The sun was out and I really stopped to look around me this time. The weekend before when I was in Oxford I was really just having a good time and hanging out with friends but this time I took a few more minutes to really enjoy the beautiful architecture they have in Oxford.
Victoria came and found me somewhere near Christchurch and we walked over to a very cute cafe called Pert where Victoria treated me to hot chocolate. I think I had to go through about 3 inches of whipped cream and marshmallows before I actually got to the hot chocolate part but it was so tasty and we had a lovely time just sitting and talking for a bit.
We were on some what of a tight schedule and were supposed to be heading back to Victoria's school to meet up with some of her co-workers but... we decided to take in some of the sights before we caught the bus again. I took loads of pictures this time.
Since Victoria reads my blog (how cool is that? people actually read this stuff!!) she noticed that I was lacking information on the buildings in Radcliffe square so we headed back over that way and she straightened me out. Of course, I had to put up more pictures for you in order to remind you of the things I had taken pictures of before that I said I didn't know anything about. These new pictures are better than last weeks anyhow.
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This one here is a picture of one of the university churches. There are many of them. This particular church was built in the thirteenth century.
And THIS (below) is the Radcliffe Camera. It was originally built as a library in 1749 but is currently used as a reading room for the Bodleian library, which is nearby. The Bodleian library has a copy of every single book that has even been published. Crazy. In some cases, the only existing copy of the book is located in this library.
After my second tour through Oxford, we caught a bus back to the school. We met up with 3 people who Victoria works with and we all went out for cocktails. I had a Carol Channing. Couldn't tell you what's in it except that I know it had champagne and it was pink and very pretty and had a raspberry floating in it. I felt classy drinking it. Victoria had a virgin apple mojito, which was quite tasty, and I won't tell you how much the other girls had to drink... Then we headed out to a noodle bar (tasty but definitely reminiscent of Gwinn -- loaded with onions and peppers) and finally, Victoria and I abandoned her co-workers (they were still up for more Friday night fun) and got in the car to drive up to her home in Sutton Coldfield in the midland area of England, just outside of the large city of Birmingham.****
We arrived pretty late but Mr. and Mrs. Mountford were ready and waiting when walked in the door. The first words I heard were "Oh! Paige's friend! Isn't Paige lovely?" In case you don't already know this, Paige is always a good person to be associated with and I'm just the luckiest that I got to live with her for three whole years! The second thing I remember hearing, after meeting and hugging both of Victoria's parents, was "Would you like some tea?" The answer is always yes. I love tea. I took a seat on the couch, made fast friends with Cleo the cat and thoroughly enjoyed a lovely cup of tea. We stayed up late talking and I stayed up even later listening to Harry Potter on my ipod. (I can't stand Professor Umbridge!! Book 5 is proving to be a rather tense one because of her character...)
We had a very nice Saturday morning as we all slept in and then just took our time getting started with our day. We had tea and crumpets and watched cooking shows on TV and I don't think I even got into the shower until around 11:00am. Victoria's sister was nice enough to drop us off in town and Victoria and Mrs. Mountford and I spent the afternoon walking around the shopping centers, along the canals and through various interesting buildings in the center of Birmingham. I feel like I'm quoting Paige's blog from last year because I distinctly remember her saying these exact same things but that's just because we both got the same "tourist talk" when we visited... Birmingham is the second largest city in England and has more canals than Venice. I like the canals. They make the city look much more interesting and I like the idea of having lots of bridges to get from place to place.
Mrs. Mountford was literally dragged into this photo. I just think it seems silly to have loads of photos of me all by myself in pretty places! So I pulled her in with me and it's a good thing I did because it's a darn cute picture.****
We had lunch at a restaurant on the canal called the Handmade Burger Co. and it was super tasty and crazy busy! At nearly 3 in the afternoon the place was packed and Victoria had to stand in line for about fifteen minutes just to place our order. Victoria and I split a burger and a fantastic goat cheese salad. Just hours before, I had told her that I didn't like goat cheese. I was mistaken. She said maybe I like British goat cheese better because the goats here have accents. Good theory. Works for me : )
Here are some pictures of the "floozy in the jacuzzi." The fountains weren't running for some reason but this whole city center area was just gorgeous. I really like big open pedestrian areas like this. It's great for people watching and you don't even have to give any thought to which direction you're supposed to look before you cross the street. Birmingham is definitely well equipped for pedestrians. I felt like we hardly had to cross any streets at all.
Through our wanderings we found a huge candy stand in the middle of one of the shopping centers and Victoria quickly filled a bag with a large assortment of sweets including gummy teeth, sour watermelons, gummy strawberries, chocolate pigs, coke bottles, shrimps, gummy fried eggs and lots more that I can't remember. I personally tend to go for chocolates and caramels and things like that but Victoria is all the gummy/sugary sweets.
We wandered through Christmas stores and looked at beautiful clothes we can't afford and then met back up with Mrs. Mountford for a cup of tea at the cafe inside of Marks & Spencers.****
Back at the house the whole family, including Victoria's older sister Anneliese, sat on the couch and ate pizza and chips (the french-fry kind) and watched Mona Lisa Smile. Before the film even started, the cat had already settled onto my lap (where she remained for the next three hours) so everyone was serving me while I sat there... I was totally being pampered but really, it was all for the cat. She's the queen. I'm just the princess. Ice cream cones, cake and chocolate candies followed the pizza -- it was a major food day! And more tea. Always more tea : )
We got an extra hour of sleep Saturday night and Sunday morning we hurried out the door. Victoria and I took a two hour train ride into London, found our way to the St. Pancras (NOT pancreas!) train station, had a quick lunch and then she was on her way to Paris for a vacation with her Australian co-worker, Bec. They're going to go to Disneyland Paris and it will be Bec's first trip to a Disney theme park. I'm SO excited for them!! It's just so much fun to go with first-timers.****
And here I am, back in Virginia Water. It's always nice to come back to my lap top and the phone with the free calls home but I had an absolutely spectacular weekend! I cannot wait to visit them again.
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