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Dan and I had took a day trip into Oxford yesterday. I realised that after living in the area for about 8 years, I had never been into Oxford to do the tourist thing. That is a huge shame because it is a city that needs exploring, as we discovered. During the day we went to the recently refurbished Ashmolean, took the city bus tour, and visited the Museum of the History of Science where they had a Steampunk exhibition. Towards the end of the day we headed to the castle where Dan decided that it was perhaps a little too spooky to do the tour. We did enjoy a nice drink and cookie in the cafe though. The Ashmolean was fantastic. It recently underwent a £61,000,000 refurbishment and, I have to say, it is money that was very well spent. As well as having the fantastic antiquities on display they have also built a few interactive items for the kids to enjoy. You would not believe how much value a scaled down crossbow adds to a kid's enjoyment of a museum visit. (By the way, this was Dan's idea. This term his class are talking about Rome and the Roman occupation of Britain and there will be a field trip to the Ashmolean in April or May.) My only regret about the Ashmolean is that we did not spend more time there. A child-free visit required at some future point, I think. After lunch it was time to hit the bus tour. Is there anything more tourist-y that you can do in a city? The city bus tour was something else that Dan really wanted to do. And to be honest, so did I. Guilty pleasures and all that. We were not disappointed. The tour guide on the bus was brilliant. The amount of information that she had on Oxford during the tour was amazing. I thought that Dan was going to be a little bored but the opposite was true. He summed it up as "Brilliant!" From a value for money perspective it seemed expensive. However given that the ticket lasts 24 hours and that you can hop on and off the bus at the designated stops, it becomes pretty good value if you use it to get around Oxford through the day. (Cost was £12 adult, £6 child. I know.) Finally we went to the Museum of the History of Science. They have a Steampunk exhibit running until February 21st and, if you are in the are, I can highly recommend it. To being with Dan was mostly bored by the museum itself. But when we hit the Steampunk exhibition he was enthralled. We both loved it and, even though it is not the largest exhibit in the world, I highly recommend a visit. The museum was the perfect place to host it and, full disclosure, I think I fell in love with the place. It reminded me of a time where elegance and function where important considerations. I can see how a steampunk lifestyle can be attractive to some people. Not quite my thing but I do appreciate the elegance. Once through the Steampunk exhibit we found that museum staff were helping kids to make handheld zoetrope style moving pictures. Dan loved that, and I loved the chance to take a look at the cameras they had on display. Win/Win! To finish the day we headed over to Oxford Castle. We were going to take a look around but it failed Dan's "too spooky" test. Instead we sat down for a drink and a cookie before dragging our tired feet home. All in all a fantastic day, and we only scratched the surface.