School, Fall (already?), Oxford

Our little girl started second grade last week! And seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, aside from getting up at 7 (earliest they’re risen since coming back from the U.S. was 9:30. Parents’ dream).

Besides getting ready for that big event, we’ve played some catch-up since our trip – got the suitcases unloaded, toiletries stashed and all those doll clothes hanged up (hung up? I’m too lazy to research that one).

We also caught up w/ some friends for play dates. (I’ve decided they’re best held at a park or someone else’s house; I’m a play date hater – oh my gosh it’s out now -- no one will ever come to our house again...I take solace in the fact that another ASL mom confided same dislike recently. Much prefer the kids gathering spontaneously in our NC neighborhood. But I suppose that’s not the norm these days…)

Back to the last week of August!

Ava and I got our hair cut. Can I just say I really enjoy the new hair regime I’ve started since arriving here? Cheap cuts – to the tune of 9 quid (4 for Ava’s “fringe” trim) every 3 weeks, walk in and wait.

Generally that’s a 10-20 minute experience so I catch up on some glamour mag, get a quick cut by someone from Australia, Kosovo, Poland, Asia. So far I like all of them. Last week’s guy was from Kosovo, said he goes back yearly in August, along w/ all the other Kosovo-ans who’ve relocated. Apparently entire villages have transplanted themselves to various cities around the world so it’s a big meet and greet/photo swap when they all swarm in to visit.

Ava, by the way, loves getting her hair cut. She gets to admire her beauty in the mirror as she’s perched on a big cushion.

Last Friday we caught up w/ Ewa, our Polish babysitter who looked in on our house while we were out of the country. She held down the fort while Joe and I escaped for dinner and a movie.

Our plans for a pub meal were cut off by a sudden heavy rainstorm, which struck as we were a few yards from an appealing little Italian restaurant…so we ducked in there for a drink. They brought us towels for drying off, olives to whet our appetite so we opted to stay for dinner. Very nice meal a stone’s throw from the house so will have to stop in there again. Our movie pick: Funny People. (Sophomoric humor, but entertaining.)

On Saturday, a day that dawned sunny and gorgeous, we whisked Joe off to the zoo (well ok we stumbled out of the house at noon after peeling our children off the beds at 11). The animals were in fine form, we enjoyed ice cream, the animal show, merry-go-round, you name it. And we finished our day grilling pork chops from our local butcher. Not bad.

Sunday we got out the door a bit earlier and made our way to the train station for a trip to Oxford. Great day out and an easy train ride from London. Our first stop was at the doubledecker tourist bus office, train station. We hopped on a bus and had a great audio tour/overview of the city before getting off at the city centre, grabbing a quick bite to eat (Joe and I had warm chicken and steak pies, respectively), and heading to Christ Church to check it out. (Featured in Harry Potter, BTW.)

Oxford is a lovely city, winding streets in many areas, cobblestones, gorgeous architecture and old city walls and medieval buildings here and there. Beautiful green spaces, river running through the center – on a sunny day it must be heavenly. (It was gray and chilly when we visited; no one said England was known for lovely weather.)

Re: Harry P. Apparently many of the movies’ scenes were shot around Christ Church and in fact, the Great Hall was replicated in film studios to create Hogwart’s Hall.
We did visit the Great Hall with its lovely vaulted ceiling and its windows that feature Alice and other characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It’s a lovely, stately room with long wooden tables and chairs for student dining.

We then wandered through the cloisters in Christ Church, which were first built 1000 years ago. (Apparently monks left the Cloisters 500 years ago.)

About Christ Church Cathedral, which serves as the College Chapel for the College and the cathedral church for the Diocese of Oxford:

- It stands on the site of an ancient Saxon Church, founded in the 8th century by Saint Frideswide, the Patron Saint of Oxford. Nothing remains of the church now but a Saxon cemetery lies under the cathedral cloister, discovered in 1985.

- The present building was constructed in the last quarter of the 12th century as the monastery church for a community of Augustinian Canons.

- The monastery was called St Frideswide’s Priory; inside the church stood an ornate shrine on which were kept the relics of the saint. Pilgrims visited the shrine throughout the Middle Ages, including Catherine of Aragon, who, in 1518, came to pray for the birth of a son.

- In 1524, just prior to the General Dissolution of the Monasteries, Cardinal Wolsey gained permission from the Pope to close down St Frideswide’s Priory to build a vast new college for the university. He planned to include a new chapel for his ‘Cardinal’s College’ but died before the building was completed so the old monastery church was retained.

- When, in 1546, Henry VIII moved the first Bishop of Oxford into the church, he created a unique institution, ‘Christ Church’, for its chapel is also the Cathedral for the Diocese of Oxford.

The Cathedral is lovely, with various nooks and crannies, lovely architecture and stained glass windows. The kids, who were given a scavenger hunt upon entering, had fun looking for various icons and images throughout the place.

From Christ Church we wandered the city a bit, then had our fine DB bus drop us at the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Oxford University Museum Natural History. Both are great collections, Pitt has a ton of stuff in various dim cases – hard to take it all in.

And then we again doubledeckered it to the train station and headed home. Can I just say I much prefer train travel to airplanes? It’s more relaxing, easier in/out and great place to read the paper.

In other news of last week…it was a Banker’s holiday on Monday so we all slept in, did a little shopping, nothing major. Rather nice, actually.

Tuesday was Claire’s orientation, Wed. I escaped to the British Library, catching the Henry VIII exhibit before it leaves on Sunday. Great exhibit, chockfull of so much information. Beautiful, ceremonial documents rich with history. Maps, naval intelligence, documentation supporting Henry’s break from the church, portraits of his family and six wives…busy guy for having died in his 50’s.

On Thursday Ava and I hit Gandophi’s (dancewear place) for another ballet outfit (since she wears hers all the time we need a 2nd option as class starts next week), ballet shoes and ballet socks.

And of course for the shopping trip she dressed in her current ballet costume, complete with poufy skirt and bowties.(Our drycleaner oohed and aahed appropriately at her attire when he saw us on our way out shopping (he was ironing and watching the cooking show. I’m all about the latter, not so much the former).)

Then she proceeded to try on every costume in her size. Let’s just say we were at Gandophi’s for quite some time. She spent the evening modeling and twirling.
After securing a couple items for the uniform collection, we seem to have Ava ready to start her Reception year at Abercorn…and much to the kids’ chagrin, they’ll start swimming lessons on Wednesday.

Over the weekend Joe and I got together with some friends for dinner, and as a family we took advantage of great weather for a picnic and playtime in the park, ice cream at a neighborhood shake and malt place.

(Must take full advantage of sunny, warm days – since our return the weather has definitely been cooler – breezier, gray and I did see orange leaves rustling in the wind last week…I’m in mourning. Send some of that sunny Montana warmth for a few more weeks!!!)