Day 2, Oxford

We've arrived in Oxford!


We did a quick check in at the Bath Place Hotel on Holywell St. It was a perfect hotel (it's so hard to tell what you're going to get with online reservations). Our room was only one flight up a narrow, winding stairway and we had the requested bathroom. Imagine opening the bathroom door to find 2 steps down to the toilet and 2 steps back up to the shower, all in about 4' x 6' of space. Welcome to England!

We wanted to get our bearings so we headed right back out to look around and walked 3 blocks to the center of Oxford where Cornmarket Street, St. Aldates's, Queen Street and High Street come together. From my guide book "Rick Steves' England," I knew about a place with a great view. Carfax Tower is all that is left of a 13th century church and for 99 "easy" steps you can see all around the town from about 7 floors up.

You should know that the historic sights or bed & breakfasts do NOT have elevators and many b&b rooms share a bathroom down the hall (just like we all did growing up, except with strangers).These are not new buildings. (The history of the Bath Place Hotel says it was once a cluster of 17th century cottages built against the outside of the city walls.) Any remodeling to make "en suite' rooms has taken space from the bedroom and squeezed a toilet, sink and shower in the smallest space required for the fixtures (but not to South Florida Building Code standards says my builder husband). The rooms have just what you need--bed, bath, TV and an electric teapot with all the ingredients for tea (even cookies) but no extra space. Forget about handicap accessibility--no place we have stayed or visited in Europe could accommodate a handicapped person.

But 99 steps are not "easy" after traveling for 18 hours from home to hotel. I just had to put one foot in front of the other to get to the top of a tight, circular staircase; now and then stopping for a breathe while Don looked back to make sure I haven't fallen back down the steps. I knew it would be worth it and, WOW, it was!

Don does not like heights but I do so it was wonderful hanging on the railing, looking down at the main streets and just gazing out at the church spires and old buildings everywhere! I read that the University of Oxford was started in the 10th century, so old is good. It was also very cool and windy. I need more clothes! I took pictures from every angle. Of course, we didn't know what we were looking at but that really didn't matter. It was not south Florida!

We found a pub that looked good, ordered a couple of pints of local beer and "pub grub" (just good, basic food) for dinner. Students and locals were sitting all around us, studying, reading the paper or just talking. It was great! But it was an early night for us; jet lag was setting in and we had lots to do tomorrow.