It took me a while to get this post up because I went to Oxford two days before flying to Utah. I recently got permission to use the libraries at the University of Oxford to do my research, so I went to get a card and look around.
After the library, I headed to Oxford Castle, which I'd been hoping to see but hadn't had time the other times I'd been to Oxford. This is the view from Castle Mound. The tower of Oxford Castle is one of the oldest buildings in Oxford, built around 1000 AD. The rest was added over time, and can you believe this was an actual prison until 1996??
And here's the view of Castle Mound from the top of Oxford Castle's tower. Castle Mound used to be an earthen fort.
And the view of much of Oxford from the top of the tower, with many churches and colleges visible.
One of the cells. At one time, these cells could hold up to 30 prisoners each. Our tour guide packed our group of 20 people in just to show us how cramped it was, and we hadn't even reached the limit yet.
Our guide then took us down to the castle crypt. In the back right corner in this picture is where a ghost is commonly seen by workers and visitors.
Before I went home I had some dinner and ate with a this view of the oldest building in Oxford, a Saxon church built slightly before the tower of Oxford Castle. It was closed by then, but I'll be back.
A couple days later, I flew back to Utah for my brother Matt's wedding. I got there on a Friday, so about a week before Matt and Whitney's wedding. I spent my time between them and seeing friends before my family got there on Monday, then I was just with them. It was great to have everyone together and do a lot of fun stuff. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have the whole time I was there, but I do actually have one with me in it at Stewart Falls, with my sister Tamara and two of her kids, Sara and Sicily.
The day after Matt's wedding, my brothers and I (except Matt, of course) went shooting with Mark's father-in-law. One highlight was that I finally got to shoot an AK-47, which doesn't seem to kick as much as people had told me, but it is as inaccurate as I had heard. I won't write too much more, but I'm glad I got to spend some time with my old friends for almost two weeks after Matt's wedding and my family all had to get back to work and responsibility...
But, there were a few great things I have to mention. I drank root beer. A lot of it. And creme soda. One day Kevin and I suddenly decided to make a zombie movie, so we made one the next day. It's terrible, but we got out of it what we wanted. I played basketball and ultimate frisbee. I discovered with my friends that "How I met your Mother" is amazingly (awesomely) hilarious. I played laser tag at the nickelcade (and played other games at the nickelcade, sorry Andrew). And, of course, walked around BYU a couple times.
Basically, it was a great, long vacation and now I need to finish my masters thesis. And visit more of Europe.
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