Oxford

Back in March, I went, with two friends and former running buddies from California, Eric and Rhea, to England and France for two weeks.  Eric graduated from Magdalene College in Oxford so he was uniquely qualified to escort us around Oxford, and he lived in Paris for a year so he spoke passable French.

We spent two full days in Oxford, a lovely old English town with centuries-old buildings, narrow winding streets flanked by walls on both sides and more than two dozen universities.  Oxford wasn't bombed in World War II, reportedly because Hitler planned to use it as the Nazis' capital city when the Germans occupied England, so all of its old, beautiful buildings remain as they have been for centuries.

I attended two concerts in the Sheldonian Theatre, ate plenty of meat pies in pubs, including venison, perambulated several of the colleges including Christ Church, watched crew rowers on the Cherwell River and did a ton of walking.  I attended a worship service at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin which dates back to 1280.

After an informative multi-day visit to an old English town, viewing its attractions and artifacts, including the university library where the ancient manuscripts are locked onto the shelf by long chains and several colleges' eating halls, we three boarded a bus bound for London.We had a full planned schedule of events to attend and places to see there.