A really nice Saturday

Today I got to see Lizzie, my friend and flatmate from Scotland! She went to Oxford for her undergraduate degree before I met her at Edinburgh, so she was coming down to see both us and some friends from school. It was great to see her again. I saw her last when I visited her in Edinburgh in 2002 right when David and I started dating (I used her computer for e-mail quite a lot!) so it neat for her to meet the famous David.

We met Lizzie for lunch at ASK, a great Italian place (Brendalee, you know it well), and did lots of catching up. After getting a degree in Literature at Oxford, she got one in Law at Edinburgh, where I met her. She is now almost finished with her traineeship and will soon be a qualified lawyer. She is going to argue in court in two weeks for the first time. I'm so darn proud of her. She also mentioned that her parents have a house on a Scottish island and they want more people to use it. Hmmm!

After lunch, we walked down towards Christ Church Meadow. It was actually a really pretty day - windy but sunny and quite spring-like. For awhile, anyway! On the way, we walked through Christ Church College and took tourist photos in the courtyard (above).

then went up to the famous Harry Potter dining hall, as Lizzie had never been inside despite her years at Oxford. It was slightly less crowded than usual, and nicely set out for an upcoming dinner. It's such a beautiful and impressive room.


We headed from there out to Christ Church Meadow and walked along the river. David and I had never been down that way, and it was really beautiful! We saw the rowing boathouses (on the right of the first photo), the boardwalk where people watch the boat races along the river, and got up close and personal with some lovely swans. They may have been young ones, as they were very fuzzy and had some grey feathers.



We headed to the Head of the River pub, which is a great place right on the river. It becomes hugely crowded during boat races, as you might imagine. We sat outside for awhile and it was quite glorious.
But soon, the weather took a swift turn for the worse. Wind came up, clouds came over, and cold rain began. So everyone that was sitting outside crammed into the small pub, and we finished our drinks standing up. By the time we left, though, the rain and stopped and the sun was out again.

Lizzie is spending tonight in a guest room in Keble College (the brick one I've taken lots of photos of before), and Lizzie took us into Keble chapel, which I've been meaning to see for awhile. Like the rest of the college, it was unique and beautifully decorated. Quite colorful. It was very dark so I didn't take any photos, but I'll go back soon to take some and tell its interesting story.

We asked to see Lizzie's guest room, and it was really cute, with dark wood furniture. Aside from its small size, it was way better than our place! Then Lizzie headed off for the get-together with her Oxford friends, and we walked back home through the park. It was such a nice afternoon, both in getting to catch up with Lizzie and in seeing some new parts of beautiful Oxford.