"...what the Inklings is meant to have said when Tolkien started reading them 'Lord of the Rings'. They said "Not more flipping elves"

We take the Tube to the Paddington Train Station. Our Oyster Card takes us to the Station, but we have to purchase train tickets. The British train system was privatized in 1997. A round trip to Oxford is about $60 per person and an hour long trip.

We meet a gentleman who advises Betty that Cambridge would have been a better trip. We think he is a Cambridge professor. Our trip is in part to see more of England and a large part because we are huge fans of the mystery series - Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis. We have watched these series for decades.

Obviously, Oxford holds an academic aura. It will be fun to say at parties "I went to Oxford'.

The land around Oxford is wet with small streams and ponds. Oxford is close to the source of the River Thames near Devonshire. The Thames and the Thame merge above Oxford in an area referred to as "Thame-Isis".

There is no exact date for the founding of the University. Teaching may have occurred as early as 1096 and likely was religious oriented. The early teachers were Franciscans. After Henry II banned English students from attending University of Paris, the University grew rapidly.

In 1209, hostilities broke out between students and town peoples. An accident which resulted in the death of a town woman caused three innocent students to be hung. Apparently, this was the beginning of the universal dislike of locals for college students.

When we arrive at the small train station, we decide to do something we have talked about many times and never done. Every city has "on/off bus tours". In general, it is a recommended method to orientate yourself to new city. The buses are double decker. It is a competitive business.

And it makes sense. If you have limited time to view a city, the bus is great. We have about seven hours to experience Oxford. Betty negotiates and the cost is a lot less than major cities.

The bus is outside. We board the bus and the taped tour begins. The weather is changing but it is still comfortable outside. We ride the bus into the town. After about four stops, we exit at High and Queen Streets. We are hungry and have been told to try "The Covered Market".

The Covered Market is a odd mixture of stores and eateries. It is an old building (1774) and surprisingly large. It is not a farmer's market. It is a mixture of small stores. I am guessing a large store is 150 square feet. Some of the businesses have been there for decades. The businesses include jewelry store, butcher shop, produce and a few restaurants.

We chose Brown's. No Yelp. We are hungry and there are tables. Brown's is famous. Popular with locals, students, professors and tourist. It is a family place. You find your own table and receive menus. You walk up to the register to order your meals. It is a family business. You can tell that it is family. Brown's is run by a Portugese family. I am fairly confident that the lady at the register is the mother.

The food is comfort food. The soup was great. The order is brought to your table. Everyone is friendly. The family with two children next to us enjoys. There is a steady stream of customers.

We shop briefly after lunch. It is very cool place.  We walk up Market Street looking for Oxford. It is not easy to feed "The University". As opposed to the United States, where there is the school and then everything else. Oxford University is a loose collections of colleges spread throughout the city.

We find a number of "Authorized" Oxford University stores. I buy a cap and Betty purchased an illustrated book about "Inspector Morse's Oxford". I did say we are big fans.

Wonderful things happen when you do walk abouts. We walk pass an old church built with the solid yellow stone of Oxford. We turn left into a large courtyard and discover the Radcliffe Camera (camera is Italian for "room"). It is an academic library built in 1749. You can view the neo-classical round building, but you must be a student to enter.

Through a passageway, we are in a open grass courtyard that is surrounded by the buildings that include the Bodleian Library, the second largest library in the United Kingdom next to the British Library. Uniquely an independent reference library, the collections is impressive. The range includes Mexican, early Greek New Testament manuscript, copies of the Magna Carta, the Song of Roland, Shakespeare's first folio and Middle English manuscript called The Vernon Manuscript.

Very much a working library, there are no tours. But, there is a Gift Shop.

We see the Bridge of Sighs. It is turning cloudy and the wind is chilly. On the "bucket list" is an English pub and, specifically, an Oxford pub (there goes that Inspector Morse/Lewis thing again). At the end of the passageways and on the corner is Youngs King's Arms Pub. The building and the Pub date to 1607. We stop for a pint. I have a pint and Betty had a half pint. The bitters was very good. It was cool not cold and the taste was a little ale.

A memory that last forever, we are outside on benches drinking a pint and looking at the Sheldonian Theatre. A still active theatre built in 1669 by Christopher Wren.

It is getting late and we begin looking for a "on/off bus stop" in order to see the remainder of Oxford. We discover a great bookstore, Blackwell's. The front of the store hides an enormous bookstore. of course, we investigate.

About 16:00 (4 PM), we jump on the bus. We climb to the top deck. It is getting cold. It is the end of the good weather. We tour Oxford. The architecture changes greatly. There is concrete next to Clipsham stone (the yellow stone common throughout the UK) buildings. Tucked in parking next to fourteen foot double doors. There is a park which closes one day a year in order to remain private.

We finish the bus tour. It has started to drizzle. Since we picked up the bus about half of the way through the tour, we decided to go around one more time. The whole tour is about forty minutes long. It is late and with the weather change, the bus does not stop often which speeds up things

There is The Eagle and Child pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and other literary luminaries of the early 20th century met. There is the house of Charles Lutwidge (Lewis Carroll). There is the little shop that inspired the Old Sheep Shop. There is the Great Hall at Christ Church which has a window dedicated to Alice Liddell ( the Alice in Looking Glass). The Great Hall also is now famous for Harry Potter.

At 17:30 we again pull into the train station. Coffee and a sweet refresh us. The next train to Paddington is at 18:00. We step onto the platform. It is very crowded. We start to think about the next train. Paddington Station is the end of the line - so all trains arrive in Paddington.

Everyone - experienced commuters included - crowd to the middle coaches. We rush to the last coaches. We yell at the conductor to hold the door. The coach has plenty of seats and we settle in for the hour plus ride home. We are on savings time so sundown is after 19:00. It is still dark by the time we arrive to the hotel. Dinner from Waitrose tonight.