Today started as a lazy day for me. Yay! Breakfast, then back to the room to contemplate what’s left in Oxford that I want to do. I ended up purchasing tickets for Adam and me for the “R-rated” (YES!) version of Love’s Labour’s Lost, a Shakespeare play we will be seeing when we are in London.

I was due to meet up with Adam and his coworkers for lunch, as well as one of their wives. Adam was very insistent that I join them so that she would not be the odd duck in the group today…I suppose we shared that title today.

I met them at the Examination Rooms, and then we proceeded to The Bear for lunch.

 

 

Adam’s goal when we travel is to try local beers over something he knows he will like (e.g. Guinness). He has been doing this, and so far they have all “sucked.” He finally found a local stout or porter (I forget which it was) that he liked. EUREKA! He was ready to swear off of the local stuff, but I think this will make him give it another chance.

Now, for dessert. I’d passed Patisserie Valerie several times, but had yet to sample any of their amazing goodies I kept seeing in the window. I made my choice and saved it for later.

 

 

Next up was another round of wandering. I don’t actually know the route I took, I was just directionally aware of where I was going.

It seems that every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, there’s a little market that occurs at Gloucester Green (where we actually got off the bus when we originally arrived in Oxford).

 

 

I came across a very old church and cemetery. St. Thomas the Martyr Church is still in use today, but was founded in the 12th century. The church was named after Saint Thomas Becket. Despite multiple restoration efforts over the centuries, the building does still retain some of its original architecture.

 

 

 

 

I had to head over towards the Weston Library again to purchase our Tolkien tour souvenir. As a result, I ended up all over the library properties again. This time around, I detoured into the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, which happens to be directly south of Radcliffe Camera. You can hike to the top of the tower/steeple, but I had a few bags with me already and didn’t feel like carrying the extra weight up and down the stairs. Maybe I will hit this one up tomorrow before I buy anything. BUT, I was able to go inside the church itself. The interior was beautiful. I do very much like the expansive symmetry that large churches and cathedrals often have, especially those that are centuries old.

 

 

 

On my wandering way home, I inspected Alice’s Shop. There were souvenirs of just about any form, all related to Alice in Wonderland, from fancy stationary to little hand-painted miniatures for private display.

 

 

Back home for the day now. I didn’t do as much walking as I did yesterday, but it oddly feels like I did more anyways. I’m still not sure what I want to do tomorrow! I’m a bit limited, as we have to check out by 11 am (thankfully, the hotel will hold our bags until we have to leave), but Adam’s conference isn’t done until about 2 pm. This means I need to occupy myself again tomorrow, but I’m not sure what’s left to do! As I mentioned before, maybe I’ll march to the top of the St Mary’s tower.

Total steps: 15,714

 

ttfn

Emily and Adam