Oxford, City of Colleges

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Well, I saw a lot today, but I think I saw just about everything I wanted to before shops closed down and the various colleges closed their doors. It's weird that everything down here closes at 5:30pm (or earlier!). I wandered around the city, saw a bunch of different colleges of Oxford University, and climbed Carfax Tower. Talk about small, winding staircases! I got a good view of the city, and took a bunch of photos. Hopefully some of them will be okay. 😊

I saw Keble College, which was red brick buildings, the Sheldonian theatre, with lots of stone heads on pillars outside the theatre, the courtyard of the Bodleian library, the Bridge of Sighs, which is part of Hertford College, little peeks at Trinity College and Balliol College (which were closed to tourists), and then had lunch. After that I wandered down a pedestrian street called Cornmarket Street, and wandered over to Christ Church Cathedral. (Sorry, this list is as much for me as it is for you!) Since the dining hall was closed until 12:30, I decided to go and come back later. Perhaps a bit of a mistake seeing as when I returned it was a madhouse! I wandered along High Street, saw Radcliffe Camera, which is a big rotunda building, saw some neat gargoyles and grotesques (gargoyles serve a purpose, like hiding a water spout, while grotesques are just for decoration) at Magdalen College, saw some punts (a type of boat) and wandered back to Christ Church college. The dining hall was neat, and you could see how it would have been the base of the Harry Potter dining hall movies, and the cathedral was pretty too. Lots of neat stained glass in both. There were even Alice in Wonderland figures in the Dining Hall stained glass; apparently Lewis Carroll taught here, I think.

Around 4pm, I decided to hit Sainsbury's for some Diet Cherry Coke, and come back to the hostel. I watched (yet another episode!) some Dr. Who and then wandered out to the shops for a short time. It was a very short time seeing as the shops close at 5:30!

There's not a lot to do here in the evenings if you're on your own, and don't feel like partying with the other guests. I think I'll be glad to go to Liverpool tomorrow night, and then fly out to Belfast. Northern Ireland should be interesting......

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