Sunday 31 August 2014

A second day in Oxford beckoned, with more beautiful buildings and more history to take in. We repeated yesterday's schedule of breakfast at the hotel, but today I looked around the dining room more. It was full of people over 70. All the staff were being careful not to trip us up, or startle anybody. It felt like an old people's home.

We got out of there, drove to the Park & Ride, and took bus into town. We made it to the 11 o'clock walking tour of the university. Our guide was Matthew, a recent graduate of the university, with a degree in psychology. He started the tour by showing us where Elizabeth the first had Archbishop Cramner burned at the stake. The spot is now in the middle of Broad street. From there he took us to Brasenose College refectory. In there is the Brasenose door knocker that gave the college its name. It's just a brass knocker in the shape of a monkey's head (I think).

The knocker. Don't laugh - one of the most prestigious colleges in Oxford pays homage to this......thing !

Next, he showed us the college chapel. Every college has one, and until about 80 years ago, students were forced to attend services. Anybody who refused (and the poet Shelley did) was kicked out of the college (and he left). Also, women were not admitted to any of the colleges for the first 800 years. The last college to admit women changed its men-only policy in 1979.

We visited the church of St Mary the virgin. This place actually housed the university library until a separate building was erected. This was the old Bodlean library. The church was also used for graduation ceremonies until the Sheldonian Theatre was built. Now it is the church of the Dons (the professors).

As we left, Matthew showed us where C.S. Lewis stood when he had the idea for the book of Nania (The Lion, the Witch, and The wardrobe). He stepped through a door, and felt the snow beneath his feet. Looking up, he saw a carving of a goat, then on a door, a carving of a lion. Finally to his right he saw a lamppost. Except for the snow, we saw exactly the same things today.

We later came back to the church and climbed the 131 steps to the top of the tower. It gave us good views of the nearby city area. However the walkway around the spire was so narrow that people had to turn sideways to let other pass. It looked like a good place to push someone over the low wall (sound like a plot for an episode of "Morse").

 

The tower of St Mary's has carvings all over it, including the gargoyle at the top of the picture. The opening behind Robyn is wide enough for one person only.

We saw the Radcliffe Camera (reading room, associated with the university library) from the outside. This is the round building with the big dome on top. It is apparently the most photographed building of the university.

 

The Radcliffe camera. Radcliffe put up the money to build it. The original meaning of "camera" was room. This place is a reading room for people who borrow books from the Bodlean Library.

　

Matthew, our guide then took us into the university's School of Divinity. It dates from 1430. Being a beautiful gothic building, it was used for some scenes in the Harry Potter movies. It was Hogwart's Infirmary. The sandstone carvings look like they were only finished yesterday.

The inside of the School of Divinity. Full of 15th century craftsmanship.

It was just a short walk to the quadrangle. This area is surrounded (on the ground and first floors) by various university faculties on all sides, with the main gate incorporated into one side. On the second floor, the Bodlean library on three sides. The fourth side has various offices and, and the decoration above the main gate. It actually isn't that big, but it is very old.

We later came back here, and took a separate tour of the library. That was impressive. The Bodlean is a copyright library. A copy of every book and every magazine published in Britain is sent to this library. That is several thousand - per week ! This place has been a copyright library since 1610. They now have eight buildings, and just one of those holds 5 million books. Unbelievable !

Our first tour ended outside the Sheldonian theatre, where we were shown the "Bride of Sighs". This was given its name because it looks just like the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Its original name (and arguably, its correct name) is the Hertford College bridge. It joins two buildings belonging to Hertford College.

Just a little feature down a side street in Oxford......

The first tour was a real tour of the history and geography of the university- and well worth doing. It was technically free, but everybody happily gave Matthew a donation. He has applied to the university to do a PHD (Doctorate) in psychology. The subject of his thesis is to be stress; he will find plenty to talk about.

At Robyn's suggestion, we walked to the "Eagle and Child" pub and had a very nice lunch (and a local real ale). The reason we chose this pub was that this was JRR Tolkein's watering hole. He, C.S. Lewis and others would meet here for a few drinks and a chat. Tolkein wrote The Hobbit during this time, and started writing Lord of the Rings while he was studying at Exeter college (in Oxford).

Robyn posing in front of the pub, even though she has never written a book.

The second tour took us through the School of Divinity again (we'd been there during the first tour), and the library. The highlight of that one was the old library, known as Duke Humfrey's library. All the books in it seem to be hundreds of years old, and most are. We were not allowed to take photos, which is a pity. The place looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie, and the books are priceless. From the covers, I deduced that most are written in Latin.

We headed home via the bus/car to our hotel, and changed. I drove the car to the Trout Hotel, a little pub beside the Thames River, about 1 kilometer from our hotel. Sitting at one of the outside tables with a beer in my hand, I noticed a large fish (about 50 cm) swimming around below me. It was a chub- not good eating as its too bony, but lovely to look at. I didn't order the fish on the menu, or the duck. A local duck had flown up to us and sat on the low wall beside us. It was after food. When we didn't give it any, it waddled along the wall to the next table- where it stuffed itself on chips. It was all so peaceful and warm (for the last day of summer) as we watched the sun go down. We weren't the first to do this. Morse and Lewis had sat on this same terrace and had a beer looking at the Thames and the sunset. Robyn was happy; I didn't want to leave.

The Trout; the place looks five hundred years old from the outside. That water lapping the wall is the Thames River. 

 

The view from the other side of the wall

Reality finally imposed itself on us, and we headed home to pack. Tomorrow, we go to Pocklington, near York.

Bye for now

Lex and Robyn.