Oxford - Day 2
Oxford - Day 2!
On Sunday (15th July & Mum's Birthday), we awoke from a delicious night's sleep in our what seemed like HUGE Queen sized bed.. after slumming it in London on a double bed all this time! I should mention that we stayed at the HOLIDAY INN in Oxford, out at Pear Tree. This was a little way out of town and required a 10 min bus trip into the centre of town. Still, the block the hotel was on (and strategically placed next to a Travelodge for competition) was carefully thought out as they also placed a Shell Service station, a Burger King and a little restaurant that served breakfast, lunch and dinners during the day. The restaurant was a cheaper meal option for hotel guests instead of ordering expensive in house meals.
After Steve and I hit the snooze button a few times and stretched repetitively we peeled ourselves out of our luxurious bed , checked out and headed to the restaurant for breakfast. We stuffed ourselves with a yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon & pancakes - packed with energy and protein for the busy day ahead!
We began our continuing tour of Oxford at the Cornmarket Square and wandered in a slightly different direction towards the River Thames, where we found ALICE'S SHOP. For those of you not in tune with the children's classic "Alice in Wonderland" the author (and pen name) Lewis Carroll was educated at Christ Church Oxford. Apparently, he (his real name - Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a gifted Mathematician and was offered a double degree but instead married his cousin and became a recluse... Other noted works by Carroll are the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, " Through the Looking-Glass" as well as "Jabberwocky" and "The Hunting of the Snark".
From there, we strolled towards Folly's Bridge and veered to walk along the Thames river. We were greeted by several fluffy ducks, water fowl, majestic swans with their equally CUTE baby cygnets.. Anyway... there were also a multitude of people along the river enjoying the afternoon, people cruising along in paddle boats, gondola's as well as several houseboats parked along the bank. Along the way, we swung a left and headed back along the River Cherwell ( a canal like part) back towards the centre of town. I think it was a lovely and leisurely start to our Sunday experience of Oxford life.
Relaxed, we made our way across to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The Oxford museum was not as nearly big as the London Museum of Natural History, however it was rich in a different way. The museum contains a lecture theatre which is used for lectures in Zoology, Chemistry and Mathematics. The building itself is of Neo-gothic design was the work of Irish architects, it has a large square court and a large glass roof. The history of the building stretches back to 1850. In 1860 a great debate relating to the subject of evolution took place in the museum with representatives of the church and scientific community present.
The museum is also the site of the most complete remains of the extinct DODO bird anywhere in the world. The remains are of a HEAD and FOOT. Other museums have complete skeletons composed of the bones of several individuals. Lewis Carroll was a regular visitor of the museum and it is thought that a painting of the DODO bird displayed in the museum influenced the DODO character in Alice in Wonderland.
Thriving for more knowledge (yeah right!).. *chuckles* we took ourselves to the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology. The original building (where the Museum of Science History is situated on Broad St) dates back to 1678 when its construction began. The new building (on Beaumont St), where the museum lies now dates back to 1845. It contains archaeology specimens, fine art, Pre-raphaelite (a group of English painters)paintings, majolica (ceramics from Renaissance Italy) pottery, English silver and Greek & Minoan pottery. It also has a collection of antiquities from Ancient Egypt and Sudan. By the time Steve and I worked our way through this building we had just about had enough - BRAIN OVERLOAD! Still, we had just one more stop to make on the way back to the hotel (who were politely minding our bags for the day!) ...
Last but not least, Steve and I weary and tired forced our feet to take us to the Oxford University Press. The first and the original. There are several branches all over the world, including in Australia. The first book was printed in 1478, but it wasn't until 1586 when they were granted a printer and printing press which confirmed its privilege to begin printing books. Printing originally began in the Sheldonian Theatre in 1669 but the press did not move to its current location on Great Clarendon St until 1830. The first edition of the Oxford Dictionary was printed in 1884...
We ended our tour of Oxford that day at the Press site, picked up our bags at the hotel, fed ourselves a nice dinner and headed back to London on the train (with great difficulty) after several train cancellations. A trip that originally too a maximum of 90mins, took almost 3 hours.. Anyway we made it home eventually to London.. tired and cranky. The trip to Oxford was fabulous, we had a great time, learned alot of valuable history on our visit.. we only covered a small amount of what the city had to offer and hopefully we'll get to return soon again. Stay Tuned....
