A college older than America & First night of Clubbing - July 5th

Wow, so jet-lag for this trip has been hitting Loyd and me hard. We both woke up at 4:30AM yesterday after going to bed around 1 AM. Crazy.

After watching the minutes go by like hours - 7 AM finally arrived. We walked down to the breakfast bar and were the first ones there. We were absolutely wired. We ate and headed back to the room to get ready.

Our original plan was to go to Portobello (or Portobello road as they call it in Bed knobs and Broomsticks). Late last night, Livia emailed another idea - visiting Oxford, her Alma mater.

We met up with Livia at 930 and we were on our way. The drive to Oxford is about an hour and a half. The drive was stunning, at one point the highway opens up to flowing meadows with sheep grazing. It was a sight to see.

So the tour began, at Livia's college - St. Catherine's. The system at Oxford a little differently than I have ever seen. There are 39 colleges within Oxford and as a student you apply to one of those school for entry. Some school specialize in certain subjects but a student can study any subject in any College. When you graduate, the diploma only says Oxford.

St. Catherine's college is the newest of the 39 schools and the architecture was pointedly different than any of the others. It was designed to have a very diverse population of students so their quad was very level and made it feel that everyone standing at any point on it were at the same level. Cool concept.

We continued onto to a few more colleges and were astounded by every one. The most amazing thing is that many of these colleges are older than the US itself. Think about that for a second...
Also a cool thought is that about what some of these building have survived. The architecture of these schools is incredibly preserved and the history the walls have witnessed seems to seep out from every nook and crannie.

Livia's tour guiding skills are second to none. It was information overload for part of the time but her weaving in personal stories made the tour stick. We stopped in for lunch inside the small market in town, The aura and smells reminded me of Pike's Place in Seattle. After the great meal, we continued on our tour for the next few hours. For the day we must have walked 5-6 miles, it was great. The weather cooperated for the most part but there were some rain showers mixed in.

The overall experience of Oxford was amazing. The great minds that have passed through those halls is incredible. On our way home both Loyd and I passed out. We were so finished from this jet-lag.

We came back to Livia's house and relaxed some more. They are amazing hosts, but they refused to let Loyd and I do anything. I hope at some point in the future I will get to host them.

So we decided to head out to a club in London where some of Livia's friends from her Israel trip were meeting up, the same tripwhere I met her. The club was called Sway and it was amazing. The music blasted in two different rooms and it was PACKED. We danced the night away listening to some of my all-time favorites like Bon Jovi and Nirvana, they even mixed a little of the Techno I love from Israel. The night was a blast.

One weird thing did happen as we left the bar. I had a sudden thought that I should check that I have all my credit cards. I pulled out Omi's wallet I am using on this trip and realized my AMEX was missing. I clearly remembered putting it away. Loyd and I went back into the bar and there it was, sitting behind the bar. I generally don't believe in any spirits or divine intervention bu there was something weird about last night. There really wasnt a clear reason for me to check my wallet but I did. Makes me wonder...

Overall - the 1st full day of our trip was amazing. Here is to 8 more weeks of this!