So what did we get up to during our brief stint in what is likely the single most academically oriented city in western civilization? We walked. We wandered through colleges and quads and chapels and lanes. We had a drink at The Turf Tavern. We took a walking tour with a fellow named David. We finally found a spot of grass where you're allowed to play. And play we did. Frisbee. We read our books. We had tea. Tea being scones with raspberry preserve and clotted cream, not the beverage. Actually, I had the beverage too.
In short, we pretty much did what we've being doing so far. Just in Oxford. We even took in a movie. And what intellectually stunning art piece did we challenge ourselves with so that we could feel begin to feel on par with our habitat? Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Oxford is smart enough already, it doesn't need us.
Actually I don't know how smart it is. I'm assuming that per capita they can hold their own, but really, I have not a clue.
Fun movie by the way.
We stayed at Central Backpacker's Hostel. It was nice, although it did at times remind me of the set for Big Brother. Pleasant people working and living there. And I really do mean living there. It had never really crossed my mind before, but some people live in hostels for a long time, I mean a couple of years long time. And it's not like they have their own room. They have a continuing cycle of new roommates coming and going all the time.
Huh.
We did meet a couple of Canadians. Ian and Neil. Brothers. Travelling about for the summer, and just stopping over in Oxford for the one day before heading off to Edinburgh to see the Tattoo. Not ink. The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is a pipe and drum band. Actually, it's a lot more than that, but when Neil said they were going to see the Tattoo and asked me if I knew what that was, that was my response.
Instant friend.
Apparently he usually gets a lot of blank looks. Many of them are from his brother Ian who, having had to live with Neil waking him up for years by playing his pipes right beside his head, is not as thrilled with the whole thing.
Yep, Neil is a piper. Better yet, he was travelling with two practice chanters. This is the part of the bagpipe you actually blow into and wiggle your fingers on to make the notes. One of the chanters even had a drone fot it. A drone is an autonomous robot that the US military has been using to spy on all of us for the past 15 years. It's also a pipe that gives out a single note that provides an underlying harmony for the tune being played. So a monotone. Kinda like when Margaret Atwood does a reading of one of her books.
You know, they say about some actors that they could make the phone book sound like the best the written word has to offer. I find Margaret Atwood the exact opposite. She is responsible for some very fine written word, but get her to read it aloud and it sounds like the phone book.
Maybe that's why Rob Ford hasn't heard of her.
So yes. Neil had his chanters with him. And much to the joy of everyone in the hostel, he gave me a lesson.
Yep, got to start to learn to play the bagpipes. Well, not really, just the chanter bit. But it's a beginning, and one beginning I've been wanting to begin for a very long time. So YAY me, and thank you so much Neil.
So ya, that was pretty much Oxford.
Oh right, I forgot to mention it at the beginning. You're maybe wondering about pictures. Well, I took lots, and you're going to see some shortly. I just figured I'd get the story telling out of the way first this time and then do the slide show without the usual banter. Honestly, the colleges started to blur together after a while, and while I know some of them, I don't think I have many pithy remarks to make.
So here's some shots of Oxford, without the three hour essay on quincunx, and with only a little help from me along the way.
This is the Bridge of Sighs. You may recall the one from Glasgow. There is also one at Cambridge. David made a big deal of that. Apparently the first one is in Venice.
This is the Radcliffe Camera of the Bodleian library. We weren't allowed in, else I'd be dazzling you all with my skills at panoramic photos. Actually, I haven't been practicing like I said I would so probably not.
This is the tower in the main building of the Bodleian. It's called the Tower of Five Orders. It is not called that because someone once asked for a large orange drink, but because each set of pillars represents a different period of architecture. I won't name them.
There are pretty gardens abounding throughout the quads, which by the way is basically a courtyard within the various colleges. I think Christ Church was the first to have one and then they caught on and everybody wanted them to. Not sure. Someone had to be first though. Anyway, yes, gardens, flowers. Good places to walk around, contemplate big things, recover from a hangover, challenge someone to a duel, debate astrophysics with a bush. Pretty much anything except playing with a ball, or any other form of physical activity greater than a saunter.
One of the Cathedrals. I think Christ Church, as it also acts as the cathedral for the city of Oxford itself.
Christ Church dining hall.
Headmaster table in the dining hall with various benefactors of the college. Christ Church was originally established by Cardinal Wolsey, bettter know as, he who could not get Henry his divorce. Wolsey tried to get the college going as Cardinal's College (always the humble type) but fell into disfavour with Henry VIII and died of some stomach issues before he had the chance to be beheaded. Stress perhaps? A little while later Henry got the project up and running again, and like many places he established after getting the Church of England rolling, dedicated to Jesus Christ, hence Christ Church.
The quad. The tower is by Christopher Wren. You may recall him from such greats as St. Paul's London, and other photos featured in this blog.
A stairwell in Christ Church.
I paid more than twenty pounds for us to see the inside of this place. I was gonna snap a pic or two. Or three.
Christ Church Meadows.
And at this point I honestly don't know. You can likely figure out the type of place, so unless I know specifically, I will not bother to label things church, or park, or college, or tree, or whatever. You're smart. Heck, you may even actually know the place. If so, let us in on it.
Okay, that one was Christ Church.
And these are the cows of Christ Church Meadows.
I continue to enjoy the sky. In fact, I'm finding that I spend more and more time these days looking at it. It's really big. And it keeps changing.
Denmark's got a lot of sky too. But I'll show you some of that next time.
Still in Christ Church.
Walking path, that I believe is called Dead Man's Walk, and runs along behind Merton College. That's a bit of it on the left. Merton is where Mr Tolkien improved the world of literature.
That's Jonah in the bottom left. Apparently the only part of the window that is stained glass is him. The rest is painted glass.
Not in Christ Church.
This window detail is of Thomas Becket in the process of being martyred.
See, sky. With pointy things.
I don't know if this is actually true or not, and I don't care. We're going to say it's true.
That's the lamppost.
THE lamppost.
For those of you who are wondering why I'm all so excited about this particular lamppost let me illuminate you. (Sorry, that one was cheap.)
I credit my Dad for Noah and Jake loving to read. I do so because I spent a lot of time reading to them and later with them for easily the first decade. Whenever the last Harry Potter happened. We read those aloud. I did this because, growing up, my brother, my Dad, and I, would sit around the breakfast table and would read to each other. We would first read from the bible. Once we tried it in Gaelic, another time in Middle English, but mostly from the King James version. And we basically started at "In the beginning" and over many breakfasts found our way to the end of days. And then we started again.
But the other thing we read each morning was some piece of children's fiction. Things like E. Nesbit's The Phoenix and the Carpet, or the classic The Wind and the Willows, which incidently, Oxford owns the copyright for. The Bodleian also has the original manuscripts, not that the tour would show you them or anything, but they're there.
My favourite by far was C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. If you've read them then good, you now know what I'm talking about. If you've seen the movies, then you likely know what I'm talking about, but you should read the books as they are vastly superior, especially as Tilda Swinton does not erroneously feature as the big baddy in all of them.
If you have not read the books nor seen the movie and therefore still don't know what I'm talking about then you need to go and correct that post haste. Preferably with the books. Start with the 7th one, it's actually the first. Or at least, that's how my old box set is numbered.
This is that lamppost. Where Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus.
Or at least that is what I am told and the twelve year old boy in me, which is easily responsible for over 80% of my behaviour today, demands that this be true.
So it is and now we'll move on.
Oh, last thing. That lamppost is the best thing I have ever seen. So nobody F this up for me. K?
K.
That is the tower of St. Mary's at Oxford. It has the distinction of not having been climbed by us. We did however enjoy tea in it's shadow.
This is the Sheldonian Theatre. It's where the graduation ceremonies are held.
This is that tea I mentioned.
This is the entrance from the quad into the gardens of Trinity College. Noah remains more impressed with Trinity College, University of Toronto. If given the options he would attend U of T over Oxford any day of the week. Except weekends. He likes his weekends.
So ya, that was Oxford.
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