Thursday with Lisa in Oxford

Cousin Lisa (my mom's sister's youngest daughter, aka my cousin) made it to the UK without incident this past Tuesday. She enjoyed some time exploring London with her tour group, and then made a day trip to Oxford on Thursday. I met up with their group while they were on on the Oxford Walking Tour and could spot Lisa right away with her long hair and cute hat! Here she is just leaving the Bodleain Library and into the courtyard of the famous Oxford Radcliffe Camera.

After briefly meeting her professor and the tour guide, we were granted permission to take off on our own and hang out in Oxford. I could give her the same tour with more fun girlie notes anyway! We enjoyed combing the main streets of Oxford for some cute summer dresses and Oxford souvenirs. There was still time to visit the requisite Christ Church College - seeing the Harry Potter dining hall and beautiful church within the college. We had shopping success in the Covered Market and British high street shops, and of course the Oxford University souvenirs shops as well.

We popped into the local downtown pub, which everyone likes found down a hidden alleyway, the Turf pub. Found a nice table outside and had a bit of brew on tap. Then we walked home (30 min) to Kelly & Brian's flat in North Oxford. Saw Brian's office building and his college (Keble) along the walk. Lisa was getting pretty tired, as she had only been in the country for two days without much downtime so far. So finally was a chance to relax a bit at the flat!

We went for a nice dinner just up the road in our neighborhood (Summertown) at a place called Portobello. Great food, but typical slow British service. So was time to get Lisa home so we could Skype with her parents Bob and Diane (so fun on video!) and so she could call her boyfriend (I'm pretty sure he's official boyfriend status now) Gordon (who is a doll according to the pictures and stories I heard from Lisa!). :)

Lisa was able to spend the night with me in Oxford, which was great for a girls night (Brian was in the US for a conference). I think she enjoyed having a room to herself instead of sharing with 3 others from her tour group. I'm pretty sure she slept well that night!

More fun was had Friday in London and a new blog post on that coming soon!