July 20 (Monday) Oxford

Today we headed out early to catch the train to Oxford.  Oxford is a very old and very pretty university city with wonderful old architecture. 

Oxford University is the oldest university in the English-speaking world, dating back to 1096 (oldest in the world is the University of Bologna in Italy, 1088).  There is no main campus.  Each of the 38 colleges scattered throughout the city has their own campuses.  We only hit a few.

The one we came across first is also one of the most famous, Trinity College.  It faced a large "square" with many shops and restaurants.  And, as befitting a college town, there were lots of bicycles in evidence.

 Trinity College had a lovely "quad" with flower beds.

The college also had a vast lawn area that led up to a set of buildings with a lovely courtyard...

and a small hidden garden.

From Trinity College the walk took us to St. Mary's Church.


St. Mary's Church



Paul and Mary decided to take the stairs to the top of the church.  It was a bit of a challenge as the steps were very narrow.

But the views from the top were worth the climb.

The building in the center of this picture is the Radcliffe Camera (Camera apparently meaning "room" in Latin).  The building houses a science library dating back to the mid-1700's.  It is only open to scholars so we weren't able to tour the inside.

 

We could see details of the church from up close while we walked around the top of the bell tower.

Next stop was the Oxford Botanical Gardens...

with the Merton Borders, vast flower beds with plants from Southern Europe to Turkey (Mediterranean), South Africa, and the American Southwest, from Colorado to California.  They are researching gardening methods that are more sustainable (self-seeding) using plants and flowers that are more drought tolerant.  Even England is beginning to see changes in climate that may affect their gorgeous gardens.  How sad.

The next college we visited was Magdalen College (pronounced MAWD-lin), right across the street from the Botanical Gardens. 

Magdalen College had beautiful cloisters, ringed with blooming white hydrangeas,...

a lovely little chapel...

and of course, more pretty gardens and flowers.

On the way back to our last stop we walked by Merton College. 

The last school we visited was Hogwart's (ahem, excuse me - Christ Church College). 
The meals for the students at Christ Church College are serviced in a vast hall that was used as the dining hall at Hogwart's School in the Harry Potter movies.  The line was very long to get in as everyone wanted to see the hall and take selfies there.

Ceiling of the dining hall.

The college was beautiful and old...

with a massive "quad".

As with all of the colleges there was a lovely chapel