Lucky #13: Update

During our 13th month in Lux, Russ was invited to go on Amazon's interviewing trip to the London Business School. So, off we went to the UK, even though we'll be back there again in a few moths, cuz hey, his plane ticket was free! We went a couple days early and spent the weekend in Oxford.

This is what Oxford looks like: tradition and history. I asked if Russ thought going to school in robes and impressive buildings would make people take class more seriously. He thought you'd get used to it, same as any other university.

For the record, there were no dragon statues at my university.

Or Harry Potter filming sites. Or swords stuck in stones.

Oxford also walloped my university in the category of Places Likely to Cause Nerdy Glee. Here's a great example: we stepped out the back door of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, and there, just across the alley, we found a lion-faced door. The door was bracketed by a pair of fauns and lit by a single lamp post. Local legend says that C. S. Lewis stepped into that very same alley on a snowy evening decades ago, and there began Narnia.

Aslan the Lion King, Mr. Tumnus the faun, and Lucy Pevensie's lamp post.

In case that wasn't nerdily gleeful enough for you, we also spent an afternoon at The Eagle and Child, the pub where the Inklings, a writing club including C. S. Lewis and personal favorite J. R. R. Tolkien, met each week to have a pint and discuss their writing.

Eagles play a roll in several of Tolkien's books. The sign above the pub's door made me

wonder if this is where he got his idea. :)

And in case you're still not impessed with Oxford, I've got just one more word for you: DINOSAURS.

My university has museums, but we are sadly lacking in Tyrannosaurus Rexies.

At the end of the weekend, we took the bus to London, where Russ's work had booked us a room at Park Plaza Sherlock Holmes (squee!). Russ set about several days of interviewing potential Amazonians, and I set about several days of marching around London.

One of my favorite finds this time was in Notting Hill. I had paused near a corner, and was frankly staring off into space, when I realized the window display I was staring at was full of PopTarts, Goldfish Crackers, and Cheez-its. I blinked, but the shockingly American junk food stayed firmly in place. And that's when I read the awning:

Whoot, my friends. WHOOOOOOT!

But the best part of the whole trip, was the night Russ and I went to see "Matilda."

I had heard good things, but wow, guys. Guys. This was awesome. We had great seats, and the show was clever, funny, and beautiful. I spent multiple musical numbers with my mouth hanging open. And Trunchbull? Holy moley. Next time you're in London, blow off Lion King and go see Matilda.

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Back in Lux, we'd circled back to the time of year when people start piling dead Christmas trees out in the middle of fields. Beurgbrennen. It was fun to start reliving events from our first year in Lux, and this holiday is a personal favorite.

We met the Packers and the Mullins out in Tetange, ate steak sandwiches in the tents, bought torches, and then braved a complete downpour to join the torchlight procession through town.

See the wooden structure in the top left? It's stuffed full of Christmas trees.

Did I mention it was raining?

The purpose of Beurgbrennen is for all the townspeople to get together and start a massive bonfire to burn out winter. (They don't mess around with groundhogs in Luxembourg. They're a tad more aggressive.) This year, however, winter was not going quietly. The rain had soaked the trees in the wooden structure, and it took a lot of time and effort to get the fire to light.

Eventually, they got it going.

However, I'm not going to lie to you... I think attempting to oust winter in February in Europe is a little overzealous. Let's just say I haven't broken out my flip flops quite yet.

#star #travel #update