England, Day 8

This was our last full day in England. I started the day with a screaming hot, then frigid cold shower. Instead of our usual breakfast in our room we ventured into town to try Betty's. Not to be confused with Betty's tea room in York. It was a tiny place with one customer who was most likely the owner. We decided to walk a little further and found another place, Carly's Cafe, that was slightly larger but with a few more customers. We had a traditional English breakfast of fried egg, toast, ham, sausage, hash browns and tea. The egg and tea were great. The rest was not the best and the hash browns were just like potato cakes from Arby's (only more greasy). We met Hazel at the bus stop around 10:30am. We were heading to Oxford. The bus ride was just over an hour and we headed to a cafe for tea just off our bus stop. We ordered tea and coffee and a trio of pudding cakes which included spotted dick (heehee), and two different kinds of chocolate cakes. We poured cream over all three and dug in. Spotted dick is a yellow cake with soft raisins--thus the spotted reference and it was fantastic. After tea and cakes we walked around and I resumed my annoying American picture taking behavior.


Hazel suggested a tour bus might be the best method to see and hear about the history of Oxford. We boarded the traditional double-decker bus. It was a cold day so all the inside seats were taken. Hazel and I were brave enough to grab seats outside. There was one other Asian guy on the seats next to us (with a huge camera!). We were given headphones to hear the tour guide. She was incredibly funny and knowledgeable about Oxford.

Charleston, South Carolina has Rainbow Row. Turns out Oxford, England does as well.

Some of the pictures are a little blurry. I took them while the bus was moving. The tour guide talked really fast so it was difficult to take a picture and know the story behind that building, church, etc.

I did catch the story about this pub, The Eagle and Child. Authors C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to have coffee here. Lewis Carroll lived in Oxford most of his life. He taught at Oxford University, which is made up of dozens of colleges, until his death.

Mom took this shot from the front of the bus. There were so many people walking around. We got off the bus after about an hour in desperate need of lunch. We went in a few places but they were small and didn't have any soup (we desperately needed soup!) or a bathroom. We finally decided to go back to the restaurant where we had tea and spotted dick (heehee). We all had delicious cream of chicken soup with bread and tea. By the time we made it back to the bus station to head to Hillingdon it was 3pm. We got back to Hillingdon around 4:30. Mom, Susan and I walked over to the tube station to return our oyster cards for a refund. We actually got a good amount back. Then we headed to the guest house to freshen up and get ready for dinner at the carvery. Doug picked us up and we met Joan and Paula at the carvery, Tobey's.
Mom collects Tobey mugs and they several so I had to take her picture with them.

The carvery (called a carvery because they have three meats you can choose from and you say how much you want, the chef then carves the portion and places it on your plate) was very warm and decorated with lots of nostalgia (similar to Applebees). The meats to choose from were gammon (ham), beef and turkey. I had gammon and beef, peas, Yorkshire pudding (similar to a popover), cauliflower and carrots all covered in beef gravy. They had at least three gravys to choose from. The food was wonderful and I was so full but I had to try treacle sponge pudding. It was delicious! It's warm yellow cake covered in crystallized syrup which you then pour warm pudding over. Sooo good!
This is everyone at dinner. Clockwise from left: Paula, Doug Hazel, me, Mom, Susan, Joan.

Everyone was so sweet and gave us chocolates and souvenirs to remember our trip. The chocolates have disappeared (can't imagine what happened to them!). We left the carvery around 10pm and headed back to get some rest before our flight back to the States.