In which I 'meet' my favourite celebrity

Warning: This post contains excessive fan-girling. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Exactly one week ago I was in Oxford. We took the bus to Oxford the evening of the 10th and, because Jonathan and Rachel knew a tutor at St. John's there, we got to stay overnight at St. John's college. After a minor fiasco where we lost the cell phone and Jonathan went to find it and therefore had to take a later bus, we all settled into our rooms and as Rachel put Miranda to bed, Jonathan and I made our way down the street to the Bird and the Baby. Yes, you could see it from the entrance to St. John's.

When I walked in I could just see the Inklings sitting in a corner, C. S. Lewis with a beer in hand and a smile lighting across his face, Warnie sitting next to him, and Tolkien reading aloud an excerpt from the Lord of the Rings with a pipe in his mouth. Sigh. The Rabbit Room, where they sat, is no longer the back room and is more the middle of the pub. And it was completely packed, even though it was about 8:30 at night. We had to stand around waiting for a while just to wait for a table to open up. I occupied myself by looking around at all the plaques on the wall commemorating them.

Why yes, that IS me sitting in the Eagle and the Child with a camera WB that was totally off.

My fish and chips. And Tartar sauce. And mayo. And mushy peas. What's with mushy peas? I ate them, but that's one British food I'm glad they don't have in America.

Yes, the food was good. No, it wasn't as good as other pub food I had, but I think it was the best pub supper I had. Because it was the Eagle and Child, of course. My pictures of the Rabbit Room (below) aren't the greatest because it was crowded and dark and I was too far away for flash to be of any use. We sat a little ways to the right and back from there, but we could still see it from where we were sitting.

The Rabbit Room

Me again :)

The next day I led Jonathan, Rachel, and Miranda on a whirlwind tour of as many Tolkien and Lewis sites as I possibly could in the few hours we had.

One of many Tolkien houses we searched out. The only one that had a plaque or marking on it.

One of the churches Tolkien attended

The other church Tolkien attended in Oxford- St. Aloysius Catholic Church. And yes, the picture is crooked.

22 Northmoor Road, where Tolkien lived from 1925- 1930

20 Northmoor Road where Tolkien lived from 1930- 1947

Holy Trinity Church where C. S. Lewis attended and outside of which he is buried

The Narnia window which is impossible to get a good picture of.

The inside of Holy Trinity

50 St. John's St., another Tolkien house. Yes, if he was alive I would be considered a stalker.

Where Tolkien worked on the dictionary. Now the building is a museum for the history of science.

The Radcliffe Camera which Tolkien decided looked like Sauron's temple to Morgath on Numenor. I'm thinking he didn't like the way this looked... :)

But really, the climactic moment of the day came early, during the 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. slot in which we rented a car and drove out to see some of the places outside of walking distance. For it was then that we went to Wolvercote Cemetery and I came as close to meeting Tolkien as I will this side of heaven.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words. I hope that's the case because I can't put into words what it was like to stand there, by my two favorite authors.

I had more pictures from Oxford- we went to Magdalen college and Pembroke, and the Kilns, and I have pictures from St. John's, but this post is getting pretty long, so I will try to get the rest of the trip posted about within the next couple of days. We shall see what tomorrow brings. :)

P.S. We had our annual Valentine's tradition yesterday, since I was gone the 14th. I'm not sure when I'll get around to posting about it, but since my mom already did you can read it there.

P.P.S. And because we were in a semi-romantic mood because of the dinner, Ellie and I stayed up way too late concocting Dear Boys posts about obscure movie characters. Go read her post here and see how many of the guys you can name. If you can get all of them, you are my kind of person. :) And you pay way too much attention when you're watching movies. Congrats. :) Maybe in my next post I'll reveal who they are.