So where were we? Ah yes. Sunday morning.
Sunday morning we got up early to have breakfast in The Buttery (the college cafeteria, if you can call it that...but I'd much rather call it The Buttery). Yum yum. Then we headed out to Christ Church College, often considered the grandest of the Oxford colleges. It has its own cathedral, if that's any indication. And it was to that cathedral that we were bound. As if I hadn't had enough of religious services in the past two days, I decided to go to Sunday morning matins. I must be losing my mind.
So yes. Matins. The service was very confusing to me-- I have been to maybe three church services in my life, and none of them were Church of England, and none in a cathedral. But with all awkwardness that comes with sitting silently while everyone else is praying aside, it was really something. The atmosphere was incredible (so nice to see a cathedral in the context of actually being used for what it was intended), and the famous Cathedral Choir was unbelievably good (the first time I've heard a boy's choir in person).
Part of Christ Church's main quad.
Lots of imposing front gates.
We came back and had lunch in The Buttery (lunch is less yummy than breakfast, but it's free, so I'm really not complaining), and afterwards, assembled for PUNTING!!!
Ok, so punting. Think of gondoliers in Venice. But on the Thames (or the Isis, as it's called in Oxford). Basically, you have a flat-bottomed boat which is very low in the water, with a flat back that someone stands on, and uses a five meter pole to push the boat through the water.
They look like this. ps. This is St. Hilde's College, one of the last to go co-ed (but it only recently started admitting men-- surprise!).
And it is unbelievably difficult. First of all, standing up on a teeny tiny boat is very hard-- it feels like you're going to topple into the water (and capsize your boat) if you move your feet at all. And those poles are ridiculously heavy. And they get stuck in the mud. And steering is possibly harder than my last English final exam. I punted for a grand total of five minutes, managed to steer us into a bank twice, and moved us forward maybe fifty yards. I was terrible at it (but I'm glad that I tried).
Clay, on the other hand, was a pro. Not only could he steer really accurately, but he was fast-- and even good at dealing with obstacles!
Clay (with the goofy smile) punting, with Liz and Peter (one of the tutors). Cullyn and I were in the front seat (which faces backwards).
Navigating beautifully under a bridge.
And under a tree.
We then decided that since Clay was doing so well, we should try to race the other boats.
And we left them in the dust (err... ripples?).
Then Cullyn decided to give it a go.
And then the other boat caught up to us again, so we had a sea-battle:
'Twas epic.
Then Liz punted for a while-- she was better than Cullyn and I were.
Then I punted...and that was just disastrous, and then Peter punted, and he did rather well.
Look! I'm punting!!
Using the spare oar to compensate for some interesting punting.
Cullyn and I.
Clay and Cullyn-- just too cute not to put up this picture.
We passed lots of other friends on boats as well:
Everyone trying to maneuver out of the dock.
As well as lots of pretty sites:
The botanical gardens and Magdalen College.
And a pretty bridge.
Ok, enough boats. But first I'm going to tell you a story.
We passed quite a number of ducks while we were punting (though sometimes, depending on who was punting, the ducks passed us). Clay, at one point, decided to start quacking at them. But then, he called out to one duck (in a strong Jersey accent):
Yo duck. How you doin'? I saw your mother last night. She looked good.
..... on my dinna' plate.
We proceeded to make similar jokes for the rest of the day. Maybe you had to be there.... but I thought it was hysterical.
Later in the day, I decided to take a walk down to Blackwell's, one of the world's largest bookstores (with the largest collection of books in one room of any bookstore in the world) in order to get some reading done (yeah right). I perused the books (it was really just too overwhelming to even think of buying anything, though I might have to go back and get something), then had a latte in the cafe while doing a bit of reading. I heard all sorts of super intellectual conversations going on around me about every sort of subject-- it was amazing. Just sitting there made me feel incredibly smart.
Then I took some lovely touristy pictures on my way back:
This bridge is apparently famous, though I'm not sure why.
The undergraduate library.
The Museum of the History of Science (with another college in the background).
I think this is one of the entrances to the British copyright library-- it has a system of railroads underground that go for miles-- there are that many books in there.
Such a pretty town!
So then Clay and I met up to have dinner. We decided to go to a fairly famous pub-- but it's sort of a hole-in-the-wall place, you can only get there by going through a tiny alleyway.
The Turf Tavern-- frequented by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Elizabeth Taylor, C.S. Lewis, Oscar Wilde, and more.
It was very tasty-- and we had some wine and spoke in British accents the whole time that we ate. Quite marvelous. Also found a ketchup bottle with a royal seal on it, proclaiming that it was produced under a grant from the Queen to Mr. Heinz to purvey this ketchup in Britain, which I found highly amusing.
But the best part of the day was an unexpected surprise-- we had a disco in the Univ Bar, attended by all of us and the staff that was with us. It was super fun-- the dj played all of the corny party standards that we asked for, and we danced for three hours straight. The greatest moment of all, however, was when David Bowie came on, and Barbara, our director emerita (who had danced with Bowie in her younger days when she worked at a casino) suddenly appeared in a ridiculous wig and huge sunglasses, and danced with all of the boys. There are literally no words for how incredible this was. It simply made my year.
I am too tired to talk about to today yet.... and I actually have work to do (I know-- ridiculous, right? Why would you take us to Oxford and then make us do school work?). I'll lump today and tomorrow together in my next post.
Until next time, enjoy pictures of a beer garden:
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