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Published: March 26th 2011
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Oxford
Saturday 19 to Tuesday 22 March
On Saturday we flew to Heathrow from Hamburg then drove to Oxford (back on the left hand side of the road!).
On Sunday, John had the day off, so we spent the day driving around the Cotswolds. It was a beautifully sunny day. On our travels, we came across the "Rollright Stones". These are a collection of limestone standing-stones and a barrow (like the one from which Tom Bombadil rescued Frodo and party), dating from Neolithic times. One of the sites is a stone circle. We were treated to the sight of a group of (what we presume were) current-day Druids (complete with flower circlet headgear) performing a ceremony, which we guess was to welcome the equinox.
Apart from that, even though the other things we saw were very much what we had anticipated, it was really exciting to see them in actuality. These included the quaint villages (always with the 'big house' and church), resplendent with new spring flowers. We drove down narrow hedge-flanked lanes and passed fields of black and white sheep with lots of cute, cute, cute little lambsies. We stopped for lunch in an old market town, in
a tea-house with a low, heavy timber-beamed ceiling and open fireplace. In this area, there seems to be a lot of old Saxon churches - lacking the spires of the Gothic churches and with gravestones right up to the walls. For some reason, these seemed really 'English' to us.
We called in to some of the towns that are on the main tourist map, such as Lower Slaughter, (great name, how could you not go there - even though "slaughter" is an old word, roughly meaning "marsh"). While they're really beautiful towms, we found them just a little too 'neat' for our liking!
We stopped at the "Cotswolds Arms" for a dinner of steak and ale pie (yuuuuummmm), served to us by "Vicky Pollard" (of Little Britain fame) - although she was much more polite than in the show (that's the media for you!).
Monday saw John back at the grindstone, so he disappeared to Oxford University while Ali explored the town. It really is amazing how the university infiltrates the whole town. There are something like 40-odd colleges and it's hard to look in any direction without seeing one of them. The original building, in which
Oxford University was founded, is still standing - University Church of St. Mary the Virgin - and Ali felt compelled to climb the tower, forgetting that she's not big on heights these days. She is justifiably proud of herself - and despite the fact that her hands were shaking, the photos haven't turned out too badly!
Next stop was Magdalen College (pronounced "Mawd-lin"). It's wonderful that you can visit these colleges - even though there are students working away inside. Admittedly, you can only visit a small number of internal areas, but you can wander pretty freely through the grounds. Ali chose this college because she wanted to go on "Addison's Walk" which is in its grounds. It was the site of a long conversation between J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Hugo Dyson, after which Lewis became converted to Christianity. After the walk, she treated herself to a "Cream Tea" - which is English for a "Devonshire Tea".
On Tuesday, Ali jumped on the bus and went out of town to visit Blenheim Palace. This enormous estate has been home to the Dukes of Marlborough since the early 18th century. Winston Churchill was born there and was a
frequent visitor, as his uncle was the eighth Duke. Hence, they make quite a big deal about him and there are some excellent displays. Ali was really impressed with the 'animatronics' displays that give a history of the palace - very effective and not at all cheesy. She was also very impressed with their Victoria Sponge! The grounds are huge - it would take all day to walk around them all - and it seems that many locals use them for jogging, walking dogs & children etc.
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Chela18
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Oxford - Magdalen College
Wow! I had no idea about "Addison's Walk" at Magdalen College, but I thought the campus was absolutely beautiful! I think that out of all the places I've visited in Oxford so far this is my favorite! You can't help but feel inspired about what has gone on inside of these walls for centuries AND the story continues to be written each day! Loved it!