Oxford, Darling--Oxford.

On our way back to London yesterday we spent a few hours in Oxford, a quick sprint through the town with one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the world. Standing stately upon its immense and impressive history, the university reeks of class and the authority that comes with that history.

Well. Let me just push my glasses up on my nose here.

Again with the gardens! Love it.

I have to admit that I didn't learn a whole lot about the college/town--mostly I have impressions of beautiful architecture and a couple shots of the (outsides of) places that were used in the filming of the Harry Potter movies--see below for the outside of the library. It costs money to get into a lot of these places, and unless the price was right (free) I wasn't going in. Sorry, Harry Potter fans--I did my best here.

But in those couple of hours I realized that I've become a much more savvy traveler--I have a lot more confidence in my ability to get information about where I am, find places of interest, and be able to get around fairly easily. I have been remarkably non-stressed about being in new places, which is really great for me. I kind of expected that I would be more nervous about going new places than I have been. So I count the trip a success.

In summary, the trip to Stratford was one of the highlights of my stay here in the UK. And we've arrived back in London just in time for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, which begins tomorrow and goes until Monday. Oh, the crowds--my heavens.

Maybe I'll just go back to the country now.