Spring Activities

Spring 2019 is behind us, every scorchingly hot 3 mile run lately has shown me that.  Springtime was a good time.  (Cherry Blossoms.)

I had my fourth, and hopefully last, eye operation in April and am on the road to a full range of activities after a year and a half layoff due to an achilles strain and then my detached retina woes.  I started running in May, half a mile at a time at the start and now up to 3 miles three times a week as I slowly progress.  (My eyebrow marked, I wait for surgery.)

I traveled overseas for my first time ever, to England and France with layovers in Eire. Once a boy has seen the sights of gay Paree, you can't keep him down on the farm anymore.  (One of the private gardens of Versailles.)

I restored old friendships, like traveling in Europe with my former running buddy Rhea and her husband Eric, and kickstarted my return to running by trying to keep up with her on a 2 mile run in an Oxford park.  Back in the states, I made sure to engage in traditional DC events like viewing the Cherry Blossom trees blooming on the Tidal Basin ( a few days after their peak) and viewing the new dinosaur display at the Smithsonian.  (Jogging in England, just like olde times.)

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.