Oxford, and Friends

I made a trip to Oxford on Sunday, to meet up with friends, which was a lot of fun. We met up at the Ashmolean Museum, and spent some time there, admiring their ancient Egyptian collection, which included a rather nice terracotta Hippo, and a rather unusual mummy...

(The feet, as well as the breasts, were gilded, for what it's worth) There was also a fascinating piece of art - a 3D image of a child, based on scans of the mummy  (by Angela Palmer - images here).

After a little more time among the ancient artifacts we headed out for lunch at the Eagle and Child  pub, where Tolkien, CS Lewis, and the other Inklings used to hang out in, back in the 1930s and 1940s. I didn't spot any epic fantasy authors (and as far as I know, neither of my companions was composing a modern classic over the bangers and mash) but we did find some decent beer, and the bangers and mash previously mentioned, which was nice.

The sun came out during the afternoon, and we strolled around the city centre, admiring the architecture (there is quite a lot of architecture in Oxford)

and wandered around Christ Church  Meadow, where we spotted some deer.

There were squirrels, too, but they are less interesting!
We ended the afternoon with coffee and cakes with one of the two 'oldest coffess houses in England' in Oxford.

It was a nice day.