Oxford, England

Wednesday, 6 November 2019

We were not in a hurry this morning since we can't show up till our next town, Oxford, until afternoon.  That is when we can park our car in the parking lot of the hotel we are staying in tonight.  We got up, went downstairs for breakfast, then relaxed in the room until 10:30 checkout.  We drove the 1.5 hours to Oxford and arrived to the parking lot around 12:30 PM.

After parking the car we headed into town.  Oxford is home to the oldest English speaking university in the world, Oxford University, founded in 1167.  Its alumni include 27 British prime ministers, more than 60 Nobel Prize winners, and 11 saints...pretty impressive.  It was about a 20 minute walk to get to the start of the walking tour in our guidebook...and here I am reading said walking tour out loud for myself and Tim.

We went inside the Weston Library to visit its "Treasures" room. The room had some pretty incredible books on display including original drawings and books by Leonardo da VInci.  They had another room dedicated to maps that was interesting as well.  For some reason Tim didn't take any photos here, so you will just have to take my word for it that it was cool.

The plan was to continue the walking tour, but it started raining, so we decided to go across the street to the Museum of the History of Science.  This is me leaving the library and heading across the street.  The museum is the building diagonal to the right.  By the way, the round building is called the Sheldonian Theatre.  More about that later.

This museum was filled with scientific instruments used here in Oxford University over its history.  Lots of compasses, microscopes, and photographic and wireless equipment.  One of the coolest things they had was this blackboard used by Einstein.  It was saved from when he gave a lecture at the University in 1931.

Ah...here is details of the Sheldonian Theater.  This is where graduation and other important ceremonies are held.  There are 13 heads carved in the 17th century nicknames "the emperors."

This is the Clarendon Building.  When you enter through the archway behind the columns, it leads to the heart of Oxford University.

Here are photos of the original Oxford University.  The chapel looking building in the background is the Divinity School.  The building to the left is the Bodleian Library, and the building on the right is part of the original classrooms.

Hertford Bridge (1914) AKA "The Bridge of Sighs" is modeled after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice.  It connects two parts of Hertford College.

We left the quad and arrived at Radcliffe Square.  This cool building is called Radcliffe Camera (1748).  It was originally built as a medical library and is now used as a reading room for the Bodleian Library in the quad.  It is  accessible through tunnels under the square back to the main library.

We were able to peek through the gate into All Souls College.  It is known as the college with the toughest entrance exam and has no undergraduate students.  Its entire student body is made up of research fellows.

The next stop on the walking tour is the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, the University Church.

The last stop on the tour was the Covered Market (1774).  In the market, Tim managed to find a turkey that I would eat...in the window of a cake shop.

Turkey cake

As we were walking hack to the hotel we saw a burrito restaurant.  Mexican is one food that we really miss, so we went in and had a burrito each (Chipotle style).  We then headed back to the hotel.  We arrived back there around 5 PM and I was pretty happy to be lying in bed.  I had a sore throat and in general didn't feel well.  Tomorrow we are supposed to take a bus to Blenheim Palace.  Hopefully the weather will be better as am I.