Messing about in boats

It was a Wind in the Willows experience Tuesday, as I travelled to Windsor on the local bus that winds through Windsor Great Park. Amazing views. Luckily I had visited Windsor Castle before, as I didn't feel like walking through a no doubt badly ventilated castle at the height of the tourist season. So I got an ice-cream and took a river cruise down the Thames. There was a nice breeze and I drifted along past Eton boatsheds and under bridges and watched little barges pass us by. The view of Windsor castle on the way back was spectacular as you can see.

In the evening we went to a local Chinese restaurant for an enormous banquet. Luckily EJ, who is the workshop organiser, is a vegetarian so we had all sorts of unkown but delicious vegetarian foodstuffs. I had a nice evening talking with Emily who is a former student of Hughs and getting to cuddle with her baby.

I spent yesterday morning walking around the forests of Silwood trying to find the old farmhouse that we lived in when we were here 15 years ago. After achieving success, Hugh and I left on the train for Oxford and our wedding anniversary celebrations. We were just able to get to Oxford University Press before it shut to pick up copies of Hugh's new book which was exciting. We had a drink in the Lamb and Flag pub which is where I had my first job when we lived in England 25 years ago. Lots of nostalgia.

We had a lovely dinner (pictured above) in a quaint restaurant called the Old Parsonage and had lots of fun listening in on the other diners. On one side we had a guy that sounded exactly like Carson from 'Queer eye for a straight guy' and who was beautifully dressed in a sage green linen suit. The other table was full of Hooray Henrys who kept on talking about William and Harry and it sounded awfully like the royal ones. It was really funny and kept us entertained until I had to concentrate on my yummy dessert called "Eton Mess". It is a mixture of crushed meringue, strawberries and of course - double cream! It was to die for.

It is hard to believe but Oxford is even better than I remembered it. We are staying in St John's College Alumini Guest Rooms which are very elegant and located next to the house where we had our wedding reception. From our window I can see the Cupola in the garden where we had wedding photos taken. It is really incredibly romantic and the honey-coloured buildings look beautiful in the sunshine. I am very happy to be back here.