Blogs from Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 12

See this essay on google docs here: The Bodleian Library’s Gough Map The Bodleian Library Map Room is home to many historically valuable and fascinating maps, but none quite like the Gough Map. Dated within ten years of 1360, the Gough Map is reputed to be the earliest road map of Great Britain. Surprisingly, even at a time when cartography was just beginning to tackle land masses, the Gough Map was able to reach a level of accuracy that few maps of that time could get close to. Due to its degree of accuracy the Gough Map was depended on for the use of future maps of Britain worldwide for some time. The map is a beautiful as well as informational representation, a four by two foot expanse of vellum covered in three different colored inks ... read more

My friend Piper studied in France this spring while I was in England. During her spring break she and a couple of her friends were coming to England and they wanted to make a stop in Oxford, so I met them there as I hadn’t yet been. It was really nice to see her after all this time. I took the train to Oxford from Leicester early in the morning so we would have all day to spend together. After arriving early, I waited at the station for her while drinking a tea. Piper and her traveling friends arrived not too much later. We started our day by making our way through the quiet streets of Oxford towards the first of the Universities. Oxford does not have just one university, but several, each with their own ... read more

We took a road trip, Oxford was our first stop. We wandered through the town and down to the Avon River and did some punting. We thought it would be better to get one with oars, and headed out on the river. The scenery was lovely. We stopped for lunch at the 'Head of River' then did some touristy looking around. I have learnt that if you hold the camera in one hand and look up at the buildings, people will walk around you. They might be cursing, but you dont have to dodge the crowd. Claire and Charlie hopped in a train for London, while us lads headed off exploring. We visited Avebury where we found the Avebury ring of stones. Avebury is the site of a large henge and several stone circles surrounding the ... read more

So, the end has come. My travels will continue for a bit, but thank you for all your comments and interest. The last few weeks have been amazingly packed, with everything from visitors (four, wow) to visits. There was a ball (and doesn't the sky look light after an all-night ball), a 2-day medical ethics seminar, and good-byes. See you in the States.... read more

This first entry is a bit of a trial. Just a quick sojourn to the UK first for Richard's graduation at Bath on 2 July. Would you believe it, we've struck a heatwave again - high 20 degrees everyday - hottest since 2006 when I believe we were also here but in Bath that time' and all we could do was lie under trees in the park - well in the Royal Crescent actually which wasn't far from Richard's attic. Puts lay to some stories of english summers! Far too hot for us after leaving Wellington southerlies last week.... read more