We are HERE!

. . . and we are loving it, even just 24 hours into our trip. Oxford is such a beautiful place. It's been long enough since I've been here that it all feels quite new. This is a view across from one of our upstairs windows - it's the top of a drain spout, and he appears to be in mid-speech. There is another one about 20 feet to his right, and I'm pretty sure the guy is sticking his tongue out. Interesting. Will try to get a pix of that to confirm my suspicions.

 And this is the street where we live. Our building - the one just past that white building on the left - is very old - we think 1400's! I'll certainly take more (and better) pictures, this was at the end of the afternoon, with not alot of light.

 We live at the corner of Merton Street and Magpie Lane . . . ancient cobbled stones (wear high heels at your own risk), and beautiful views wherever you look. It makes you giddy if you're an Anglophile, downright giddy.

And oh yes - High Table was amazing! So enjoyable that we'll do it again tomorrow night. I went with fishnet stockings, by the way. Didn't get your input til after the fact, sorry. What I didn't quite realize til we got there is that we ARE the High Table. If you're a Harry Potter Fan, imagine dinner at Hogwarts (slightly smaller hall I think, but similar in feel) Well, we sat where Dumbledore and company would sit, up there for all to see. Before dinner, the HT participants gathered in the Queen's Room behind the great hall for sherry, gin-and-tonics, etc. After a bit of light chit chat with a Shakespearean scholar a bell rang, and that cued us to walk into the great hall, as if walking on to a stage from a back door. You know you can't spell Hammett without H-A-M, but I resisted all my theatrical urges, strong as they were. The rest of the room had already been in place at their long tables, and once we all were seated at our pre-assigned locations, a student from the long tables stood and said the grace in Latin. It was left to me to make pleasant conversation with a young mathematician from Munich (sounds like the start of a limeric, doesn't it?) to my right, which actually went better than you might imagine.

The Menu

Appetizer - a lovely fish dish with a light cream sauce

A pleasant Chardonnay to complement

Roasted veal (with gravy) with roasted potatoes & steamed vegetables 

A pleasant red (I forget) to complement

Cheesecake with raspberries

The interesting part was Second Dessert (which of course made us think of The Hobbit's Second Breakfast. By the way, Tolkein taught at Merton College.) - the HT group retired to another grand and gracious room, leaving the long-table peons to fend for themselves. This room had one large oval table, and there we were treated to chocolates and a lovely assortment of cheeses and fruit. Plus dessert wine, port, etc. There were finger bowls as well, quite civilized. You chatted with different people at this point, no seat assignment, so I got to meet Merton's choir director, and a visiting Baptist preacher from London who wore his tux jacket with jeans, and no tie. Shocking!

And finally, into yet another room for liquers and such, and more good conversation. All in all, a fun night, made even more dreamlike by our lack of sleep.

More tomorrow . . .