Oxfordshire - 3 The Ashmolean, Alfreds pointy thing, some dynosaur poo and those trains

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So to our first nights sleep in Oxford. Our feet were killing us. There is only so much walking you can do. We sat in Suzy with a warm glow which comes from wine and a meal and settled in for the night. Kathrein the satellite dish decided she was going to malfunction. Nothing new there then. Then there were the trains. In the day I love trains. I love watching them wondering where they are going and from where they came. The sleek fast red and silver Virgin trains rushed through on their way to London and up the north side of our country. The small colourful local trains rumbled through and then there were the coal wagons and the stock that was being whisked inland. In a house the noise would not have bothered us but here in Suzy basically a plastic and metal box on wheels with little insulation the noise was phenomenal in the otherwise dark and quiet night. They rumbled by until midnight and beyond . Into the early hours of the morning they rushed by and this continued until joined by a helicopter which continually circled the caravan site. Cambridge site 1 Oxford 0 the noise meant we had a sleepless night. Morning came very welcomed.

After breakfast we headed out to catch the Park and Ride into the city. What an excellent service made even more exciting as we didnt have to pay. One of the few benefits of being a pensioner. Thinking about campsites Oxford better than Cambridge for buses so maybe they are closer in points than I thought.

We arrived in and alighted in the centre. At least today we know where to catch the bus back. Last night we had to ask the Tourist Information for help. The streets were full of shoppers but less bicycles . There seemed less chance to be mown down by students on their way to college. The shops were pretty with their decorations and there was music everywhere. Dickensian singers carolling outside the tower of the Saxon church, a saxophonist who clearly was miming to music and a couple playing flute and violin. Smells everywhere. Oxford another point but I guess I should bear in mind when we visited Cambridge it was Spring and not Christmas. We wandered the streets admiring the muted yellow stoned buildings. A lot of Baroque which we dislike but nevertheless a lovely city. We tried to find the Bridge of Sighs again but failed. We looked at the Sheldonian and the Radcliffe Camera and wondered why you couldnt visit them . The colleges looked tempting but did not have the presence of Cambridge where the colleges all fall back from the streets to the Cam. Here they seem to be pushed in between shops and houses. Wrought iron gates locked. A few could be seen from a distance; a pretty clock or clock tower, a cloister and ivy covered walls but a bit of a disappointment .

Our next stop was a museum. The Ashmolean was going to be the first of the day. What a museum. From the outside it looked like the British Museum in London, same frontage but it boasted to be the first museum in Britain. We climbed the steps and passed a modern sculpture that looked as if it were carved out of coal and a Brian Epstein reclining man. Sion thought he could do better. We wondered what we would find inside. Cambridge has two museums and the equivalent to this would be the Fitzwilliam. Now that was good but this was something else. OK come in with me for a tour. There is a lot of walking, passage after passage, gallery following gallery and stairs spiralling ever upward. Turn left with me into a long passage full of Roman and Greek statuary. Heads of Roman leaders minus their noses. Slim bodies of young men with bits chopped off . You will need to use your imagination as to which bits were missing. Deeply sculptured features of Greek and Roman gods. From Rome we moved to Ancient Egypt. Statues of every god known to the ancient Egyptians, a temple with hieroglyphics as crisp as the day they were carved. Mummies by the dozens, inner wooden decorated boxes, the mummies some with painted faces, babies, children and animals all swaddled in their death attire. We found ourselves comparing the exhibits with the Turin museum and whilst not as extensive it was excellent showing life and death in this ancient culture. Koptic jars , X Rays of the occupants inside the cases. Gold and decorations, tableware, goods to be used in life and goods to transport with you to the next world. A truly fasinating room and one I could quite happily have spent hours in.

Walking from the Egyptians you enter the Agean world wherer we found displayed pottery right through to bronzes. Friezes taken from temples in Greece. The Romans, tombstones, artifacts, jewellery life as it was lived in Rome and in the colonies. The place just gave. Each room had something delightful to see. So much that it was easy to become museum'd out. So time for a pot of tea and a chocolate muffin in the small cafe in the basement.

After refreshments , feet rested we climbed to the first floor where we found everything Asian . The Indian sub continent was covered with statues of Hindu gods of every shape and size, pottery, jewellery and Buddhas, Bodisattwas and stuppas. Wooden doors from Iran and a complete history of the Middle East. Wow more bling than I could shake a stick at. Ivory carvings detailed, pretty and intricate.

Finally up to the top where we found paintings , Primitives from 14th and 15th century Italy, 17th and 18th century Dutch offerings and our favourites a lovely selection of Impressionist Paintings by Monet, Degas and Manet. In one gallery our favourites the 19th century pre-Raphaelites. I stood and just looked at the Holman Hunts on the walls, an Alma Tadema and some rather interesting Constables and Turners mingled in with Impressionism.

Finally down to the galleries which housed the stone age axes and flints, the bronze age implements and the Saxon jewellery. We spotted the Alfred Jewel in its individual glass case. It was much smaller than we expected. As children we had seen pictures of it and assumed it was the top of a staff. It turned out tiny but exquisite. Bright yellow gold engraved and inside rock crystal and enamel work. It was a pointer used to work your way along a line of writing hence its smallness. Behind it an even smaller example. In that gallery were belt ornaments, torques pre and post roman british artefacts and medieval swords.

What a fantastic museum so where next? We needed dinner and ended up with a choice. Stand in the cold and try a German bratwurst. Buy a cornish pasty from a small shop or go inside and warm up over a hot pot of tea and a couple of sausage rolls. Italians served us and we both commented how expensive that pot of tea was. I heard myself draw breath at £2 a cup and £2.48 for a sausage roll. Us northerners like a bargain and bargain this was not. Still at least we got out of the cold for a while before our walk to our next museum. The museum of National History .

The museum is set a little out of the city and again our feet were aching by the time we arrived . What a building. Our favourite style Victorian high gothic with fancy brickwork and gothic archways and window openings. It oozed style. It was designed by the irish architects Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward and they were influenced by the writings of critic Ruskin. Built in 1861 it joins the Pitt Rivers Museum next door which was built between 1885 and 1886. We were heading for that museum next. The inside was equally as stunning as the exterior with a large square court covered by a glass roof which let in a lot of natural light. The roof is supported by cast iron pillars which served a purpose but looked absolutely stunning. Form and function combined beautifully. In the middle of the floor are two huge dinosaurs one which was wearing a red christmas hat on his head. Huge creatures that normally we only see in television programmes and films. You really would not want to meet up with one of these ugly beasts. Smaller rapters were spread around the hall floor. Extinct crocodiles and flying creatures . All of which are best seen extinct. We saw dinosaur eggs that looked like poo and stuffed black bears . Around the walls were glass glasses full of geological samples and fossils. The Oxford Dodo took pride of place. An ugly bird with a big beak. After a "normal " museum this was a real treat.

Our next stop was through a small doorway through which we arrived in the Pitt Rivers Museum. This museum was so jammed packed full of exhibits it was hard to find a way through. Case after case of exhibits all set out as they would have been when they were shown to interested Victorians. So who was Pitt Rivers? We knew nothing about him before we arrived at the museum. The museum was founded in 1884 by Lt-General Augustus Pitt Rivers who donated his collection to the university with the condition that a lecturer must be appointed in anthropology. Construction started in 1885 and was completed in 1886 and it mirrored the museum it was joined to.

The original donation consisted of approximately 22,000 items;this has now grown to 500,000 items, many of which have been donated by travellers, scholars and missionaries. So what was in there. Cases filled with spears from every country in the world you could think of, arrows, clothing from the sami people , a fantastically beautiful cloak made from intestines. Items of clothing and jewellery from the native American indians, religious objects from Africa, India, Japan and China , boats hanging from the ceilings. A huge totem pole over 11 metres high and is the largest object on display in the museum. Cross bows, swords, samarai swords and armour, Chain mail, coins and currency, beads that were traded, Japanese puppets and dolls from every country under the sun. A display of guns. Glenn homed in to the Colt Navy. The museum is spread over galleries and each one is as fascinating as the last one.

What did we think of them? All fantastic and better than many we have seen before. You could visit each over and over again and see different things each time.

So which city won? Oxford by a short straw . The museums did it for us. What a trio of museums . You cannot find much better anywhere .

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[D MJ Binkley]

Persian Tiles
Gorgeous