And finally... Oxford!

Alright, we're on to Oxford! Welcome to Oxford. We spent the afternoon here, and it was a lovely city. Now there are so many different college buildings in Oxford, and I can't keep them all straight, so no promises on the names, but here's some photos!

Here's a nice tower in the middle of the court. This is where we got dropped off. While the guide was talking about the tower I was snapping photos of the buildings around us, and therefore not listening. Yes, I know, bad.
I love all the vines all over the buildings.

Yep... nothing like a cross in the road to celebrate a burning....
This is the buildings in the centre shopping are of Oxford. There's a famous bookstore here, along with tons of other shops.
This is the centre court of one of the colleges. Just like in Cambridge, you're not allowed to walk on the grass unless you are important. We are not important. They even have grass police that told one of the girls in our group to stay off the grass! Tee hee.
More detail on the wall. No idea what that coat of arms is.
Here is the chapel inside Exeter College (I think). It was lovely and quite large, given the original size of the college.
This is the coat of arms of Oxford. Yes, its a book.

These roman-looking guys are actually made of fiberglass, not stone. Aparently this is the third time they tried to get heads up there. The first set, made of stone, wouldn't stay on, while the second set, made of fiberglass, had a mishap while getting to their columns.

We're inside Exeter College now.
As you can tell it was a lovely day. This has been the warmest month in over a century. Yeah yeah global warming. Whatever. It's quite nice.
Rowing is quite a huge sport here (as I'm sure you know), and the rowing team likes to boat about their victory on the walls of the college.
This is the only courtyard in the college where you're allowed to walk on the grass - and the grass isn't as neatly mowed as it is elsewhere. Heh.
This building is called the Radcliffe Camera. It was built in the 1930s and houses the science library - a place you're not allowed unless you're a science student.

Here's a fun fact: J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, remarked that the building resembled Sauron's temple to Morgoth on Númenor. That doesn't mean much to me, but I know it will to some of you!

I also walked by the Eagle and Child pub, a place that J. R. R. Tolkien did spent a lot of his time (apparently), but I didn't take any photos - nor did I go in.
"Bumped" is a team that they have beaten. It's quite artistic.
Here's the only photo of gargoyles that I took.
This is a sundial designed by Christopher Wren. He attended the college back in the day, and there is a portrait of him inside, where we did not go.
This is known as the Bridge of Sighs. It is named so because of its supposed similarity to the famous Bridge of Sighs in Venice. However, Hertford Bridge was never intended to be a replica of the Venetian bridge, and indeed it bears a closer resemblance to the Rialto Bridge in the same city.

There is a false legend saying that many decades ago, a survey of the health of students was taken, and as Hertford College's students were the heaviest, the college closed off the bridge to force them to take the stairs, giving them extra exercise. However, if the bridge is not used, the students actually climb fewer stairs than if they do use the bridge.

After parting with the group, I spent some time walking up and down Oxford's shopping district, then buying a wicked vanilla milkshake at the historic covered market and catching the train home. Oxford was a lot of fun, but again, because most of the collages are student-only, visiting is limited, which can be frustrating.

I'd pick the country over the city, but the closeness can't be beat!

Oxford and the Cotswolds

Today I joined a dozen other people and trekked up to Oxford and through the Cotswolds with London Walks. It was a foggy morning but turned into quite a lovely, warm, sunny afternoon. I took tons of pictures and now that I'm home and looking at them, I've never been so pleased with the lot. Everything seemed to have worked today, so it's going to take me a while to sort them out and post them up. In the meantime, just relaaaax.