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.

Oxford:Part 1

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.