travel update the fourth

[dear_prudence]

hello, darlings! you'll be pleased to know that sajee's bag arrived intact, and only put us a little bit behind on our schedule. we arrived in goring a little later than we intended to, but we still got there. the trip involved five different trains, one of which departed from PADDINGTON STATION! i got my mum a bear. we also went via camden, so i made lots of jokes about trousers:



once in goring we put up at a sweet little b&b called 'north view house'. they had two cats and three dogs and a garden that was so english you wouldn't believe it - climbing roses, hollyhocks, etc. one of their dogs, dorrie, was tiny and hilarious - she would growl at you if you stopped patting her:



we were served a breakfast of eggs and toast, yoghurt with sunflower honey, and fruit salad at a round table in the bay window of a sitting room that looked out over the garden, and then the others started their big walk.
we'd established that oxford wasn't far away, so i decided to take the train up there for a look around. it was utterly, utterly brilliant. i cannot describe how amazing it was. truly. i saw oscar wilde's old college. i saw the places lewis carrol was inspired by when he wrote 'alice in wonderland'. i saw the pub where tolkein, c. s. lewis and the rest of the inklings would sit and read their stories aloud to each other. i saw the place where king charles set up headquarters during the civil war. it was so full of stories and history and culture and beauty. i didn't have time to see everything that i wanted to see (you could spend weeks there exploring the libraries, museums, galleries, chapels, etc. etc. etc.) but i did explore christ church college and trinity college...


this is the exterior of (part of) christ church college. it was begun by cardinal wolsey in the reign of henry viii and was going to be called 'cardinal college', but then wolsey died and it just sat there for years and years before king henry decided to finish it. i'm very glad he did, because it is quite magnificent.


a lamp in the entry way o the dining hall at christ church college


*for piecesofalice* charles lutwidge dodgson's portrait in the dining hall of christ church college. for those not in the know, he's better known as lewis carrol, author of 'alice in wonderland'.


and here is that dining hall, set for dinner. the portrait of henry viii hangs at the head of the hall (you can just make out his fetching legs), and the rest of it is hung with the portraits of kings and queens and distinguished students (queen elizabeth, john locke etc, etc, etc,). there is even a stained glass window dedicated to lewis carrol, known as 'the alice window', but it was so crowded that i couldn't get a shot of it.


if this scene looks familir and you can't quite work out why, try imagining professor mcgonagall at the top of the sairs there. yep, christ church is where they filmed lots of interior shots of hogwarts in the first two harry potter films! :)


this is the jonah window in the chapel at christ church. it's interesting because the figure of jonah is the only part of it that is actually pieced together in the traditional way - the rest of it is just panes of glass that have been painted on. he painting is pretty amazing though.


makes you want to believe in angels, doesn't it?


a tapestry in the christ church chapel.


this is the rose window and it's what you see when you walk in the doors of the chapel and look down the aisle. it's truly magnificent.


this is one of the many little rosettes that adorn all the ceilings in the college. there is so much beautiful detail in the place.


this is above the door of the theatre at oxford. it's a really beautiful building.


a window at trinity college chapel. when i arrived at the chapel at trinity college it was deserted, and it was absolutely silent. i sat myself on a pew and just looked around at all the beauty. it was an overcast day, but as i sat there, the sun broke through the clouds and shone through the windows down onto the altar and the whole thing lit up and glowed in the golden light. it was such a perfect moment.


the ceiling above the altar.


this was set in the floor of the chapel. i think it means that the person is actually buried there...?


trinity college is famous for its gardens. this is just one corner of them.


i think i would be happy to be a flower in the trinity gardens.

so i was completely overstimulated, and spectacularly excited when i left and met the others in nuffield (after a hilarious taxi ride with an old ex-serviceman who told me i was a tough little lady and would have been a credit to the service. i think that was because i could lift my own suitcase...?) they had had a good day's walk and had lots of stories to tell, and we compared tales over dinner, then wend back to our b&b to sleep. the next day i said goodbye to those insane walkers and took a hair-raising taxi ride through the hedgerows to our next inn. it's part of a miniscule village, resembling dibley in many ways, with lots of thatched cottages. all it had by way of public services was a church and a pub, so i was obliged to take a bus to nearby thame to get some stamps, and have a look around for gluten-free food (which i found - hooray!). when i got back i had a walk around the village and it was very charming:


can you imagine living in a little house like this?


a stone in the churchyard.


the crown inn.


another grave stone.


stained glass window in the deserted church.


the hedgerows were full of blackberries and i nommed quite a few on my walk.


i think the bees of this villiage must be very happy - there are so many beautiful flowers in all the gardens!


i don't know what these plants are but they grow everywhere and they are very pretty. i like the curving shapes they make.


i'm back in oxford today. i couldn't stay away - there was so much more to see! i'll tell you more later, but i'm at an internet cafe, and all of oxford is out there!!!!

big love to all of youuuuu xoxoxoxoxoxo