Oxford, UK

Visit To Oxford - Easter Break, 2012

We spent a few days in Oxford before picking up Lori's parents in London.  One always hears about Oxford University, but actually, there are 39 colleges in the city under the one title.  Oxford's earliest colleges were University College (1249), Balliol (1263) and Merton (1264).  We saw the pub when our former president "didn't inhale" during his college days there.  Lots of character in the city.. we both left feeling a little smarter with all that intellect in the area.  One of the other items of interest was the author of Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) studied in Oxford. Hitler was intending to use Oxford as his capital if he conquered England which is one of the reasons it was not bombed during WWII.  We stayed outside the city and took the bus into town. 

The Blackwell Book store was founded in 1879.  It's the largest book store in the world though you wouldn't know it from the street.  To make room, they kept digging down (6 levels) and it now has 3 miles of shelves and 160,000 books for sale.   

Christ Church is one of the largest colleges of the University of Oxford.  As well as being a college, Christ Church is also the cathedral church of the diocese of Oxford.

The Great Hall below  (dining room for the university) was replicated to create Hogwart's Hall in the Harry Potter movies. 

The inner courtyard of the Christ Church university

We took a tour of the city on the hop-on bus.  Nice view but wasn't very warm or dry on the upper deck. 

Turf Tavern just to the left of the arch.. allegedly where a US former president smoked  (but didn't inhale)

Part of a 2 hour walking tour

Walking path along in the gardens of Magdalen College (est. 1458).  The grounds have a deer park and some very nice gardens.   Probably our favorite place in the city.  

Punting - a favourite Oxford past time. They use long poles to guide the boats down the canals.  The locals watch on the bridge waiting for the tourists to get their poles stuck in the mud which leaves them two choices, hang onto the pole and go for a swim, or abandon the pole and drift along.

On a walk with Magdalen college in the background

This pheasant was very vocal, calling for some friends I suppose.

We had lunch one day at The Bear pub.  Legend has it that it got its name because they used to have dog/bear fights back in the day. Still heated with coal in open fireplaces.  One of the traditions is that the owner collects neckties from the college students.  They just lop the bottom off the ties with some shears (below) and put them in a display.  Approx 5000 ties and growing      

Ties stubs in the display case with date, and college.

The Eagle and Child Pub, where C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams used to gather for weekly meetings to discuss their literary works.

Walking around Oxford..