We left early in the morning for the Eurostar to London. The only discernible differences between it and the other trains were; going through customs and the transit lounge at the start of the trip, and the 15 minutes of darkness near the end.
We arrived in St Pancras then caught the tube to Paddington where we encountered our nemesis: stairs. We struggled manfully with the bags and made it in time to catch the train to Oxford.
The train travel was smooth and uneventful, however once we arrived in Oxford, we faced that terror that all long range tourists must face after weeks on the road: the laundromat.
Our avuncular taxi driver admitted that very few laundromats were left in Oxford, so he drove us to the one he used to scam 50p coins from.
So, our first experience of Oxford was sitting in a laundromat that David Lynch would have found too depressing to film. We were joined by Col, an American, also on his 10th wedding anniversary, so he kept us company during the final spin cycle.
A cab to the hotel which was right in the heart of Oxford (good) but up several sets of narrow stairs (bad). Fortunately they had staff to help us with our bags, but the staff were not apparently available to ferry us down to the street and back.
Oxford!
I found a sim for my phone and we somehow stumbled into Waterstones (which was preparing for the launch of the next JK Rowling book) where we, somehow, managed to walk out with just one bag of books.
We were opposite the college that Lord Peter Wimsey attended (along with a lot less fictional luminaries) and we found his regular drinking hole (at the other side of the block.)
L, as can be imagined, was in heaven.
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