We ate at an excellent restaurant called The Chancery last night, with Jill, Tom (the other Skidmore faculty member teaching here), and Tina (who is here this week from Skidmore). It was definitely worth the high price. We then rushed over to Victoria Station to meet my brother's train from Gatwick Airport, with very little time to spare due to the fact that the Victoria Line shuts down at 10 PM and we had to do some creative train switching.

Today, Rick and I took a train to Oxford. We arrived late (12:30) and walked around getting our bearings. We stopped in at St. Michael at the North Gate Church (part of which, the Saxon Tower, is Oxford's oldest building) where Rick spent a good amount of time talking with two people in the gift shop, one of whom worked there. He left with the email address of the other person whose biological father teaches at the University of Western Ontario. This guy is interested in looking his father up, after Rick does the initial research. (I think he tried contacting him before but the father wasn't interested, so we'll see what happens.)

From there we walked over to the Ashmolean, Britain's oldest museum (1683) to see their "stunning collection of European art" according to the Lonely Planet guidebook. Unfortunately they are in the midst of a major renovation and expansion, so more than a third of the museum is closed. So we did not see the Rembrandts or the Picassos, but we did see many other things, including Guy Fawkes's lantern, a little brass Ganesha, and a Buddha. While I called Annie and Meg to wish them happy birthdays, and shopped a little in the museum store, Rick talked with the personnel at the front door for a while.

We walked around yet again, looking for a place to have a late lunch. We settled on a pub called Chequers. While I sat at our table, drinking my pint and waiting for the food to arrive, Rick was up at the bar (with his glass of water) chatting it up with two men (there seems to be a pattern here!). After our not-very-exciting lunch, we chatted some more with the men on our way out. They were very nice and were so concerned that we had not seen any of the colleges during our short visit to Oxford that they decided to show us around, quickly finishing their beers and escorting us out. One of the men was the Head Porter at Exeter College and the other man was a retired railroad police officer who now is an investigator on the Oxford Robbery Team with the Thames Valley Police. They were both so proud of Oxford and kept listing things we should see and do and telling us that it would take more than a week to see everything.

We walked over to Exeter and got a wonderful little tour of the quad (where someone had died in some movie the name of which I now can't remember), the chapel, the great hall where the students dine, the back garden that overlooks the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian Library, the building that had been one of the scenes in the last Harry Potter movie, and even the rector's residence. Throughout the tour we were told about several famous graduates. We thanked them profusely and parted company, but not until the investigator had given me his card with the promise that I should call him if Gord and I were to come back to Oxford before our departure for the States--so that he could show us more.

Rick and I then walked around until we came to Christ Church, "the grandest of the colleges, founded in 1525" (Lonely Planet guide) and also seen in the Harry Potter movies. It was closed for the evening, except for those wishing to attend evensong in the Christ Church Cathedral at 6 PM, so in we went to the cathedral. We had twenty minutes prior to the start to wander around the cathedral. There are some wonderful stained glass windows, two of them by Edward Burne-Jones, but we couldn't see the detail because it was already dark outside. The choir was good. We left there and wandered around some more, and passed the Bridge of Sighs on our way to the train station.

Hope your birthdays were happy, Annie and Meg. xxxooo