I headed out late morning with a plan to go see the Bridge of Sighs, another of the old beautiful places on Oxford's streets. So, I looked up its location (where Em and I had marked my map earlier) and streets and headed out. Unfortunately, there was really no point in having looked up these directions, as I neglected to use any of them. Before long I found myself aimlessly wandering around without much regard for where I was going. As a result, I eventually found myself at the bridge in the Southeast corner of the city. So, I then had to reevaluate my location to figure out where I had to go.
With all said and done it was still useful to have marks the map, as I did still want to find it. So, I restarted my walk, with fresh directions in mind from my current locale. Before long I reached the Bridge of Sighs. It was pretty awesome, in that old architecture type of way. Spanning the road between two buildings of Hertford College, this bridge is enough to make one sigh. It's underside is a high arched shape, and with the windows matching its curve, would appear that the bridge floor shares the shape. The windows are each tall and narrow, with arched tops. The structure itself made of the same light tan stone that composes most of the Oxford buildings. So, the contrast between it's light color and the darkness it cast on the alley behind with its shadow was quite a sight. Meanwhile, the alley behind it seemed to curve away to the right. While standing inside the alley looking out, the bridge seems to be stretched above the theatre that stood across the street.
Another sight I'd planned to see this morning was the Oxford Covered Market. I'm beginning to see many of these places throughout the world. They serve somewhat as outdoor malls, where there are dozens of store fronts. They are all covered by a thin, almost transparent roof that let's the space continue to feel open, while being sheltered from the elements.
Unfortunately, (despite the large sign saying open on Sundays) the market was closed when I arrived. Luckily, it was open when I got a chance to double back to it later. Emmy was singing in chapel in the evening, and the chapel of Jesus College is perhaps a 30 second walk from the market. So I was able to return and it was indeed open. Unfortunately again though, many of the shops had begun to close down so it was more quiet then it might otherwise have been. That said, I still got a feel for what the area was like. It had shops of all sorts ranging from shoe shops, to cakes shops to ice cream shops. My favorite was the Moo Moo Ice Cream place. That's not all quite its name but the Moos were there. It was pink and painted cow like. It was awesome. Anyway, that was fun.
So I returned to Jesus College's chapel to see Emmy sing. I will admit, I had not thought this out in full as I'd simply not realized it was in a service. That was me just being a bone head. Anyway, the singing was great. I found though, that trying to sing along with the hymns was very difficult. The hardest part for me was that the music and words were written separately from each other. That seemed to make reading both quite a challenge. But, it all worked out and was lovely music.
As for the service, it too was pretty good. I enjoyed the music (as I mentioned) and thought the sermon was also good. I did have some small personal critiques, but for the whole I did think it was good. My favorite part of the entire venture was the pamphlets handed out to follow the service. On the right hand side of each page was the outline of the service. Meanwhile, each left hand page was left as an explanation of what a given section was or why it was part of the service. I enjoyed being able to read those explanations to put more context into the reasoning of the service's parts.
I forgot to mention, prior to the service, the choir got a break. During that time they went over to a lounge where they (and I) had cake munchies. While this was tasty, and served me well... it seemed in my recollection a bad thing to do immediately before preforming. But, it all went well, so no harm, no fowl. Then, after the service, the choir (and myself.... this was a good deal) all went to an upstairs room and were given a glass of sherry. I don't recall ever having sherry before but apparently it's a bit of a thing here. I liked it, and while it may not be the best description.... thought it tasted a bit like white wine meets bourbon. I liked it though, and between the cake and the sherry, the choir seemed to be doing things right.
I joined Emmy again for dinner in the hall with 2 different friends of hers, Teresa and Rassaul (?). They were fun, and both math people... a good type of people indeed! What I had not appreciated is while less formal, meals a t Oxford are always in this fancy dining setup. This evening we were served another 3 courses. First was a Baked Goat's Cheese and Beetroot Salad. The main was Steak and Onion Hot Pot with Mushrooms Saute Potatoes & Vegetables, and the dessert was a Vanilla Panacotta with Poached Blueberries. The food here is really good...
Then, the 4 of us (including Teresa and Rassaul) went the the movie theatre to see the newly released The Adjustment Bureau. It was definitely fun. There were a few times when the "God" reference was made a bit more blatant than it had to be. Not that there is anything wrong with these references, but there were times when I think the effect could have been better were it more subtle.
So I accompanied Em back to her place where we again had some tea and a snack. I munched on yogurt with granola while she made herself some Rosemary bread. I had an early morning, so I left once the bread was finished, but it looked good and smelled awesome. So perhaps I will have a bit this coming night, as for now and for me, it was time for bed.
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