England Day 3: C.S. Lewis is My Homeboy, Hottie Jailbirds, and Badminton Champs!

Today was a very full day, but I got to be a tourist and it was so much fun! Eagle & Child for lunch. This pub is where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their literary club, "The Inklings" would meet every Tuesday to drink, eat, smoke, and talk about philosophy, religion, current events, and their current writings. It was so COOL! Lindz and I actually got to eat in the room that they would meet in. There were pictures of them, copies of their manuscripts on the wall, and a guest book you could sign! This is Lindz sitting by the fire, contemplating our highly educated, and mature entry of "Lindz and Lisa from Illinois. FOR ASLAN AND FOR FRODO!" Yeah. We're cool.


It was also here that I got to taste the traditional English dish of fish & chips, smooshy peas (that is REALLY what they're called!), and tartar sauce. I'll be honest. Everything was so bland! There was no seasoning on the food or the table except vinegar, so I stole some ketchup from the bar, and used that as my seasoning. Overall, the fish & chips were great, but the smooshy peas were not. And I LOVE peas!!! They were a paste. Yuck.
After lunch we headed to Oxford Castle, which was a little ways away from the Eagle & Child. We walked over and were able to latch on to a tour that was just getting ready to go. Thankfully we didn't have the tour with about 25 unruly German schoolkids!

The castle was used as a jail over the last several centuries, even until the early 90's! We toured the castle and turrets, we even were able to go up to the top of a tower (120+ REALLY narrow steps!), and see Oxford from up top. SO COOL! After that they took us to the crypt, where they used to store people who died during the winter and couldn't be buried in the frozen ground. Lindz and I took some time to be instructed by the wax figures that were down there.

There was also a cool story that went along with it. The guide that took our tour around told us that there was a centuries-old legend a ghost of a monk that roamed the hallway in the crypt. Tourists and employees have claimed to see him, but the interesting and most convincing fact is that animals will NEVER go down into the crypt. The guide had worked there for over 15 years, and never once has had a guide dog or service animal ever go down to the crypt. He has watched them refuse to even go near the steps! Weird coincidence . . .

We then saw the cells that housed all the inmates. They were so teeny! I can't believe they housed people for so long! We spent a few hours wandering around the entire place. There were stories of some of the people that were kept in the jail, and mysterious things that happened to them. Lindz and I also got to try out some of the machines that inmates used to work on for hours a day. We also got to try on their stylin' uniforms. Check out how hot we are!
And you should check out the mug shots we took! Lindz missed the memo that we were supposed to be mean criminals!!!!





After our fun at Oxford Castle, we went to FHE at the church, where they were playing badminton! Lindz partnered up with Austin, and I got to be with two other YSA. We did well, but we had to make up rules to help us be competitive! :)