When I was planning this trip, I ran into a lot of trouble finding affordable lodging in Oxford, and so I went with the idea of booking a dorm room for the two nights we are here. The TripAdvisor reviews of this Keble College place were pretty good, and described the dining room in glowing terms and the grounds as palatial. I’ll need to remember to intuit out a little more from reviews like that as they must surely mean something like the rooms are so small and spartan and the beds are so full of springs poking out and the mattresses dip so significantly to the middle that we opted to sleep in the dining room and use the courtyard as a living space. Here’s our digs:
But Oxford itself is beautiful. It’s clearly a university town as there are young people everywhere. Last night at the pub where we had dinner, Germany was playing Sweden in the World Cup on a TV over my head and it was a bit like starring in a play that somehow had a plot line of simply observing my sleep-deprived dexterity with a fork and some really long arugula stalks, audience riveted and cheering for my efforts. Later in the evening, Grace poked her head in the window of another pub to check the score and managed to position her face below that World Cup TV and promptly got dozens of beckons from the the well-lubricated gentlemen in there.
We’re just here for one day and then we head to Krakow tomorrow. I’ve thoroughly vetted the rest of our lodging, I think. Here’s Grace and Ron, in search of dinner last night.
Travels with Valerie 