Travel by train in England is easy and very nice. There is a train from London to Oxford about every 30 minutes. It takes an hour, and there you are in walking distance from the colleges and sights.
The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It's the official church for all 39 colleges that make up the University of Oxford. All 39 are independent colleges with their own students, teachers, lodgings, eating facilities, library, pub and chapel. They usually have gardens and Magdalen even has a deer park. The oldest started back in the 12th century.
The two of three main shopping streets are very crowded with tourists. Everybody who goes there seems to want a t-shirt or sweatshirt. The city is over 100,000, but that part can't be seen from the old part which is the colleges.
All Souls College--no students--just scholars--invited ones at that.
The most recognizable building--the Radcliffe Camera--the reading room for the Bodleian Library, which is the central library for the whole of the colleges. The Bodleian goes back to the 1500s and has over 12 million books.
Another old street, still with cobblestones. It's use by film people all the time because it doesn't take much to get it to look really old.
Many coleges have gardens, all of them beautiful and seemingly perfect.
The Martyrs' Monument: to the three bishops of the Anglican Church who were burned at the stake in Oxford in 1555 1nd 1556 by Bloody Mary. There's a brass cross in the street to mark the spot.
Behind the blue door lived J.R. R. Tolkien while he was writing the "Lord of the Rings." Supposedly he would come out and read sections of it to the neighbor children.
The famous Eagle and Child pub where the Inklings would meet. They were writers and professors at Oxford, including Tolkienand C. S. Lewis.
This is the "Rabbit Room"--actually an alcove across from the bar in the pub--where they met.
The Bridge of Sighs--named after the one in Venice where the condemned crossed. This is just the passage between two buildings of Hereford College.
One of the classic passtimes in Oxford is to go punting on the river. Rent one of these boats and propel it by standing up and using a long pole. Apparently it's pretty easy to find yourself just going around in a circle.
This is the tower of the chapel of Magdalen College (pronounced as "maudlin"--Why, you ask? Because it's Oxford. The river Thames runs through Oxford. During the passage, it's called the Isis. Why? Same as before.
The chapel at Magdalen. From the 1500s.
The cloister at Magdalen. The lawns are like carpets. A weed wouldn't dare to grow there.
Some of the odd statues that decorate the cloister.
And, of course, more lawns and flower gardens.
The Great Hall at Magdalen, where the fellows (professors) and the students of the college dine--fellows at the head tables--the masses at the others. Each one has a great hall--recall the one in the castle at Warwick?
This would be moi at the chapel in Merton College--one of the oldest going back to the 13th century.
A view of Christ Church College from the lawns and meadow area between it and the river.
Travel by train in England is easy and very nice. There is a train from London to Oxford about every 30 minutes. It takes an hour, and there you are in walking distance from the colleges and sights.
The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It's the official church for all 39 colleges that make up the University of Oxford. All 39 are independent colleges with their own students, teachers, lodgings, eating facilities, library, pub and chapel. They usually have gardens and Magdalen even has a deer park. The oldest started back in the 12th century.
The two of three main shopping streets are very crowded with tourists. Everybody who goes there seems to want a t-shirt or sweatshirt. The city is over 100,000, but that part can't be seen from the old part which is the colleges.
All Souls College--no students--just scholars--invited ones at that.
The most recognizable building--the Radcliffe Camera--the reading room for the Bodleian Library, which is the central library for the whole of the colleges. The Bodleian goes back to the 1500s and has over 12 million books.
Another old street, still with cobblestones. It's use by film people all the time because it doesn't take much to get it to look really old.
Many coleges have gardens, all of them beautiful and seemingly perfect.
The Martyrs' Monument: to the three bishops of the Anglican Church who were burned at the stake in Oxford in 1555 1nd 1556 by Bloody Mary. There's a brass cross in the street to mark the spot.
Behind the blue door lived J.R. R. Tolkien while he was writing the "Lord of the Rings." Supposedly he would come out and read sections of it to the neighbor children.
The famous Eagle and Child pub where the Inklings would meet. They were writers and professors at Oxford, including Tolkienand C. S. Lewis.
This is the "Rabbit Room"--actually an alcove across from the bar in the pub--where they met.
The Bridge of Sighs--named after the one in Venice where the condemned crossed. This is just the passage between two buildings of Hereford College.
One of the classic passtimes in Oxford is to go punting on the river. Rent one of these boats and propel it by standing up and using a long pole. Apparently it's pretty easy to find yourself just going around in a circle.
This is the tower of the chapel of Magdalen College (pronounced as "maudlin"--Why, you ask? Because it's Oxford. The river Thames runs through Oxford. During the passage, it's called the Isis. Why? Same as before.
The chapel at Magdalen. From the 1500s.
The cloister at Magdalen. The lawns are like carpets. A weed wouldn't dare to grow there.
Some of the odd statues that decorate the cloister.
And, of course, more lawns and flower gardens.
The Great Hall at Magdalen, where the fellows (professors) and the students of the college dine--fellows at the head tables--the masses at the others. Each one has a great hall--recall the one in the castle at Warwick?
This would be moi at the chapel in Merton College--one of the oldest going back to the 13th century.
A view of Christ Church College from the lawns and meadow area between it and the river.
Hey, did you go punting? Did you have time to go into the Bodleian Library? I bet Mama would have been impressed.
ReplyDeleteAlice