Catch up with Alyssa

Day 15 - October 15 – Train to Oxford, Tour Guide Alyssa, Dinner by the Thames.

Weather – Cool start in London, clear skies and warm 15 in Oxford

The day started badly with Katie waking up in some serious pain. She could hardly move… Had done something to her back – possible strain? This was not a good thing given we were about to pack, and then carry around some huge suitcases and get on and off trains etc… I went down to the mini Waitrose and got some anti-inflammatory meds, and hoped that would be enough to get her through the trip. I ended up packing everything while Katie moaned in pain whenever she moved. Not an ideal sign to be honest. The pain meds seemed to do enough to get her moving, and we made it on to the train without too many issues.

The main reason for the side trip to Oxford was too visit Alyssa Glass, my cousin, who’s studying at Oxford Uni. She’s a perpetual under achiever, and the family doesn’t like to talk too much about her. Apparently, she’s on some scholarship to do a PhD in international Law. Honestly, she just needs to get a job. But, you know, family is family. So, we went out of our way just to check in.

Alyssa met us at the station with a menu of options/suggestions for Oxford… Alyssa was actually here in 2019-20 for masters, so she’s basically a local now. First stop was to drop our huge bags off at the Airbnb and then find some lunch. Our Airbnb was ideally located just south of the Thames, next door to a pub – the Whitehouse. The place is a really, how would I describe it - eccentric place. Yeah. Advertised with a compact toilet. They didn’t lie, but let’s be honest, they didn’t tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth… I guess you can kill two birds with one stone…

Yes, that is a combination shower and toilet... and there's the sink built into the cistern. 

Anyway, we headed off next door to the pub for lunch, I had a couple of Ales and the fish and chips – very good, and the Girls had Chicken burgers, and Lucy had fish fingers. By this stage it was pretty obvious that Katie was not going to be able to do too much with us, so we decided that Katie would go back home, we’d head off to Alyssa room at her college, pick up some heat packs, and then Alyssa and I would go out for some cousin time.

Oxford is a pretty small city, I think about 250k in metro area, however, the city proper feels pretty much like a university town. Today however was matriculation day, so all the new students to Oxford were dressed in black and white academic attire, the gentlemen with a white tie, and the ladies with a black satin ribbon. All very posh and proper. The town centre was full of students and their friends and families all enjoying themselves, some more so than others.

Alyssa is a fantastic tour guide, she really knows this town, and as a student she was able to get us access to the various colleges and grounds of the university for free, and into areas that the general public can’t go. Alyssa is currently at Balliol College – actually let me explain what I understand about the Oxford Uni setup. The University is essentially 39 individual Colleges. Each College is like a separate school, with a chapel, classrooms, libraries, dinning halls (That all look like or actually are Hogwarts), lawns (You must keep off…), there’s a pastoral element, there is a Master of the college, student accommodation, and then of course there are the amazing gardens. Oxford is the oldest English speaking university – which is sort of a strange thing to say, as they most probably started in Latin. The Oldest university is in Italy – can’t remember the name. It’ll come to me. Anyway, it’s an amazing place to walk around, and even more fun when you get a behind the scenes tour! We wandered through Alyssa’s current college – Balliol, which claims to be the oldest of the colleges – founded in the middle of the 13th Century… Yeah, it’s reasonably old I guess. The reason why the colleges all look like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, is because the locations for the films were shot at Oxford. The Great Hall for example, is in Christ Church college’s dining hall. The Balliol college dining hall, could have substituted for Hogwarts if you ask me…

Anyway, after our tour, we headed back to Alyssa’s current digs, a nice student accommodation, with a shared kitchen and lounge area. Very lovely. Lucy had a great time exploring Aunty Alyssa’s house. I loved the fact that Alyssa had name tagged all the cupboards and mathematically divided up the fridge and cupboard space.

After a stop at Alyssa’s room, we began the walk back to our Airbnb. It’s a decent walk so we stopped at one of Alyssa’s local purveyors of refreshments – the turf tavern – a relatively new establishment, as it’s only been around since the 14th Century. It was jam-packed with students who were dressed up for matriculation. We managed to snag some seats and while I went off to line up for some warm flat Ales, Alyssa ordered some apple pie and ice cream with the table app. Somehow Lucy had convinced her it was a good idea… Ice cream pretty much every day! The turf tavern is famous as the pub where the Prime Minster of Australia – Bob Hawke managed to down a yard glass of beer in a then Guinness book of records, 11 seconds. He was a student at Oxford and not PM at that stage, but what a top bloke. That’s what you look for in an Australian PM – needs to be a borderline alcoholic…

We continued our journey back to our place, and as we were walking, we started to build up a thirst again – so we stopped at the Bear – a slightly more established pub, dating back to the 13th century – I don’t think they updated the interior in that time to be honest, looking a little dated in my opinion – could use a spruce up. Anyway, by this stage we decided to pick up some wine and head back to Katie. Funnily enough the wine shop we went to still had Alyssa down as a member from her last time – must have been a good customer.

Katie and Lucy were pretty tired, but Alyssa and I were pretty keen to continue “catching up”. We left them to an early bed and headed off for a night on the town. First stop was a little wine bar where we had a flight of English sparkling. Now I have just come back from Champagne itself, so I’ve just experienced some very good wines. However, I have to say that these really blew me away – really, really good. The Furleigh Estate was our joint favourite and I think I might just need to pick up a bottle to take home. Alyssa had booked dinner at Cherwell Boathouse – as the name implies – located by the banks of the river Cherwell – which joins the Thames down by the various Oxford college’s boathouses. Once again, an excellent choice by my tour guide. Dinner was excellent, and we enjoyed some chit chat with our slightly over the top French waiter (aren’t they all over the top outside of France??). Walking back towards the city we decided to stop for a nightcap and then it was home to bed. I think I got back a little after midnight. We might have faced timed a few relatives back home on our walk back – Always seems like a great idea – not clear on the time difference at this stage... Great night - but I had a premonition that the following morning might be a little bit of a struggle.