Two weeks ago, we hopped aboard a 75-minute bus ride, for a quick weekend escape to Oxford. A charming and bustling university town, Oxford is a lovely detour from the usual weekend routine. Oddly enough, we happened to be in Oxford on Alice's Day, the annual holiday dedicated to the very first telling of Alice in Wonderland in 1862, as the author, Lewis Carroll, was an Oxford academic, using professors and others from the University as the inspiration for the tale's wild characters (and the real-life Alice, for whom the story was written, was the Dean's daughter). Few things stick to the brain like droves of Alices, Mad Hatters, and White Rabbits roaming the cobblestone streets of a historic, prestigious English town. Though in Oxford for only one night, we did a bit of shopping, a lot of walking, and had a fantastic locally-sourced dinner at
The Big Bang, a simple bangers and mash establishment, home to sausages of all sorts - lamb, beef, completely vegetarian, and even duck. We also had the opportunity to meet up for drinks with a lovely Oxford-educated American named Laura, who is (focus now), my grandmother's cousin's close friends' daughter (for real), with whom I've exchanged a few emails since being "introduced" online about a year ago, as two American young women who might enjoy each others' company if we had the opportunity to meet on this side of the pond. Always a delight to meet up with someone new, exchange stories of living abroad, discuss trips we hope to take, and pine away for real Mexican food...
Christ Church College, Oxford University
Punts for Hire
Alice's Shop (written into
Alice Through the Looking Glassas the Old Sheep Shop, where the real Alice often went)
-B & B
"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop." - King of Hearts, Alice and Wonderland
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