The Bird and Babe is a particularly interesting pub, because it's where the "Inklings" used to meet up every Tuesday. The Inklings were an "informal literary discussion group" that included notable people like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Their favorite spot was in the Rabbit Room, and we just happened to find the booth open! Henry almost immediately spilled half a pitcher of water all over the table, poor thing, he was so hungry, all he wanted was the food.
And, oh my, it was delicious. Derek and I both got pies that were absolutely to die for (mine was chicken and mushroom, and Derek had a cottage pie). Henry of course enjoyed some chips drenched in ketchup and a few bites of my pie.
It was nice sitting and talking about Lewis and Tolkien and reminiscing about all the amazing discussions they would have had in the very spot we ate. They used to bring bits of the books they were working on to read out and get critiques from their friends. Tolkien brought The Lord of the Rings, and Lewis brought bits and pieces from Out of the Silent Planet. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to walk by and hear Tolkien reading about Frodo's adventures? I would love to have been just around the corner, listening to the ideas of the others and what they thought was working and what wasn't.
Oxford is a lot bigger than Cambridge city wise. It's often said that Cambridge is the country college and Oxford is in the city. We definitely noticed how much bigger than Cambridge, and it was quite crowded. Turns out, it was also graduation that day. So we got to see a few people in their robes, which are quite different from the Cambridge robes. Other differences between the two, are that the colleges in Cambridge seem to be much closer together, whereas in Oxford, it takes quite a bit of walking to get from one college to the other. Oh, and another thing--they have a lot more gargoyles in Oxford, which they are quite famous for.
We headed to Christ Church College first, but were very disappointed to find that they were closed. The gardens were beautiful, though, and Henry enjoyed the walk. One fun thing--the bell in Christ Church is named "Old Tom." There was a pub across the street named for the bell, so of course Tom had to have his photo taken by "his pub."
Part of the appeal of meeting up in Oxford was seeing our friends, the Kerrys. Dr. Kerry was one of my mentors at BYU, and he really is the reason we came to Cambridge in the first place. Four years ago, it was Dr. Kerry who encouraged us to participate in PKP, and we fell in love with Cambridge and wanted to return. We are so grateful for his mentorship, and it was wonderful to see their family. (I don't know how we didn't get a picture of us with them! Silly! We do have some with Henry and Seth, though).
When they were in Cambridge this past summer for the most recent PKP, Henry and the Kerry's son, Seth, really got to be friends. Seth is 3, and he loves to chase Henry around and show him all sorts of things. Henry just thinks he is the bees knees. They ran about Oxford together, playing with the rocks and sharing sticks. I was so happy to see them.
The Kerrys met in Oxford while they were both in school, and so they know Oxford very well. Of course Dr. Kerry knows just about everything about Oxford, and he is also considered a bit of a Tolkien expert, and so he took us around the city and told us all about it. He pointed out a lot of sites that were important with the English Reformation as well as Tolkien and Lewis spots--which we really enjoyed.
We met up at the Radcliffe Camera, which is part of the University Library. We popped in to the University Church, were C.S. Lewis preached and many of the English Reformers were tried for heresy. In part of the University Library, they had doors for each of the academic disciplines. My favorite was, of course, the door to the history section. :) A part of the library is styled to show the seven styles of architecture, with the five orders of classical columns. It was stunning!
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| Looking at the gate to All Souls College. |
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| playing with the rocks |
Just so happens, that we walked down the very street where I took a photo six years ago. It's the one I sent to Derek for his birthday while he was on his mission, which he kept on his desk. We recreated the photo, and also had a family photo taken in the spot. Wow! Who would have thought we would be back there six years later? :)
There was a spot of graffiti that I just had to capture. Only in Oxford would you see this. :)
We were able to go in to Magdalene College, Lewis' College, where he was a fellow. It was an open day at the college, so we got to go in free! It was absolutely beautiful and so big! The colleges in Oxford are a lot bigger than the ones in Cambridge--which isn't surprising.
We were sad to leave, but we had a few more hours of driving to get to our place in Wells. We had such a wonderful time and I hope that we can go back again and see a few more of the colleges.
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| Henry posed for this shot. He saw that I had the camera, backed up against the door, and looked away. Of course after he heard the shutter, he wanted to make sure that he looked good. We should be making money off this kid... |
p.s. People in Cambridge refer to Oxford as "the other place" and visa-versa. :)
