Reading Away From Home

St. Andrews has a fabulous institutional invention they call "Reading Week," where students who aren't bogged down with their workload fly away to ski in some glamorous European destination, and students who wish to catch up on reading and research have a quieter town and library.

This year, a few friends and I ventured down to London to do some reading in the British Library, and then I journeyed over to Oxford (city I love above all others) to enjoy some rare manuscripts in the Bodleian.

Upon arrival in London, the girls and I visited the largest toy store in the UK, which was swamped with people and, of course, toys.


On Sunday, because the British Library was closed, we took a train journey to Hampton Court, former home of Henry VII and some other well-known monarchs.

The wine cellar:

The Great Hall, in which some of Shakespeare's plays premiered, I believe:

Possibly the most amazing bed I have ever seen in my life:

I think this is the more modern wing of the house, built by William and Mary more than a century later:

Part of the enormous gardens:

The tree on the right has enormous clumps of mistletoe:


Because I happened to be in London only a few days after Guy Fawkes Day, I had a chance to see some marvelous fireworks in Victoria Park with an old friend (and many new friends, most of whom kindly put me up at their home for a few days).


The weekend over, I settled down to work (taking a break one evening to watch the new cast of Les Mis put on a fine, if slightly less-polished, production).

On Wednesday, I was off to Oxford, city of my love and dreams and a home away from home. That this half the trip was marvellous despite the very little sleep I had each night should tell you how much I love this city and the amazing manuscripts it holds in numerous libraries.

The Old Bod, where I spent most of my last trip (though the manuscripts department has unfortunately moved since then):


I had supper the first night with a good friend (randomly also in Oxford) in the pub where the Inklings once met. My second day in the city was also Remembrance Day, celebrated with two minutes of silence in the reading rooms (differentiated from the other silence only by the ringing of a small bell!) and a trip to the amazing Christ Church College Cathedral, where I had a chance to hear Mozart's Requiem performed live by a rather amazing choir.


On Friday, I caught the sleeper train home . . .



(I think Isaac may have missed me).