I did go for a long (almost 4 miles) walk today in search of fabric shops in Oxford! I found two online that seemed to be in walking distance. Darn it & Stitch Haberdashery and Sewing is located in City Center near the Town Hall. It was a tiny little shop run by a lovely woman from Japan. I had fun chatting with her and ended up buying 3-fat quarters (if you are a quilter, you know what I am talking about!). The prices for quilting cotton fabric are extremely high for fabric here – almost 17GBP/meter – about $26USD per yard!! Tobey would take my sewing machine away if I paid that much in the States!
After tucking my tiny purchase into my backpack I continued on to the Bombay Emporium. My journey took me past Christ Church and Merton College again. I don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at these beautiful buildings! When I got to High Street I turned right and crossed the bridge over the River Cherwell where you can rent “punting boats.” They are like long pontoon boats and a guide stands in the back and poles along the river while you paddle. Business was slow today! 
I should have considered the name of the shop before making that trek – most of the fabrics they had were silks and beaded. It was fun to see, but nothing I wanted to buy so I started home.
After lunch, Tobey and I walked to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum. The museum was founded in 1860 as the center for scientific study at the University of Oxford. Now, the museum offers free admission and has an incredible collection.
We spent over an hour browsing through the displays on the main floor. It is a very family-friendly place and everything was well-signed.
At the back of the exhibition hall is the entrance to the Pitt River Museum which houses some of the most interesting collections of anthropology and archaeology in the world. We barely saw the first level of the Pitt Rivers Museum which has over 500,000 pieces in its collections! 
We were overwhelmed with the variety and how many items were displayed from around the world. We both commented that if we lived here we would come back over and over and probably never see it all!
We headed back to the apartment around 4pm, but had to stop at Mumu's Gelateria Café on our way home. Tyler said it was Katie’s favorite place for ice cream – and it was wonderful!!! We had a scoop of peanutella and one of coconut – a yummy combination that gave me enough energy to complete the walk home!
Tyler took us by the Hertford Bridge, popularly known as the Bridge of Sighs. It is a skyway joining two parts of Hertford College over New College Lane in Oxford. It was built in 1914 and there is no water under the bridge, like its namesake in Venice!
We all went to Turf Tavern on the east end of City Center for dinner. There is no way we could have found it on our own – we went through a maze of alleyways to get there, but it was worth it. The food was reasonably priced and good. Another good day!
Tomorrow the three of us are heading out to Cornwall for the weekend, hoping to see Tintagel Castle – where the legend of King Arthur is supposed to have begun!
No comments:
Post a Comment