Oxford

Saturday, 6 October 2012

Another Saturday...
Another University organised trip...
Another £18...

Told you I was a 'trip junkie'!!

An ominous thing happened the evening before the trip. When told of my impending visit to Oxford the following day, Dan, my Russian flatmate said Oxford is...fornicating boring. Not his exact words but something to that effect.

Well, like all good junkies, I disregarded the advice...



Oxford Castle.





Carfax Tower:
tower of the 14th century church of St Martin.

Hertford College's Bridge of Sighs:
built in 1913/1914, it was named after the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. The Venetian bridge connected the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace and it was thought that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the windows, before being taken down to their cells...



Radcliffe Camera:
Built between 1737 and 1749, it houses two reading rooms. It's essentially a library for Oxford undergraduates.





Tom Tower of Christ Church College:
perhaps the most famous of the 38 colleges of Oxford University, whose Great Hall inspired the Hogwarts dining hall in the Harry Potter movies.

Meadow Building:
another part of Christ Church College.




Christ Church Meadow:
A scenic park just beside Christ Church College.



So...that's Oxford.
And my Russian flatmate is beginning to look like a wise man...

To be fair, Oxford has really grand and beautiful buildings with wonderful architecture. Perhaps, if I had not had to spend seven hours on the bus (2-way)...leaving only six hours (five actually, if I discount the hour spent queueing to get in and having lunch at a Japanese restaurant whose spicy ramen tasted Thai...) to explore the city , and had the opportunity to really see and 'feel' the city at a more leisurely and intimate level, I would have felt differently.

To my dear friend who went to Oxford...apologies Howe.