Oxford: Part 2

What can I say? I like the gargoyles.

Wonderful old streets that have been used for a very long time.

The Alice Shop! The place where the actual Alice that Lewis Carroll was writing the books for used to come and buy her sweets. Then it showed up in "Through the Looking Glass" as the sheep shop. I went shopping there. No sheep.

Looking lost?

Christ Church College, the richest, largest of the 39 colleges. The sometimes religious names just reflect the ancient origins of the colleges, not any modern connections. Tom Tower has a 7 ton bell that chimes 101 times each night at 9:05 each night. Long ago there were 100 scholars who had a 9 PM curfew. The one extra was to give them a last change to get in on time. CC has some of the most beautiful gardens, as you can see below.

Me--before some of the CC lodgings.

The Covered Market is a great place, lots of shops and places to eat. I had one place make a sandwich with Parma ham, tomato/basil pesto, cheese, and tomatoes. Also some nice Greek olives on the side. A reprieve from the food at KK.

This was in the Covered Market. I watched some pretty fancy decorating going on. Below are some of the Alice cakes they had on display. The decorating was all in fondant. Sister Alice--enjoy!

The building on the right is the Sheldonian Theatre where all the major ceremonies take place. Alll are still conducted (including graduation) as they were in the middle ages--in Latin. Because it's Oxford.

The chapel of Merton College, where Tolkien was a professor.

The Bear--the oldest continuously operating pub in England--about 900 years old. Notice that the three story building is pretty short--as people were too back then.

Meanwhile, back at Christ Church, they are not all that happy that it's mostly know to the public as the setting for some scenes in the Harry Potter movies. This is the staircase where Maggie Smith's character says, "Welcome to Hogwarts." Whee.

The Great Hall. They built the Harry Potter set based on this room.

The high table where the fellows and officials sit is at the end. Lewis Carroll sat there as a professor of mathematics. Alice Liddell sat in here to eat as well since her father was the dean of CC cathedral.

Portrait of the author.

In the stained glass--a portrait of the real Alice.

And of Lewis Carroll.

These long-necked andirons are the inspiration for the long neck that Alice gets at one point.

This little hidden door behind the high table is where the head of college would pop in and out at dinner. Alice would have seen it, and Carroll turned it into the rabbit hole.

The quadrangle at CC with Tom Tower.

The "chapel" at CC is actually a cathedral. One big 19th century window has a little funny touch to show that it is not ancient even though all its panels are about ancient subjects. Do you see it just to the left of the red curtain on the right?

The nave of the cathedral.

Another bit of stained glass.