This is somewhat of a continuation from my post about London since I was sooo far behind... so in my journal I've actually been writing awhile. This is important because the second part of my London post was written in THE EAGLE AND CHILD! Yes, I am sitting in The Eagle and Child writing, right now, at this second. First I am in Oxford, second, I am in Tolkien's pub! OMG! OMG! I know, so exciting, all my dreams, well most of them, have come true. But I'll get back to The Eagle and Child later because that's near the end of my day, and it has been quite a day.

Monica and I woke up early today, like 8am. So early after being out so late yesterday! It was Oxford day though... so I was up. I don't think I actually slept. I first had to go to school to do something, so that took way too long, and screwed us up. Oh well, we were suppose to be on a train at 9:04am, but yeah we got to the train station in Kingston at 9:15am. Oh I didn't mention that we had the really heavy bag of Monica's with us, it was being dropped off at Oxford! That slowed us down a bit, but since it would make her life easier on Sunday when moving it, I didn't complain... that much.

We jumped right on the train at Kingston and made our way to Clapham Junction. There we had to catch the bus to Victoria and omg that was the first time I had to drag that bag up the stairs. It was not fun. Monica though couldn't lift it, and I didn't want her to hurt herself, so I put on my game face, and lifted it by the handles up the stairs. But we got on a train and made our way to Victoria. Oh Victoria, how I hate thee. The signs confused us and brought us all over the place and of course we still had the bag. We took turns lugging it around, though when there was more than a step or something the bag was mine. Lovely. We did finally find the bus after like 20 minutes of walking, standing in lines in the wrong place, and almost pleading to be let on a bus going to Oxford. We ordered tickets the previous night, and all I had was the confirmation numbers because I still do not have my printer... um. We were 20 minutes late for the bus we should have been on, but these buses leave like every 10 minutes so they let us on, and the bag got put in the back so I didn't have to worry about it for 2 hours... yyyeeeeaaaaahhhh!!!!! We should have had enough time to find our bus if Victoria wasn't so stupid with all the confusing signs and lack of correct signs. Oh well, we made it to Oxford.

We didn't exactly sleep on the bus, I wish we did, but at least for me I just had my eyes closed. The bus jolted many times, but this one time I opened my eyes when it did, and it was amazing... we were in The Shire. Monica opened her eyes at the same time, and we just gaped. It was the Shire, think of Fellowship of the Ring, in the beginning and that is what I saw... okay so there wasn't three foot little people farming, drinking and smoking, but it was the Shire. Have I said that enough? There was rolling green hills, flat lands that had hundreds of sheep, not as many cows but a lot, and the only colors were brown and green! There was so much farm land, but then in the distance was rolling hills, that were just unbelievable! If there were fences, they were wooden ones, really old, that look like one good kick could destroy them. Monica thinks I shouldn't be thinking of kicking down fences, but that's the best way to describe them! They are old! Hedges are another form of fences, but they aren't needed that much... the road is somewhat small and I didn't see a single person! It's so beautiful! The grass is so freaking green, everything is perfect! I just told Monica that it seemed like the ground was high, and that we were closer to the sky and heaven. She didn't laugh. Maybe the ground was higher, and we were on the top deck of a double decker, but that's what it looked like, that this was one step closer to Heaven, cause that's what I was thinking. It was the Shire though, no doubt, this is what Tolkien wrote about! I seriously could write about this forever, and never do it justice!

If the fields were amazing, the little cottages were out of this world! It's hard to describe, but once again they were old looking, probably been there for hundreds of years. I felt like I was in Braveheart or Monty Python! The roads were paved, but these little cottages! Some of them had thatched roofs! No joke! It was unbelievable and out of this world! I couldn't stop staring! The roads were small, somehow big enough for one lane on each side, but I wouldn't want to be coming the other way with a double decker on the road! I felt like I was in the wagon going up to Bag End with Gandalf and Frodo! In Tolkien's time I'm sure there were even more fields and these old houses so I can see why he loved the Shire, he didn't create it, it was and is still here!

Oxford though, a big beautiful place, it reminds me a lot of Kingston just with a hundred very old colleges and each old building has a tower! The shopping centre is insane... every store, even a Disney Store. (DISNEY CULT). But of course with all this beauty, there had to be trouble... and big trouble!

Monica said we had to get off at Gloucester Green. Okay cool, sounds like a great place. The driver at one of the stops came upstairs and said Gloucester Green was the next stop. Sweet deal. The area we were in was looking pretty residental but ok. So we got off at the next stop, and yeah it wasn't the right spot, and yeah it wasn't even close. Not only was it not the right place, we asked someone, and they said, "take a bus" so we weren't even close. Oh and did I mention we still had the bag. Yeah we did. So we walked and walked looking for a good place to catch the bus. We went by Brooks University which I guess is a college in Oxford, and I couldn't understand why Monica didn't go there... it was nice and close, nooo she had to go to St. Peters which was far away. Anyway, we caught a bus, I dragged the bag onto the bus, and we sat and thought, "Where the heck are we?" I took out the maps, and we weren't even on the map. That's a scary feeling, not being on the map. Of course the maps were one that Oxford sent her, and one in a guide book... but still WE WEREN'T ON THE MAP! So the bus is going along toward Town Centre, and it makes a few stops, and we still aren't on the map. But then, like the light at the end of the tunnel, we are on the map! We passed Magdelen College which is where C.S Lewis taught! So I put the books away ready to jump off the bus when we reach our destination, and we get stuck in traffic. Oxford is doing a lot of construction so we sat and waited. But finally we made it to the town centre, and the centre of OXFORD!

We found St. Peters College without trouble, and we went inside to the main office. We met this girl who was graduating from Oxford that day, or the next day and she was all smiles. Monica hung onto like every word, and the girl wished her luck. She then got a key to her dorm, Staircase 4, room 25. We didn't know where Staircase 4 was, so the guy was like, "I'll point it out to you" but the girl volunteered to led us, so we took her up on the offer. I took the bag, and let Monica get her first really good look at St. Peters. She kept looking back at me to make sure I was still there, and I kept telling her not to worry about me, worry about looking around. Staircase 4 is the dorm that has a lot of ivy on it, and looks like its at least 5oo years old. She lives in a typical Oxford dorm. Her room is on the 4th floor so guess who had to drag her bag up those flights of stairs... yep me. We couldn't find an elevator, the building is probably too old to have one. I got lunch for dragging her bag up the stairs, it's like almost 60lbs. Her room is in a little squad, somewhat like the Towers, but more circular. It's beautiful, it's so old looking, with a little antique desk, an old looking chair, a wooden wardrobe, a walk in closet (jealous), and windows that barely open cause they are so old. But its beautiful, it screams Oxford, and she was in heaven. I was expecting a four poster bed but nope not the case. Monica took pictures of every angle of the room, and we took pictures of each other sitting at the desk with a notebook (it just had to be done). We finally dropped off the bag, omg I was way too excited to leave that thing behind, and then we went out to explore Oxford.

Oxford is a lot like Kingston, which I think I already said, but there are parts that are closed to cars, and it's just one store after another. Monica was relieved when she saw two Pizza Huts, and a McDonalds (just kidding). But it's so nice with all the towers, the old colleges, and the little pubs. We went to a restaurant called Ask, and it was really good. We got soup and salad, and I had a wonderful piece of chocolate cake. Omg... it was heaven. This was my birthday/thanks for dragging my bag around Heathrow/Kingston and up the stairs present from Monica so that was cool! After lunch we began our sight seeing tour of Oxford. According to the maps everything was really far from each other, and we were actually thinking of taking buses just so we can reach everything. We did decide to walk the first part just to see the town centre. Our first destination was the walkway where Tolkien and Lewis walked all the time and discussed life, politics, their books and religion. So if they walked it so did we! It was on one of the maps but on the edge so like miles away... haha. We hoped for the best and walked down High Street. We took a little detour off High Street though, Monica saw a petty building and it was the Radcliffe Camera. It's the main library in a series of buildings and so beautiful! We could see the inside of it a little bit, there were students inside studying, and we saw soo many books. It's a big circular building that looks so old, and so awesome. It's made out of stone of course, just like everything else in Oxford. I'd die for that to be my library. Sadly the colleges and this building were off limits to visitors... Monica better start making friends at all these different colleges so we can get in. So after drooling at Radcliffe Camera, we came upon a gathering of people in robes. No we did not stumble upon Hogwarts. As we walked around Oxford we kept seeing these people in robes, college age people, and they had black robes with the collar lined with fur. Take away the fur and I want it! But now we came upon a big group of them, and we took pictures. It was the graduation... I guess they graduate in the fall. We tried not to stare but failed. Monica will have robes too, but not lined with fur or anything. It was cool!

We then saw the Bridge of Size, the original is in Venice so might have to go see that, it was awesome and really beautiful! Pictures were taken of course. We walked down to Holywell Road and we thought why not walk down it. We came upon a part of Merton College where Tolkien taught. It wasn't the main campus because that has a cool gate but I still took my picture in front of it. Then the big one came... we had written down some of the places where Tolkien had lived, because he moved a hundred times. He lived on Holywell Road!!! 99 Holywell Road to be exact. We found his house... we tried not to stare but we did, and we took pictures! It was unbelievable to be there, to be standing in front of his house, where he wrote some of the Lord of the Rings. Of course it would have been cooler if he didn't move a hundred times, but it was still amazing. It's cool though because there are little pieces of Tolkien all over Oxford, and we will be finding all of them! When we were at the house we tried to pretend that it was some random street, we had no interest in it, but I failed, Monica was a little better but I was silly.

So we walked back to High Street and continued on our way. It wasn't that far down High Street that we came upon another little treasure. First there was a little river, stream, whatever and there was like 10 boats in the water. Just little ones, but it was cute and Monica took a picture of it. But then we found the little bridge. There are actually two white bridges and it was so cute. Pictures of course were taken. We couldn't go over the bridge though, we were sooo sad. The only entrance we could find was on school grounds that were not open to visitors. So then we saw Magdalen College again, and that was awesome. We could not find the walkway though, the map didn't give us enough information so we went back down High Street to Carfax Tower. We figure we have 9 months to see everything, and it was raining off and on, so we would rather do the walkway when it's not raining.

So we walked down High Street, which as I'm sure you have figured out by now it's like the main street in Oxford, and I noticed Merton Street. We of course went down because Tolkien lived on Merton Street, and we figured that this is where Merton College is located. We found the college, Monica got her picture taken in front of it, and as I was taking the picture I realized that right across the street was 21 Merton Road... Tolkien's house. We admired the house, and thankfully no one else was on the street so we didn't have to hold back on the camera. I did think though, "What if someone comes out of this house? Do they think, oh geeze, more Tolkien geeks?" HAHAHA! Oh well.

So to Carfax Tower we went. We had to pay to get in but it was well worth it. There are 99 steps to Carfax Tower and it's steep and a little dangerous. There are lots of warnings about climbing and being up there, but we went, and it was fine. If we hadn't been making Harry Potter jokes on the way up I wouldn't have been breathing heavily, but I was laughing so much I paid for it. Lol. The view is unbelievable, you see all of Oxford and beyond. You see all the towers, and in the distance the hills... it was just breathtaking. Of course while we were up there a bell went off, not sure which one because there are many bells, it seems like one is always going off. It was sweet, it was like the one time that it was not raining. Monica took so many pictures, and I just stared. It was beautiful to see. I could have stayed up there for hours.

So after Carfax Tower, and the fun of getting down the stairs we went to Christ Church. On the stupid maps we had it showed Christ Church on the bottom of the map, ages away, but we went anyway. We were there in like 2 minutes. Stupid maps. We didn't go inside Christ Church though, I was getting a little anxious to get to The Eagle and Child, and I figure we have a year. So we looked at the buildings, the grass, and I told Monica she needs to make a friend here. Lol. We saw Old Tom, the clocktower, well how can you miss it? Christ Church is important because it is where some of HP was filmed, or is filmed. The staircase where they first meet McGonagall... oh yeah it's in here.

So The Eagle and Child, another long walk according to the map. Um maybe 10 minutes... not even. On the way though we stopped to check the stupid map and I realized we were one street away from St. John Street, and another home of Tolkien's. I wasn't kidding when I said he moved a lot. We went down to St. John Street and got pictures of that house. There was a few people on the street so we had to be more careful... haha. We also found Gloucester Green, it's a bus station and where we should have really gotten off earlier that day. Stupid bus driver. Oh well.

The Eagle and Child was next, and Monica saw the sign first. I was of mixed emotions, my heart was pounding, but I had a peaceful feeling in my stomach, it was like a homecoming... This place had been the topic of my dreams for so long, and to be going into it... wow. Um, we went in and it's a cute little place, there are pictures on the walls of Tolkien and Lewis, but it doesn't overdo it. When you go in, you get a table and then go to the bar and order food and drinks. We sat and got chips and drinks. Monica got a pint of beer, I got my coke and rum. I couldn't get beer, I just can't do it. I've tried it and I really, really, really, really don't like it. The girl sitting next to us was writing, and I had this great desire to write too! There was a good number of people in the pub. We just kept looking around, we were actually here, in The Eagle and Child, where Lord of the Rings was discussed, and I believe The Hobbit was first read here. OMG! So exciting! Oh I'm no longer in The Eagle and Child, I haven't been for awhile, I did write for a while but then our food came, so I stopped, but I did write for a little bit after that. My hand got tired though. We sat for a while and just soaked up the atmosphere of the pub.

We stayed until like 7pm, and then left to see more of Oxford. We went to see Pembroke College where Tolkien was a student at, I believe. It's by Christ Church so according to the map in another country... haha. We then found a cafe, and we had tea. Yes I had tea. I liked it, it wasn't bad at all. But I had to have tea at some time, and why not in Oxford. I told Monica that when I have fish and chips it will be at The Eagle and Child. I know, fish are friends not food, but it's like illegal to be in England and not try fish and chips.

And that is Oxford, and I am now really tired from typing that up. Wow, it is long!