Tales from Oxford

Hi, all!

After a relatively sombre entry, I bring you bright tales from the crowning jewel of UK's education setup - Oxford...


After the euphoria of our stupendous London trip had quietened, I started to look forward to our next adventure destination, Oxford. The name of this city is hallowed in academic circles as it is home to the renowned Oxford University. I always knew that it was the kind of place that would charm me... and I was totally right.

Although Aparna and Abhilasha couldn't make the trip due to unforeseen academic commitments, I did have the company of my friends, Nadia and Nida. Nadia and I, in fact, even managed to do some map reading and draw up a rough plan of what our day could be like.

Thus, on a pleasant, clear mid-November morning, we, members of the Travelling Society, set out to explore the historic city of Oxford. Gregory, our Society president, drove us there, just as he had driven us to London.

We began our outing with a visit to the beautiful Ashmolean Museum. Given that we were on a time-leash with several places to cover, we breezed through all the sections and lingered in only some. Starting with the Roman and Greek statue collection, we proceeded to the expansive Ancient Egypt section. Then, after a quick look at British Porcelain, we walked through several painting galleries and rooms full of unique artifacts. Though we wrapped up the visit in quick time, it was time well spent.

We then made our way to Broad Street, where we booked ourselves places on the City and University Walking Tour at the Tourist Information Centre. After a look-see at the quaint impromptu French market there, we proceeded to our next stop, the Covered Market.

Covered Market is a cute little indoor market that sold all kinds of things... chocolates (see above picture), cakes, clothes, shoes, fashion jewellery... and so many other things. Here, I left Nadia and Nida to shop in peace and headed to Carfax Tower.

Already breathless from climbing the 99 spiral steps of the Carfax Tower, the magnificent view still managed to take my breath away. In every direction, I could see the spires of the several colleges that make up Oxford University. They are symbols of the students' dreams and aspirations and hence aptly named Oxford's "Dreaming Spires". I looked around and realised that though Oxford was a rather small city, it was absolutely beautiful. In the cool breeze, I had my sandwich lunch as I took in more of the view. I then took to the dizzying spiral stairs once more and took leave of Carfax Tower and its unforgettable view.

It was now time for the City and University Walking Tour where I was reunited with Nadia and Nida. Anyone who has ever done any sight-seeing will agree that walking is the best way to get to know a place. So it was even in this case. Our lovely tour guide (I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten her name) took a bunch of us through Oxford's wonderful landmarks and colleges and brought it alive for us.

We started with Wadham College. Once inside, she explained to us that unlike other universities, Oxford Uni is a collection of 38 colleges, each operating independently. However, all students appear for centralised exams and the final degree awarded is that of Oxford Uni and not the specific college. Instead of lectures, every student has a one-on-one session with his/her tutor where they hand-in essays every week. Structurally, colleges here usually have a standard setup... a quadrangular lawn area, surrounded by study rooms, a common dining hall, student accommodation in the form of indoor townhouses and a chapel. While the dining hall was closed, we did have the opportunity to visit the Chapel. As always, the colourful stain glass work left me spellbound. We then walked around the campus for some time. Our guide also mentioned that Sir Christopher Wren, one of the greatest English architects in history, was an alumnus of this college.

We then walked by the old and new Bodleian Library buildings. This library, the second largest in the UK, is a Copyright library, which means that a copy of every book that is copyrighted has to be given to this library. Another cool fact: books are stored underground and the old (Claredon Building) and the new library buildings are linked by an underground tunnel through which books are passed on a conveyor belt!

Here, we also stopped to admire the Sheldonian Theatre. Famous as Sir Christopher Wren's second architectural endeavor, this building plays host to degree awarding ceremonies at Oxford Uni. These ceremonies were originally held at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin (not far away from this site). But authorities did not like the idea of students celebrating too hard and turning up drunk in the holy church. So, they requested Sir Wren (then new to the field and not yet knighted) to develop a secular building for this purpose. This building stands proof of his talent and vision. He, however, had nothing to do with the out-of-sync white cupola that was added later.
Next, we walked through Divinity School. I was thrilled to bits to know that some of the scenes from the Harry Potter movies have been filmed here.

Going past Divinity School, we arrived at Radcliffe Camera, a magnificent sight if there ever was one. Formerly the Radcliffe Science Library, this building is now part of the Bodleian Library. In fact, the underground book storage stretches all the way to this area.... that's way too many books! The building itself is a wonderful piece of architecture with a great sense of symmetry.
Our next destination was New College. Contrary to its name, this is one of the oldest colleges in Oxford. Set slightly apart from the other colleges, this one has a slightly bigger and greener campus. This, actor Hugh Grant's former college, has a small piece of infamy attached to it: it was built on a plague cemetery. But apart from that little gory detail, it is a gorgeous place, with lush lawns and beautiful buildings. In fact, it houses remains of the old city wall that surrounded Oxford centuries ago. Here, we did get to visit the dining hall. Scenes from the Harry Potter movies jumped right at me when I entered the hall, especially given the seating arrangements and the teachers' High Table. We also had a quick look at the calm oasis-like Cloister and its bell tower. On the way out, our guide showed us an alley that is a popular spot for filming old-world England as it is lined with the original soot-covered walls of Oxford.

Then, we proceeded to another interesting destination on the tour: the Bridge of Sighs.

The Bridge of Sighs is actually Hertford Bridge, linking the old and new sections of Hertford College over . Although it bears somewhat of a resemblance to its more famous Venetian namesake, the resemblance is not deliberate. That as it may be, it is an impressive piece of architecture and good fun to walk under!

We then made our way to beautiful campus of Exeter College. This college has a rather rich set of alumni, one of them being revered author, J.R.R. Tolkien. I found the autumn-coloured ivy-covered buildings rather lovely. We visited the Chapel here and it was absolutely spectacular. The mosaic floor and the embellished church organ were especially beautiful.

A famous British series, Inspector Morse, was shot in several places all over Oxford. A corner of the Exeter College quadrangle lawn is where the title character of Inspector Morse is shown to breathe his last. In fact, the series is so popular that they have walking tours dedicated to tracing places where the series was filmed.

While still at Exeter College, we arrived at a small area that gave us a lovely picture-perfect view of Radcliffe Camera. It was with this final, memorable sight that we wrapped up this entertaining and enlightening walk through Oxford.

Since we had some more time on our hands, we worked out, with some advice from our guide, that we could still make two more destinations before hitting the home track. So, we bade goodbye to our rather helpful guide and started off towards the Museum of Natural History.

After a relatively long, breathless walk to the Museum of Natural History, dinosaur footprints welcomed us in. Stepping inside, we entered a unique world... a ribbed high ceiling, dinosaur skeletons and so much more. While there was nothing particularly unique about the subjects of the displays here, the displays themselves were quite well done and attention-trapping. For example, in the picture above, I'm leading a parade of skeletons of all sorts of animals! Two other displays caught my attention, both with a common thread: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll. Having been a fan of 'Alice in Wonderland' all my life, I was all ears when our guide explained to us Dodgson's connection with Oxford. It was here that he had met the girl after whom he named his legendary character! The two displays I referred to earlier are both displays connected to elements from 'Alice in Wonderland'. One represents the remains of the Dodo bird and the other is a wonderful display of all the quirky animals described in 'Alice in Wonderland', such as the turtle, the flamingo, the hedgehog, the walrus, and of course, the rabbit. We didn't spend much time on the other displays and didn't even go up to the first floor. But we were content with what we did see and we came to the conclusion that choosing not to visit this museum would have rendered our visit to Oxford incomplete.

We then took off towards our last destination for the day: Christ Church College. Why this one, you ask? Our principal reason was Harry Potter. We were very much eager to visit the Dining Hall where dinner scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Even beyond that, this is quite a popular place to visit. It bears a rather regal and grand look which reflects the fact that it has been graced by illustrious alumni ranging from former British prime ministers to several noted personalities from the arts and sciences. At least on the outside, it seems like a college for the rich. Incidentally, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson studied and taught here.

With very little time left in hand, we raced towards the Dining Hall. Although there was no element of surprise, we loved just being there. We also managed to pay a quick visit to the magnificent Christ Church Cathedral. Though it was a brisk and rushed visit, it still fulfilled our purpose and we enjoyed every moment of it.

Darkness was starting to fall and our day was inching to a close. We summoned the little strength we had left and walked back to the Ashmolean Museum, where Gregory picked us up and drove us back to the university.

Despite the exhaustion pulsing through me that night, I was completely content. I had just collected for myself, pleasant memories of yet another wonderful city of the world and my life was a little richer because of it.