"There's something about this place, Peter said . . ."

Hello again! I've had the most wonderful weekend, doing what I wanted to do and not worrying about homework or class or getting to the next place. Yesterday was great.

I got up at 6:30, which was a little later than I had planned, but I had been up playing cards in the hallway until late. I hopped the train at about 7:30 from Paddington station, after getting a rather strange little sandwich from the Burger King on the platform-- it was sausage and egg, on a roll instead of a biscuit (which I don't think they have here!) with HP sauce, which is widespread here. It's kind of like A-1. It was good, anyway.

The train only took about an hour, going through absolutely beautiful country, all in big wheatfields with trees along the edges and little towns full of half-timbered houses. I wish trains weren't so fast these days! I could've looked at the scenery for much longer.

And then we got there. It was still pretty early in the morning, and all the shops were just opening up. (The first store you see, coming from the train station, is a Domino's Pizza-- fancy that!) I walked down into the town, which is small and nice, and somehow found myself at Blackwell's, the famous bookstore. I didn't buy anything, though I wanted to get half the store, but I did see the wall full of Loeb's (ancient literature with Greek or Latin on one side of the page and the translation on the other). What a sight!

For most of the day I just walked around, soaking up the sights-- I couldn't even begin to remember what streets I walked down when, but I did walk up High street to Magdalen Bridge, stopping at all the little bookstores on the way, of course, and saw the little boats on the river. I so wished that I had someone with me so I could justify renting one and taking a ride, but I had to settle for just hanging over the stone railing and watching them. I saw Magdalen tower too, where they sing on May day . . .

I went over to the Bodleian library, where unfortunately you can't see much for free, but the building was amazing, and the main hall, where the students used to defend their papers and all. I went up into the tower of St. Mary's church, where there were wonderful views of the city-- the town is nothing special, really, just the same old modern shops and all, but the other half of the city-- all the colleges with their gothic architecture and their towers and their history--is amazing. I took some good pictures, and I put my one roll of black & white film in my camera. I'm going to take some pictures of London, and then use the rest in Paris.

I ate lunch by the river, and at some point I went over and walked through the gardens of Christ Church, which were really pretty, and saw some more boats on the river, mostly tourists who didn't know how to steer. And there were a lot of tourists there! mostly really loud groups of foreign high school students. (Rather annoying.)

Then I went and toured Magdalen College, where C.S. Lewis was a teacher. I saw where his 'rooms' were, in a general way, and I walked around for quite a while in the courtyards and cloisters and in the walk behind the buildings. They were having a wedding in the chapel while I was there, and then all the guests came out and they had the reception on the perfectly green lawn in the middle of the cloister. It looked like something out of a movie or something! All the ladies were very well dressed and most of them were wearing hats! Even the young ones were wearing the big coloured hats like you see the Queen wearing in pictures-- it was so pretty. I wish I could buy one and start a fashion for them in America, but they cost at least £50. They rang the church bells after the wedding too-- it was great. The town is a busy, bustling place, with all the tourists and shopping and buskers and all, but inside the college it was so wonderfully peaceful! I so wish I could go to school there, it must be amazing.

By this time I was getting rather tired, but I walked down Catte street, and saw the little bridge, modeled after that one in Italy, under which Harriet finally said yes to Peter. It was amazing. I could almost see them everywhere. It's a sort of mysterious place to me, Oxford, full of shadows.

I walked up St. Giles in the evening, and saw the Eagle and Child, where Lewis and Tolkein and all of the Inklings met. I would've loved to stay and eat and drink, but I didn't. I did look inside, though-- it looked like the kind of place I would hold club meetings in.

Eventually I walked back up to the train station and came back to London, where I took a long bath and went quickly to sleep. (Did I tell you that there is a door in our hall that is marked "bathroom" and all it has in it is a tub? The shower is across the hall. Very literal, these brits! I felt right at home when I first saw it.