Guest Senior Correspondent MBL, Stroudsburg PA: The brightest kid in our high school class went on to become an Oxford professor. Although we’d occasionally contact each other through the years, I was happily surprised when he showed up one day back in town.

He was there to give a lecture at the local university, and we had an enjoyable lunch together talking about old times. When he left, he told me that if I were ever in Oxford, I should contact him. By coincidence, my wife and I were planning a flight to London in just a few weeks. I happily accepted his invitation.

When we arrived at eight-century-old Oxford after a one-hour train ride from London, my classmate guided us on a tour of the campus buildings and town. We walked in awe through the world’s most famous university.

We admired the classic buildings, including the Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Camera, Ashmolean Museum and the Sheldonian Theatre. We visited various colleges, residence halls, classrooms and many other sites.

Our host invited us to lunch at the University Club (www.club.ox.ac.uk) We were joined at our table by other faculty members, many wearing the traditional black robes and caps of Oxford dons.

In the afternoon, we continued our tour of the campus, including sitting in at several lecture halls on discussions about history, philosophy, science and other academic subjects.

The Eagle and Child, 49 St. Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, UK
nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theeagleandchildoxford. Our host took us to dinner. The 360-year-old pub is a favorite hangout for locals, tourists, students and faculty. Literary figures included J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings) and C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia).

For dinner, we ordered the pub’s famous ale-battered fish and chips with mushy peas . We had chocolate puddle sponge pudding for dessert, along with glasses of Nicholson’s ale. A string quartet played softly in a corner, while a lively quiz show brought laughter and fun for patrons. Cost per person was about $40.

We’ll always cherish the fond memories of our visit with our old schoolmate in the historic university town of Oxford.