It is a lovely old town. The Oxford canal was picturesque. If you are familiar with the Inspector Lewis British tv series you will recognize this area from the shows.
When we arrived in the early morning we were hungry for breakfast. We stumbled upon a nice cafe called Cafe From Crisis, 40 George St. The food was very good. This place provides work experience for the homeless who are trying to get back into the workforce. I recommend supporting their efforts by eating there. www.crisis.org.uk
Later in the morning we took a tour of the city and the university. We booked the tour online through www.visitoxfordandoxfordshire.com. The guides are professionally trained. There are many tours offered on many topics (even about Downton Abbey, Harry Potter, the Oxford Divinity School and Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis tv series). As long as there is a connection to Oxford, no matter how tenuous, there is a tour. Some of the specialized tours are seldom offered, so watch out for them if you really want to attend one of them. The city and university tour is one of the most frequently offered tours. Our guide took us to one college at Oxford, Exeter College. Oxford University has 38 self-governing colleges scattered throughout the city. Most colleges offer a broad mix of academic courses, so it is rare for a college to be known for a specific field of study. Everything a student needs appears to be on your college campus - classrooms, chapel, dining room, library and dorm rooms. There is no need to venture off to another campus unless you are going to a specific library or theater.
The university is old. Classes started there in the year 1096 (on a small scale). Today it is one of the oldest universities around. Cambridge University seems to be its rival.
Here is the chapel at Exeter College. It was modeled after Saint Chapelle in Paris.
The organ.
J.R. Tolkien's bust, as sculpted by his daugther-in-law. He did his undergrad at Exeter College. His head is inside the entrance to the chapel.
On the tour we were also taken into St. Mary's University Church (aka University Church of St. Mary the Virgin). This was the oldest building established at the university (in the 13th century). It was used for worship, as the seat of the university government, for lectures and for degree ceremonies. Later the religious officials there decided it would be best for the rowdy ceremonies to be moved elsewhere. On tour the guide made it a point of saying that one of Queen Elizabeth I's suitors, Robert Dudley (Earl of Leicester), was for a time chancellor at Oxford University. The queen would sometimes come by this church and listen in on the Divinity School oral exams/sermons. She was probably keeping an eye on Dudley, who was overseeing the exams. She was probably also interested in seeing what was going on at the divinity school.
St. Mary's Church below.
We were hungry yet again, so we ate lunch at the church in their cafe called "Vaults and Garden". This used to be the meeting place for the university government. Now it has tasty food for lunch. The ceilings inside are indeed vaulted and there is a garden outside with tables to have your lunch. It is a nice place for lunch.
I then decided to ascend the tower of St. Mary's church for a great view of Oxford. The stairs are steep and narrow (really only room enough for one way traffic, although you descend using those same stairs). The balcony outside can give you claustrophobia as it is very narrow and high up. Again it is very difficult to have 2 way traffic up there. The path does not go all the way around the tower so you have to double back the way you came. With a lot of people up there that can be tricky. Fortunately the ticket sellers below keep track of how many people are up there, so if the demand is high to go up the tower they can have people wait to go up. I was lucky since I went up without having to wait. The views are spectacular from up there. I really did not know what all I was looking at, but was fortunate to listen in on my neighbor's conversation and figured out some of it.
View from church tower towards All Souls College.
The Radcliffe Camera (under renovation). Originally a science library, this is now considered to be an extension of the nearby Bodleian Library. It now contains additional reading rooms for English, history and theology.
View of High Street.
Another angle from the tower.
The narrow winding steps in the tower.
The tower from terra firma.
Once safely back on the ground, I headed over to peek in the gate of All Soul's College.
Here is what I saw.
A little ways down the street is what they call "The Bridge of Sighs". It is a covered bridge just as they have in Venice. Apparently there are bridges of sighs all over the world now. Here is Oxford's version.
The morning tour guide could not take us inside the Divinity School in the university because graduation ceremonies were taking place there. However, we were able to snag a separate tour of the Divinity School and the Bodleian Library later that afternoon. We were taken inside the Divinity School Hall. Some scenes from Harry Potter were filmed in this location (in the school infirmary and the school dance hall). There was a notebook full of pictures from the filming in the back of the room.
The ceiling here is gorgeous. So much detail that you cannot see in this photo.
We were taken inside the Bodleian Library, but were not allowed to take photographs in there.
I believe some of the library scenes from Harry Potter were shot here as well. Our tour guide showed us a large hard bound book that was on a chain. The chain was attached to the cover and not attached to the binding. In Harry Potter however the chains were attached the book's binding. So the film is not accurate. The chain would never be attached to the book's spine because the spine could get damaged. The reason for having the chains on the books is so that the books would not get stolen.
Here is a photo of a photo of the inside of the Bodleain Library.
The Bodleian Library is entitled to request a free copy of every book published in the U.K. Now that accounts for the storage issues they are having!
This is the outside of the Bodleian Library.
In the courtyard of the library there was a stage set up for a Shakespeare production. Unfortunately we had to leave Oxford in the late afternoon so we could not attend it. Here is a view of the seats.
We took a peek in the new Weston library, near the Bodleian Library. (It actually used to be called the new Bodleian Library.) This is another place to store books. Downstairs there was a special exhibit of old items and manuscripts from the Bodleian collection (including an old version of the Magna Carta).
Close by was the Sheldonian Theater, designed by the famous architect Christoper Wren in 1664. University concerts, lectures and ceremonies take place here. Ironically no theater productions do.
The horseshoe shape of the building is interesting.
We took a side trip on our own to visit the Oxford Castle. It was built in 1071 for William the Conqueror in an attempt for the Normans to take and keep control of this area. The construction was a "motte and bailey" (or mound and courtyard) with several towers (one was round and the other square - a prison and St. George's respectively) and a crypt. A prison was built later. It stayed in use until 1996. There were very commercial tours offered, but they looked cheesy and were expensive. We also did not have enough time to take one.
The view of Oxford from the top of the mound was nice. Granted the view from St. Mary's Tower is better as you are up higher. Here are some photos.
Of the castle -taken while descending the mound.
I think the square tower is St. George's Tower.
The view of Oxford from the top of the mound.
A photo of how the mound used to look.
In conclusion, I think Oxford is a beautiful little town. We were there in the off season academically. There were plenty of tourists around and graduation ceremonies for the university. I imagine that it is a vibrant town when school is in session. I highly recommend a trip out there.
