April 29: Oxford

Today was our day to visit Oxford.  We visited the covered market, did a walking tour of the colleges, had a wonderful lunch, and had a too brief visit to the Ashmolean Museum.

 

Christ Church College, Oxford.

We thought we had finally run afoul of the weather when we awoke to heavy rain for our day in Oxford.  We had been warned that if we left before nine, we would still arrive just before ten, but by 8:30 we were washed, fed, and dressed, so we decided we would join the queue.  I was driver on the way in, and it was relatively smooth sailing, directly to the Pear Tree Park and Ride.  We had really done our homework last night, and knew exactly what to pay and where to park, so we sailed into Oxford relatively stress-free.

It was still raining heavily as we walked down the high street, and we knew we were about to go on a two hour tour, so we hurried in the  Edinburgh Tartan Shop and bought folding umbrellas – touristy ones that would be a memento.  Armed for the weather, we ventured out once more in search of the tourist information centre.  

As we got our bearings, we wandered through the covered market, first established in the Eighteenth Century.  We were impressed by a cake shop, that had reproductions of famous buildings, and of Alice in Wonderland (the 150^th anniversary is this year.) By the time we had wandered out of the covered market and found our tour, the rain had stopped, and our umbrellas are still virgins.

The covered market.  We visited tree times -- just before it opened, on our tour, and just after it closed!

A cake in the shape of the Sheldonian Theatre.

We had chosen our guided tour from Trip Advisor, and it was a rather unusual “free tour”.  They advertise it as free for a two hour tour, and then one pays what one feel the trip is worth.   It really was worth the ten pounds we paid (we researched what other companies charge, which is £9 - £9.50).  Our guide, Tom (Kathleen thinks he looks like a young Brad Pitt) was excellent and really knew his stuff.  He speaks  -- and walks --  quickly, and goes off on tangents, and I was just thinking that his teaching style was like my own, when Kathleen leaned over and said, “I think that if our personalities were blended, and we were twenty-five years younger, and male, we would be just like him.”  Perhaps that is why I enjoyed his humour and the information so much.  

We began by having Oxford itself explained to us – back in the covered market.  Oxford began as a market town, and became a centre of teaching around 1000, and gradually became a strange conglomeration of colleges, which together form the University.  There has always been a tension between `town and gown`, and apparently exists to this day.  

Tom also explained that the stereotypes of Oxford are that the people are eccentric, posh, and bound by traditions that sometimes make no sense.  We kept getting evidence of these three “facts” as we walked along.

 

Pembroke College from Christ Church Meadow

Each college has a church with a spire, and Tom could instantly identify each spire.  We saw the large Balliol College, Christ Church College (home to Lewis Carroll), Pembroke (home to J.R.R. Tolkien) and Magdalen College (pronounced “Maudlin”, and home to Oscar Wilde.  

Radcliffe College

 We also saw some of the buildings that are important to the University as a whole, including the Bodlian library, the examination hall, the Sheldonian Theatre, and the Radcliffe Camera.  We were treated to several amusing stories on the fellows of Radcliffe College, where only fellows (usually peers) are admitted.

The Radcliffe Camera, where Lewis and Hathaway eat their sandwhiches.

Everywhere we looked there was something we were dying to photograph – but the pace didn’t allow for much photography.  Our tour finished with the story of the Oxford Martyrs, and Thomas Cranmore, who died for his Protestant beliefs in the reign of Queen Mary and changed the course of history.  (Is it wrong that when I saw the monument, I immediately recognized it from an episode of Endeavour?)

Bodlian Library with its four different orders of columns.

William Herbert, believed to be Shaeksepare's very good friend.

After the tour, Kathleen and I went back for a few pictures, and then went into the Sheldonian Theatre, which is where graduations and honorary degrees are granted.  We especially liked the toilets on the bottom floor – our first in Oxford.  The real treat is the tower, where one can look across Oxford and see the spires of the city.

The beams of Sheldonian Theatre, erected in 1668.

Door to the examination hall.  Now they write exams in rooms off the high street.  No matter which college one attends, all candidates taking a subject write the same exam, and their transcript just says "Oxford".

View from the roof.

We had a marvellous lunch at Bill’s, recommended by Tom, and then headed over to the Ashmolean Museum.  To our horror, it closed at 4:30 – and it was already 3 when we got there!  Good thing it was free, we thought.

The Martyrs of Oxford Memoiral.

The Ashmolean is a world class museum of the art of civilization across time and across cultures.  I was interested to see the exhibits from pre-dynasty Egypt – something I know little about, and to see the quality of the Classical exhibits.  As I told Kathleen, Ian would just plotz!

The Scupture Gallery, which includes the tomb of Germanicus.

Pre-dynasty Egyptian statues, phalluses missing.

Super cool Irish horns - pre-historic.

In the cast room, there is an interesting project where ancient statues have been analyzed and the pigments used to paint them identified.  They made plaster casts of the statues and then painted them as they believe they really looked.  Kathleen didn’t like them very much, as they looked “fake” to her.

A warrior, as they believe it was once painted.

The tomb of Alexander cast (original in Istanbul).  This one I really get, as you can still see traces of paint on the real tomb.

There were also some interesting devotional statues from India, but my favourite item was the Alfred jewel, but as I saw it my battery died.

Kathleen drove home, and we had a suprirse when we discovered that the Garmin had completely reset itself -- to German, kilometres, and with our recently discovered sites gone.  We ended up taking a slight wrong turn while I was fiddling with it, and then discovered the road we were directed to was closed.  However, we ended up on a scenic detour overland, through Barnsley, and even with the very heavy traffic we made it home.

Tomorrow is our last day to play in this area, and we are trying to narrow our choices down.  I think we will ask Clive what he thinks!