Soaking Up Oxford

This morning, before my last tutorial, Alison and I took a long loopy walk around Christ Church Meadow, and along the Thames, where I snapped this photo. Afterward, I headed off to meet with my tutor, Christine, about my second and final paper of the summer. She and I had a great talk, and I earned an 'A' on the paper! Hooray! Christine also pressed me again about doing more graduate work and urged me to email her anytime if I need anything. Double-hooray!

After an afternoon of working on projects for SAAS, Alison and I walked over to meet Heather Brubaker at the Turf Pub. We walked along Radcliffe Camera, pictured here, beautiful in the twilight.

Here's Ali and me at the Turf Pub.

The evening's prime destination was Jamie Oliver's new Italian restaurant in Oxford. Raised in Cambridge, Oliver's plan is to open his first restaurants in college towns before taking his restaurants to other cities. Here are Heather and Alison outside Jamie's.

Whenever we walk by this restaurant, we see a ten-deep (at least) queue outside the door. We waited about ten minutes outside, then another twenty in the bar, before we enjoyed an amazing (and leisurely; once inside... no rush) meal of bruschetta, polenta crisps with rosemary and sea salt, and various pastas (Alison and I split the "Turbo!" spicy penne and pappardelle with sausage, while Lena and Heather both enjoyed the truffle pasta). We had SO much fun!

Tomorrow morning, Lena departs, first for a week in Italy, then for Baltimore. It's hard to believe another Bread Loaf summer is coming to an end! After breakfast tomorrow, I'll walk with Lena and her stuff to where her bus departs. Fun plans are brewing, however, for the rest of tomorrow: Olympic coverage on the big screen in the Junior Common Room, pleasure books outside at one of my favorite cafes (IN the churchyard adjacent to Radcliffe Camera), and an early evening reception for the seniors (Alison included!) graduating tomorrow.

One last Oxford blog... tomorrow! Have a great day, all!
Melanie