and they would discuss the current writings they were working on. The Bear is a pub that has been continuously open in the very same building since 1265. We walked up to the tourist information center and bought a pass for the bus and got directions for walking to the Eagle and Child which seemed closest.

At the Eagle and Child, you pick a table, then go order and pay at the bar and tell them which table to bring your food to. That seemed extremely efficient to me. We opted for a little side room with only two tables in it, and once again we enlisted the help of those dining at the next table to ours to take our photo. These were Americans. The women were sisters and had come over because the one sister’s husband had business there. He was working but the sisters and the other husband were sightseeing. The couple was from just north of Ann Arbor. Mrs. Businessman told us all the places they had seen in London, and one comment she made was kind of cool to me. “It takes a lot longer to do things than you realize.” It was comforting to hear another person say that, cuz that Monday I was a little disappointed we didn’t get to see the prime meridian line in Greenwich or ride the London Eye, but everything truly took longer than we realized. It looks one way on paper, but....

At the restaurant I had sausage and mash; and Brenda had shrimp and oysters, autumn greens, and fries. I took a photo of the food for Karl who takes pictures of his food!

After we left the restaurant, we went outside to find our “hop on/hop off” stop. They were not as readily located as in London, no salesmen on the street helping you on. I have to admit something here, I am not very good at getting my bearings outside. I think I need to have a computer compass chip implanted or something. Brenda on the other hand is very good. She has her little London book with maps in it that she brought with her and she can look in that and tell us exactly where to go. So she got us turned around and we caught up with the bus. We didn’t get a live narrator this time, which would have probably helped, but we listened to an audioguide of building after building after building that had enormous historical significance. But I just wanted to see Inspector Lewis and I couldn’t find him. (The Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis shows are on Masterpiece Theatre and Netflix and they take place in Oxford.)

Brenda did enjoy hearing about the places and knew they would be significant to her husband. One such place was the college where John Wesley was educated. Also, she was so happy to be sharing an experience her son had had. Even though he wasn’t here with us, he kind of was. After the tour was over, we found the Bear Pub, but instead of having a pint, we had a cup of coffee. (Blasphemous, I know) The Web site for the Pub says it’s the oldest pub in Oxford. It also is home to a rather impressive (if somewhat random) collection of ties - visitors from all around the globe have contributed their neckwear.

Eventually we headed back to the bus station where we caught a coach home.

Where we are staying at Ormonde Gate is about a 3-minute walk to Gordon Ramsey’s first restaurant. (He's of Hell's Kitchen fame in the U.S.) We knew that before we left Ohio and had thought about eating there, but it is super expensive. When Ted picked us up from the airport, he showed us the restaurant called Foxtrot Oscars which is also close to where we live---right next to Tesco’s. He said it is also owned by Gordon Ramsey but is more moderate and casual.  So we had determined that when we got home from Oxford we would eat there.

Borrowed

So we did. We were seated at a table that was “kissing distance” from the two gentlemen next to us. 

Borrowed

 They ended up helping us quite a bit with our menu, many of the items on which we didn’t understand, even when explained by the waiter cuz he was French or Italian. The party on the other side was just finished dining, so once they left, we didn’t feel quite so crowded in. The menu was simple. They even had a cheeseburger, but I refused to have a cheeseburger in London (meaning I had to try something new). I had Crawfish bisque (not really called that but I can’t remember the long name he gave for the “little lobster” as a starter) and then Cornish mussels steamed with white wine, shallots, garlic, chorizo, and saffron served with frites. The men next to us showed me how to eat them. Perfectly acceptable to use your hands.


Brenda had a shepherd’s pie made with rabbit, special kind of mushrooms, peas in a rich gravy with mash (mashed potatoes) on top.

The two men were meeting for dinner because the younger man was engaged to the older man’s goddaughter. The younger man was “converting” to being a Quaker because she is one. They had drunk a couple of bottles of wine and were quite friendly. The older man’s daughter is expecting a baby and due on Monday. He is going to be a grandpa for the first time so we gave a high five as I will be a new grammie myself soon. We told them that we had decided to take it a little slower on Thursday. We had thought of going to the British Museum, but we just weren’t sure we were ready for another day of history and facts and input, input, input. They had their own suggestions of where we just HAD to go—the John Soane Museum and Churchills’ underground war rooms. We said, “Thanks.” We have begun a list for "next time."

We had the same situation occur when we were done eating at Foxtrot Oscars as we did at the Crooked Tea House. We couldn’t seem to get our check. (See Matthew’s comment on Windsor Tea post for a bit of an explanation.)  When our waitress (Celine---really) finally did bring our check and our coats, we were off to Tesco’s (a serious ritual now) and then home.

I wanted to take a photo of Brenda in front of Tesco’s our favorite spot, but as I went to snap the shutter, the camera once again told me that the battery was exhausted.  As a matter of fact so were we, (Brenda ended up taking the photo of me instead of vice versa.) We agreed together that we were going to sleep in, get up when we woke up and decide on what to do then. We thought of possibilities as a play, a walk in one of the parks, and/or Harrods.

We’ll figure it out tomorrow. Nighty night.

Oh one more side note. As we were riding the 170 bus home from Victoria Station, we saw these cute signs on the bus encouraging good behavior. It was hard to get a photo as the bus was moving, so we kept trying from different angles and passing the camera back and forth to get the best shot. When we finally got the shot we wanted and looked up, we had sailed past our stop. OMG, what if we hadn’t realized that? We would still be riding around London. So of course we have to share the photo.