Oxford

Inspired by Nicole, I decided to make a trip to Oxford. I don't know why, but I wasn't really expecting much. I knew that Oxford University was comprised of a multitude of independent colleges spread out around central Oxford and I didn't really know of much else to see there. I tried looking online, but didn't find much else. With the vague notion that it would at least be worth it to check out their ESL books, I headed out.

On arriving, I stopped in at the tourist office and picked up a few brochures. Three brochures, actually, and that seemed to be the extent of them. Once I had opened the brochures, however, I found a great deal listed. The brochure for the University included University sponsored museums (musical instruments, Science, etc), libraries, bookstores, and a botanic garden. In addition, they had a lovely walking map and gave visiting hours and costs for each college of the University.

Perhaps because Nicole and I had spent so much time trying to find gardens, I decided on the botanic Garden first. To get to the garden, I had to walk through central Oxford. This was quite an impressive walk, full of interesting architecture. This all boded very well. The garden itself was interesting, but would probably be better either earlier in the spring or later in the summer. Most of the spring flowers were wilting, and the majority of the gardens were just starting to sprout. The gardens are designed in cooperation with other botanic gardens around the world to preserve rare plant species. The gardens are connected to the University, and contain university projects. One such project was the collection of all known species of lupis. They also had a Yew tree that dated back to the 1600s.

Next I tried to get into Magdlen College, but it was closed until 2:00. This turned out to be a theme. I ended up walking out accross a large field towards Christ Church College. I believe this is the oldest of the colleges in Oxford University - though I'm not positive about that. It is the college that Lewis Carroll (of Alice and Wonderland) went to, as well as some notable number of Prime Ministers. If you look at the photo, Christ Church looks like a long narrow building, but its deceiving. Apparently (though I never got in) there is a "Quadrangle" behind it (or large square courtyard) surrounded on all four sides by buildings such as this one. I believe there have been some other buildings added onto it as well. From the pictures outside, it appears to have some amazing interior structures, but when I went to take a tour, they told me only part of the building was open because the students were eating in the great hall until 2:00. The great hall being a point of interest, I decided to come back later and never made it back.

The collection of musical instruments was also closed until 2:00, so I went and got lunch, sat on the lawn and read until 1:00 when I was more than ready to do more exploring. I went for a walk around town and decided that one corner in particular looked promising. It contained the Bodleian Library, Museum of the History of Science and Sheldonian Theatre. All of them were closed until 2:00 as well, though it was getting closer to 2:00, so I just kept circling through little alleyways (which was quite fun in itself) until the appointed time. I decided on the Library first. I had no idea what I was going to, but libraries seem like interesting places, so why not? I'm so glad I went! We started out in the sacristy (that's the picture I have posted) and it was even more impressive in person. Our guide was an older gentleman who had received a PhD from the university. He had a tendency to go into great detail about some specific story and then forget what his larger point was and have to pause for a while until he remembered. At one point, he was in the middle of telling us how the Midieval books were bound, and then suddenly remembered that Harry Potter had been filmed in the library and then couldn't remember what his first story had been (though he got back to it eventually). I really enjoyed listening to him.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures in the upstairs (Midieval) library. If you've seen the library in Harry Potter, though, you've got a good idea. Anyone can look at the books, but they have to prove they have a good reason for wanting to (tourists, in general, aren't allowed). One of my favorite stories from the library had to do with a row of paintings depicting the library founders. Apparently the idea for the paintings came up long after the founders were all dead, so the artist rounded up a bunch of local people of import and had them sit as the founders. So the paintings are of real people, but not the people they are labeled for.

Our guide also explained that the Bodleian Library was the first copyright library in England. That means a copy of every book published in England is sent to the library. They get a truck load of some several thousand books every Wednesday. In the 1700's the library was already too full, so they dug up one of their courtyards and installed a storage area going several feet underground (and then restored the courtyard). By 1910, however, that, too was overflowing, so they bought some property across the way and built an 11 story building there (three stories go underground). Out of the more than 7 million books they have stored away, only about 700,000 are in the original library, the rest are in the extension. Its a rather big place. We could see the extension building from the Bodleian library, and our tour guide confided that he was quite disappointed that the extension had just gotten protected status, so they couldn't do anything to make it more attractive (that's the photo I've posted - it is a bit plain).

I made a quick trip to Christopher Wren's Sheldonian Theatre. It absolutely floors me how many buildings that man had his hands on... In London you can't hardly throw a stone without hitting a Wren building. This is certainly no slight to the architect, they are striking buildings- but talk about prolific. Finally, I ended the day with a perusal of ESL books in the Oxford University Press. I've got all sorts of fodder for my wish list.

In other words, my early skepticism towards Oxford was most poorly placed. There was, in fact, so much to do that I wasn't able to even scrape the surface. Hopefully, Russell and I will get a chance to go back and see more in the future - after 2:00, of course...

Oh, and apparently Monday is a Bank Holiday here, so Russell and I booked a B&B in Edinburgh. Hooray! I probably won't post again until next Tuesday, after we get back.