We planned on taking a train from Bangor, Wales to Oxford England, but there was a planned train strike, so we opted instead to rent a car for the one way trip. Oxford is steeped in the history of the colleges that have been there for hundreds of years.
Christchurch College
In Oxford, Susie arranged for us to stay in student housing on the Christchurch College campus. What a great way to stay and see Oxford while students were away. Here’s the website: https://www.universityrooms.com/ We stayed in the Peckwater Quad on campus (300+ year old building) and, walked over to the Great Hall every morning for breakfast, and walked around the Tom Tower and Tom Quad in the mornings and evenings when the normal tourists were gone. One day we attended Evensong in the Chapel. Just staying there was about as rewarding as the other things we did in Oxford.
The Great Hall is beautiful on it’s own, over 500 years old with an extraordinary ceiling and painting of former staff and patrons covering the walls. It is also the inspiration for the Great Hall in the Harry Potter book and movie series, though there are no floating candles.
The Meadow
This is property adjacent to and belonging to Christchurch college that has been an open meadow for at least the last 500 years. Nice to walk around. Another day, we took a stroll on a bit of the Thames Path, a long walking trail that runs the length of the Thames river, from the headwaters in the Cotswolds, through Oxford, London, and to the sea.
CS Lewis door?
CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were friends at Oxford. With flimsy evidence, this door is supposed to have been part of the inspiration for the Chronicles of Narnia.
Oxford Museum of Natural History
The building itself is equally interesting, but this museum houses a wide array of objects and displays, from minerals to insects to dinosaurs skeletons.
This is a collection of old but important scientific tools. It also tells the story of some scientific discoveries. Tuberculosis vaccines, Penicillin, Marconi and invention of the radio, photography, x-ray crystallography, Einstein’s lectures on Relativity and the age of the Universe. OK, geeky stuff but that’s what interests me.
A staggering amount of archaeological artifacts covering Greek, Cypress, Romans, Egyptian ancient history, through to modern art. 90 minutes just in the ancient artifacts area and my brain was full. We have found that one museum a day is pretty much all we can absorb.
Next up, Dave heads to Cornwall, and Susie heads to the Cotswolds for more hiking!
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