A Bird's Eye View

Wednesday's discussion focused on Emma, the second of our novels.  This was my first read through, so I wasn't as confident in my knowledge about this book and its characters.  Regardless, the discussion was fun and I found myself examining each character from a new perspective.  Supposedly Emma is referred to as a "perfect novel", but I'm not sure I buy that one.  Maybe I just need to spend some more time with the book before I see it...at the end of the day I was still a bigger fan of Pride and Prejudice.  Wednesday afternoon was spent sightseeing with Helena.  Luckily she had made a list of must see sights in Oxford and I was more than happy to accompany her to the botanical garden, Magdalen College, and up the tower of the church with our beloved cafe.  The botanical garden was really lovely--in fact, I learned that I really love English gardens.  Although I have what I consider a brown thumb, I think I might like to try to plant my own flower garden someday (don't quote me on that though!).  The back of the garden runs into the Thames and we watched with amusement as some folks attempted punting and rowing on their own.  I think I'll save that for next trip!

Punting on the Thames...this guy was a skilled punter!

And here are the amateurs!

A wonderful example of an English garden...stunning, isn't it?

Magdalen College (pronounced Maudlin) wasn't far from the gardens and it was open for visitors.  It was kind of refreshing to leave the chaos and tourists of Christchurch behind and to get a look at another of Oxford's colleges (I should note that there are more than twenty spread throughout the city).  Magdalen was smaller, but still quite beautiful.

It was almost as if I could hear the conversation going on between them...

...I think the woman looks exasperated and the man is trying to talk his way out of something!

Inside Magdalen College

The chapel

Looking out from the corridor into a beautiful garden.

The Hall at Magdalen College...much smaller than the one at Christchurch.

What beautiful grass...but alas, I cannot walk on it!

As it neared three o'clock it was time for tea!  We made our way to our favorite cafe but before sitting down for scones decided to climb up the tower.  It was a bit more cramped up there than I expected, but certainly worth the hike!  Getting a bird's eye view of Oxford was really magnificent.  Plus, I happen to be quite directionally challenged so it was nice to get the lay of the land and see where we were in relationship to Christchurch.

I couldn't help taking a picture of this!

The Radcliffe Camera from above.

Rooftops of Oxford.

Our garden cafe!

Gargoyles!

Pretty painted shops

Can you see Tom Tower of Christchurch off to the right?

So many steeples...

The evening brought a special treat.  The Georgia Boys choir happened to be staying at Christchurch and performed the Evensong service.  I had never been before, but was really entranced by hearing scripture sung.  The boys have incredible voices and informed us at breakfast the next morning that we should check them out on Facebook.  After dinner myself, Trish, Helena, Mila, and Mila's German friend snuck out of the Christchurch compound and over to one of the oldest pubs in the city.  After chatting up the bartender, who incidentally had lived in the States and made a hobby of skydiving there, we grabbed a table and enjoyed our beverages as we marveled at the number of ties that had been tacked to the wall by students.  I wish I'd taken a photo.  No matter, tomorrow was going to be an exciting day so we wrapped things up at the pub and said good-night!