england: day 6

after spending five days in london (which sounds like a lot but isn't) we headed out to see some of the rest of the country.

we picked up our car on the outskirts of london. in the preparation phase, both boys said they didn't want to drive . . so i was our driver this trip. i was a little anxious about the driving on the other side of the road thing, but i think i picked it up pretty quick. the hardest part is turning out of parking lots. i always went to the right side of the road, which is the wrong side. (after i got home i caught myself driving on the left side a few times!) just so you know, i had to parallel park while we were there. meaning, sitting on the opposite side of the car, shifting with the opposite hand, and pulling into the opposite side of the street that i'm used to. like a boss. 

funny aside: we were in the rental car place for, like, 20 minutes signing the papers and what not. to get to the cars you have to go out the front door, down the street, around the corner and into an alley behind the buildings to get to the cars. the rental car guy was walking us to the cars, and we got all the way down the street and around the corner and suddenly he turns to me and asks, "can you drive stick?" as it happens, i can, so it wasn't a big deal, but what if i had said no? why did it not occur to him to ask that in the 20 minute signing paper phase? it made me chuckle. 

 first stop: oxford. people, in a perfect world, i would go to oxford. it is ridiculously picturesque and don't even get me started on the learning opportunities there. 

we didn't really have a plan, we just wandered around the city. we did stop and check out the magical books exhibit at the bodleian library and then found the eagle and child, gathering spot for the inklings, for a little bite to eat. it rained a little, we watched some cricket practice and tried to make out the rules (no success, an absolute mystery), and managed to find a college that was partially open to the public for free so we could check out the court yard and chapel (all saints, i think it was).

i want to live there so bad.

courtyard of the bodleian library

bridge of sighs

i'm developing a serious thing for stained glass windows.

can you imagine being in a writing group with c.s. lewis and j.r.r. tolkien? 

the entrance to one of the colleges - can't remember which one. 

we left oxford in the late afternoon and headed for bath. the drive was really pretty, and we had time to wander around bath for a few hours in the evening.