Once again, we did a lot of walking this week and weekend visiting some of the old haunts of Charles Dobgson (a.k.a. Lewis Caroll) the author of Alice in Wonderland. First, during the week, we took a walk to Christ Church Meadow. Christ Church College is where Charles lived as a don of Mathematics. The stories he wrote were written for the daughter of the school’s Dean, Alice.

On a side note, we have yet to take the tour inside the school, and no doubt will return to do so since Christ Church Hall serves as the set for the dinning hall in all of the Harry Potter.

This weekend we hiked further out beyond the Port Meadow to
visit Binsey. A small village that consisted of about five houses, one church, and of course a pub—but why, you ask, do you hike 3 miles to go there? To visit Treacle Well, of course. Some of you may remember when Alice is having tea with the Mad Hatter, the Door Mouse tells a story of three girls who lived in a Treacle Well. Of course, Alice knows there is no such thing a well full of treacle (kind of a molasses). The well itself resides at the church of St. Margaret. The story goes that the well cured the King of Wessex of his blindness, after he was punished for trying to have his way with Oxford patron Saint, St. Firdeswide. She told him she would cure him only if he left her in peace, the well miraculously appeared and the well water cured the King. The Latin word for medicine sounds like “treacle”, so it was thus dubbed the Treacle Well (giving the Door Mouse his punch line). Aside from the well, the church of St. Margaret’s grounds are beautifully haunting. Several generations of tombstones of the Prickett family reside here (if you’ll recall the Red Queen on the chessboard is the book is Mrs. Prickett). Along side the church is an old farm house with several goats. So, of course, we stopped and visited with them, feeding them some of the fallen leaves outside their wall.

Heading back towards the Port Medow, we turned North and walked along the Thames for another 2 miles to Godstow Lock. Just beyond the lock are the ruins of Godstow Nunnery, founded in 1138. It was also the burial sight of Rosemond Clifford, the mistress of King Henry II.

After roaming around the ruins, we headed up the road to the Trout Inn, a public house that was once a fisherman’s lodge alongside the Thames, built around 1792. Inside (aside from the fantastic and rustic interior) is a bar and restaurant, as well as an inn. We sat down and had some drinks to warm us up and dinner to fill our bellies for the 3 mile walk back home.

It was cloudy most of the day and as we walked home the Meadow was misty with just enough light to see the herds of cows and horses grazing and the river was still and reflective. All in all—the end to a perfect day.

Sunday, was a good and rainy day so we spent most of it inside exploring the over 400,000 items on display at the Pitt Rivers Museum. It is an archeological and anthropological mad house! Everything is categorized by type of item rather than region. There were some amazing textiles, miniatures, as well as, china and pottery. There are also, cases of shrunken heads, magical, and superstitious items—which I found amusing and disgusting. We only toured the bottom floor—we’ll have to go back to finish the upstairs later. I’d have to say, as museums go, this was one of my favorites. The most impressive craftsmanship from all over the world with such interesting stories, I could spend a week in there.

That's about it for this week kids. :) Everyone have a safe and Happy Halloween! I want to see some costume pics!

P.S. Another vid! These guys (The Huckleberries) were performing (a welcome break from the bagpipe guy) on Cornmarket Street this weekend. You'll want to listen to them all day!