Day 3 - Oxford!

Jet lag bites. Don and I took sleeping pills at 3 am our first night at Didem's when we suddenly both woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. What is it about 3 am? I woke up at 3 am nearly every night we were on our trip and then once we got home, I woke up at 3 am here too! I have a vendetta against 3 am. Taking the sleeping pill was a terrible idea and we both ended up sleeping 'til noon on our first full day of the trip. We were both really mad at ourselves even though we desperately needed the sleep. It is just so hard to waste any time when you have so many things to see! 

We were supposed to meet Zoe, my friend Becca's sister, for lunch at 12:30 pm but since we woke up so late, I called and moved lunch back ‘til 1 pm. 

We were cutting it close, so we sprinted up High Street to meet Zoe. She took us on a blitz tour of a stereotypical English covered market and helped us get our bearings so we could find our way around the rest of the day.

After our quick tour, we all walked to the church at St. Mary’s college which has a cafe in the basement. It was surprisingly balmy outside and much warmer than than Don and I had anticipated and there was a slight English drizzle. Perfect Jane Austen weather. So, we sat at a table outside the church with a great view of the Radcliffe Camera (or RadCam as locals call it - it’s actually the history library) and enjoyed our delicious food. I got a pumpkin soup that was fantastic and this bruchetta bread with some kind of cheese that was unreal. I’ve been craving it ever since. I have no idea what the cheese was, though, so I can’t make it myself! I’ll just have to take a trip back to Oxford just to eat it again; it was that good. Don got a chicken dish which he really enjoyed. We decided it was by far the best food we had ever had in England. 

Don and Zoe getting lunch in the cafe under St. Mary's.

A view of the RadCam from the table where we ate our lunch. Isn't it beautiful?

Me and Zoe, our sparkly Oxfordian friend.

Can you imagine studying here? Such a beautiful building!

After our great lunch with Zoe, she headed back to work and we climbed to the top of St. Mary’s tower to get a view over Oxford. The sun came out for a few minutes as we stood there and it gave a hazy yellow glow to the gothic towers and bright emerald fields. The architecture is gorgeous and the surrounding landscape breathtaking.

Inside St. Mary's chapel. I loved the stone archways and checkerboard floors.

Climbing up the tower.

At the top of St. Mary's tower admiring all the intricate carvings...

Looking in to the surrounding colleges' courtyards

The sun coming out over downtown Oxford! 

Gargoyles everywhere.

We liked the skinny passageways around the tower

I hadn’t known this prior to our trip, but Oxford is composed of 30 independent colleges. Each college has it’s own playing field, chapel, classrooms, dining hall, professors, and dorms. Some even have their own bars. There are about 100 people who live in each college and primarily attend classes only within that college. My friend Becca who went there said most people don’t get to know other students outside their college because each college is pretty much self contained. They have intramural type sports between the colleges which are a pretty big deal. I noticed walking through several colleges that they listed on the buildings inside the courtyards when they’d won championships for various intramural sports.

We stopped in at Brasenose college where my friend Becca lived while at Oxford and looked around several of the other colleges. They are all so beautiful! During the summer when tourism is at it’s peak and students are gone, tourists are allowed to walk through the colleges, but, since school was in session, we could only look in to the courtyards. I actually liked being there during a less touristy time of year because it felt more like it should; like a busy university with students rushing off to the library and running from class to class. 

Inside the Brasenose college courtyard. These college dorms are so charming! I liked thinking about how many students have lived here over the centuries!

So many people bike! The streets were full of bikes. I saw far more bikes than cars during rush hour. One of my favorite things about Europe is that you really can function without a car and so many people do. My friend Didem gets around solely on buses and trains and I think it is fabulous!

Bikes everywhere!

We walked to Christ Church College, which is one of the largest and oldest colleges in Oxford. Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII founded it in the 1500s. Also, for the Harry Potter nerds out there, a lot of the Harry Potter movies were filmed there. The dining hall set used in the Harry Potter films was an adaptation of the dining hall in Christ Church College. Also, they filmed a lot of scenes in the hallways of Christ Church and in many other colleges in Oxford. I felt a little bit like I was at Hogwarts while I was there and it made me very happy. 

We wanted to go to a real English pub for some hot cocoa and Becca and Zoe recommended the Turf Tavern. We liked this sign "an education in intoxication". Funny. Too bad the place was closed. 

Tiny alleyways! 

This is Blackwell's Bookshop, which is really old and famous so we walked around in it. It was just a bookshop, though. I don't know what we'd expected. :)

Quaint row houses.

We went to the Museum of the History of Science. It was fascinating and Don particularly found all of the old optical instruments really intriguing. 

My favorite part of the museum was this pastel of the moon drawn by John Russell in the 18th century. He studied the moon through a telescope for over 20 as he drew this amazingly accurate picture of the its surface. When I first glanced at it, I thought it was a photograph because it was so realistic.

A view of Merton college. Probably my favorite picture of the day. I just love the spires and the contrast between the stone and the red leaves on the hedge. 

The playing fields for Merton college.

The stairway to the dining hall at Christ Church College

The Alice in Wonderland window. Lewis Carroll made up the story for the dean of Christ Church College's children, one of which was named Alice. This window has the rabbit, the queen of hearts, and Alice in the bottom corners of the panes.

The dining hall. It does look like the Harry Potter dining hall, doesn't it?

The Christ Church college courtyard.

The ceiling of the Christ Church Cathedral. It is a cathedral because this is where the archbishop presides over the Diocese of Oxford. We learned that having an archbishop is what makes a church a cathedral rather than just a church.

Such a beautiful place!

There were sundials in most courtyards we saw which I found amusing since the sun shines so infrequently for so many months of the year. They would be useless so often!

The Divinity School with it's amazing ceiling.

I loved this picture because you can see the spires of the colleges glowing outside the window as evening falls on Oxford.

We got our first Cornish pasty (said pass-tee) here in this covered market. It is like a buttery pot pie encased in a half moon of pastry dough and they are devilishly delicious!

The covered market was so quaint!

The Oxford Castle has been turned into a hotel and a series of swanky shops.

Downtown Oxford on a rainy English evening.

Drinking cocoa while of course, consulting (and memorizing) the map. I would be completely lost without Don. His directional skills are unmatched.

After walking around all day, the damp weather really got into our bones and we were having a hard time warming up. We'd unsuccessfully tried to find hot chocolate at several classic English pubs recommended to us by Becca, so we went to G&Ds, an ice cream shop, and warmed up with a nice cup of cocoa. It really hit the spot.

Once we'd drunk our cocoa, we headed back to Christ Church College for the Thursday Evening Eucharist. This was my favorite part of the day and possibly even of the entire trip. The boys choir sang and it was so amazing to be there in that 12th century cathedral listening to music sung as it would have been when the cathedral was new. The acoustics were amazing and the pastor gave a really interesting sermon. There are very few times as a tourist that I've really feel like I'm part of an authentic cultural experience but being there with these parishioners who come to the service every week, I felt like I was a part of Oxford and a part of the congregation. I loved it.


After the Eucharist service, we took the bus back to Abingdon. Didem made us a delicious curry and we sat around and talked and laughed 'til late. I was still so sick and out of it at this point that I didn't take a single picture of Didem or of her apartment or of me with Didem! I can't stop kicking myself about it! She told me I'll just have to come back and stay with her again so I can. It's a deal, D! I'll see you soon!


I absolutely loved Oxford! It ranks highly on my favorite places list and it is well worth a visit.


Information about Oxford found at the following websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford, http://www.ox.ac.uk/