Friday 29 June Oxford

The dreaming spires of Oxford. The one thing even better than a day spent wandering the beautiful streets of this lovely town, is a day spent wandering the streets with a member of the Oxford University staff! Not only does Tom know exactly where we needed to go and what we should see, but he was full of interesting stories and anecdotes about what we were seeing, and was able to skip the line at every single place. We saw a heap of the well-known sights - Christ Church, Bodleian Library, Radcliffe Camera, Sheldonian Theatre, etc etc - and also spent some time in some fascinating museums - the Pitt Rivers Collection, the Natural History Museum and the History of Science museum were brilliant, could have spent a whole day at each one of them. We also visited Wadham College, where my dad and uncle John both studied, and Keble College, which Tom is now a part of. Had a very entertaining evening with Tom and Katerina in their lovely new house, and then went out to the Meadows the next day for a picnic lunch with James & Linda and AKG, and John & Jo. Good to catch up with Miriam and Joe later on as well. The lifestyle that Tom & Katerina live here is so completely different to our own - it is amazing that the two of them are probably the only couple I know that do not own a car, and yet the two of them are also the most widely travelled people I know (Tom mentioned that he had done around 35 overseas trips last year). I really enjoyed spending some time getting an idea of their life, and it is so good to see how much they love what they do and appreciate the wonderful place that they live. 

Oxford street scene

Oxford - full of history - here is where Mary had three church elders burnt at the stake in 1555 because they refused to recant their newfound Protestant beliefs and return to Catholicism.

Hereford Briage - ten points for anyone who recognises where the design of this bridge has been copied from - there is a photo of the original in this blog somewhere!!

Edmond Halley's house, with observatory on roof. Halley never actually saw the comet that he predicted so accurately.

The magnificent Christ Church college.

As well as having amazing histroy lying aound everywhere, Oxford also has numerous links to more recent literature. This starcase at Christ Church features prominently in the Harry Potter movies, when the kids first arrive at Hogwarts ...

... and this road features in the opening scenes of Northern Lights, where Lyra escapes from her pursuers.

The Natural History Museum

Dinosaur tracks outside the NH museum

The Pitt Rivers Museum - an amazing and fascinating ethnographic collection, with all exhibits grouped by type rather than date.

The pub where the 'Inklings' regularly met to dicuss the books  they were writing -
JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis being two notable members.

At the History of Science Museum - a visiting lecturer scrawled these notes on a blackboard back in 1931. The top four lines explain how to measure the expansion of the universe. The bottom line gives the numeric value for the size of the universe. Gosh, you would have to be an Einstein to understand that, wouldn't you!!!

Picnic at the meadows

James doing what James does best

Danae finally getting her fringe trimmed (Thanks, Uncle John!)