another pub added to my list of favorites: the perch

for my day off last week i decided to go on a long walk and get far far away from tourists (it was a saturday, and oxford is full of tourists on saturdays - italian, spanish, japanese, and americans, mostly - i think tour buses come here for a day trip from london) and far far away from our students.  i had a really delicious sushi lunch with some coworkers and then set off with my ipod and a book.  i decided to walk through port meadow, public grazing space in oxford, to a pub called the perch (click "history" to learn more about port meadow, if you're interested).  the pub is accessible by car and road, as well, but it seems much more exciting when it just appears down a path in the middle of port meadow.  so that's the way i got there.  i'd seen the signs before, but never ventured down the path and to the pub.  here's port meadow, or rather, some clouds above port meadow:

40 minutes or so after i set off from our college in oxford, a sign indicates the way to the pub - at this point you are literally in the middle of pasture land, walking along a dirt path next to the thames river:

the path is gorgeous - covered in green:

and you emerge and can see the back garden of the perch, which was SPECTACULAR.

you go inside to the bar and order a drink - i had a ginger beer, which was so gingery it made my lips tingle - and then find a seat inside or at one of the dozen or so picnic tables scattered about the back garden.  there is a playground for kids and a stand where you can order barbecue.  i just sat in this garden in what felt like the middle of nowhere, and had a drink and wrote postcards and read my book and was totally at peace.  one of those moments where you think, "i'm pretty happy to be a human being on this planet right now."  (do you guys have those moments?  i definitely have those moments.)

my picnic table was under a huge willow-like tree.  if i was 5, this tree would have been the coolest thing i'd ever seen.  at 27, it was close.  the branches hung down to the ground all the way around the circumference, so under the tree you felt like you were in your own little universe.

after an hour and a half or so of reading and people-watching and writing, i set off through port meadow to the city of oxford again.  i kept thinking: i wish someone from home were here so i could share this with them.  pubs here are already such a different experience than going to a bar in the US (mom/dad/beck: get excited), and this is a really special pub.  (trivia!  what is "pub" short for?)  so, even though it's cliche to say: wish you readers were here!