Day Five: Oxford Town

Today marked my first adventure out of London with an early morning wake-up. I had to leave the hotel before breakfast was available but fortunately I'd stopped by Tesco's yesterday to grab some snacks to get me going in the morning. I caught the bus to Hyde Park, which unfortunately isn't on my agenda but what I did see of it looked spectacular. My goal was further afield and I jumped on a bus known as the Oxford Tube (which amused me greatly) and enjoyed a few hours driving through the English countryside.

On arrival in the university town, I stopped in at the lovely Oxford Brunch Bar and had Torrijas de Leche, a spanish version of French Toast, and a wonderful hot chocolate. Fully sugared and energised, the first challenge of the day was to find the meeting spot for my tour of Bodleian Libraries. Like most universities, the buildings are a maze and I wouldn't call Google Maps particularly helpful. Eventually I made my way into the courtyard where the statue referenced in the ticket's instructions was located (along with a gathering of students and tourists waiting to enter the libraries.) The waiting area for the start of our tour was the Medieval Divinity School which has an exquisite fan vaulted ceiling containing the coats of arms of donors who helped fund the building.

 

 

A view of the Divinity School, the oldest purpose built university building

 

Next was the Chancellor's Court, an actual court room used to enforce laws such as the management of university students who had amassed significant debt (not in modern eras, obviously) and connected to that was Convocation House. Convocation House, still used today for university meetings, is set up like a parliament style and historically has been used for the House of Commons during the plague and also the civil war. Apparently, you can also get married in Convocation House, although your guest list would be very small.

 

Upstairs was Duke Humphrey's Library, the oldest reading room of the Bodleian Libraries. One of those really old style libraries where books are not borrowed, rather read inside the library, and some of the books are chained to the shelf. Because it is a currently operating reading room, and also as there are panicked students studying due to it being exam period, we weren't able to go further than the foyer of the library, but we were still able to appreciate the historical features, timber work and the heritage of the place. During the Reformation (when the UK became Protestant) books were taken from the library and burned, but it was restored through the support of Sir Thomas Bodley (thus the Bodleian Library name).

 

Some of the books stored in Duke Humphrey's Library, alarmed and chained to the shelves

One of the interesting quirks of the Bodleian Libraries is that to become a member, you must recite the oath:

"I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library."

Which did make me wonder how they used incandescent light bulbs, or if they never thought through that technicality.

Our final stop was the Radcliffe Camera and to get there we went through the Gladstone Link, which was opened in 2011. A bit of a sudden lurch in architecture, it could not have looked nor smelt more like a university library - very modern and how I remember Auchmuty being at Newcastle. We made our way up into Radcliffe Camera. This library is one of the less toured parts of the Bodleian Libraries and once we made our way up the stairs we received a briefing on the history and the interior of the library. We were only inside the library briefly, as many students were studying within, which was a shame - it's a very impressive building with a lot of detailed carvings and artwork.

 

Radcliffe Camera, and some university protesters

 

After I finished with the libraries, I headed to St Mary's, Oxford University's church. It was interesting that on the fences around the church were a lot of posters for various events and also political movements. I was surprised that so many posters were allowed on the fence. Inside the church was quite beautiful, but my primary goal was as always to climb the tower. I had a brief wait as there was a group already at the top, which gave me a chance to look around and appreciate the gothic architecture. The view from the top was spectacular, and well worth the wait (although I definitely got lucky, because when I returned from my climb the queue was about twenty people deep.)

 

The view from the top of the University Church

I had one more tour booked in for Oxford, but I had sufficient gap to go seek out some lunch. Whilst walking to Nandos (because of course I went to Nandos), I passed a few of the colleges. All of them were closed to the public for lunch and restricted access for exams. An interesting fact I learned about how Oxford worked, is that unlike Australian universities, study is actually conducted at the college and the university manages the final exams and confers the degrees.

 

Many of the colleges were open for tours, but only after lunch (this sign will be important later)

 

I took the time at lunch to message Mum and give her an update on how I was going. She offhandedly mentioned that my great-grandfather ("Pa") had spent time at Oxford, specifically Balliol college, as part of his training for World War I. Co-incidentally, that was one of the colleges I had walked past on my way to lunch (and I had weirdly taken notice of their sign for no particular reason.) I had enough time after lunch to go take a look around.

 

The forecourt quadrangle of Balliol College, the college chapel is on the right

The college itself is beautiful, but the chapel is particularly beautiful. Whilst I was walking around, Mum found a photo of Pa at Balliol. Using the knowledge that each of the buildings were built at a slightly different time, I could use the windows to identify the building it was taken from. On my way out, I decided on a whim to ask if they would like a copy of the photo and the archivist was very interested in the photo and any other information I might have. See, the Australians at Balliol were there because of a government program and any information the college had was sparse. I passed her contact information onto Mum to see what we could find. It's amazing how a little unexpected side-quest can bring such interesting outcomes.

 

The beautiful Balliol College chapel

 

Pa at Balliol College with the other Australian soldiers (seated, second from the right)

 

And here I am, more than 100 years later

 

I was pushed for time and had to make a quick crossing of Oxford to Christ Church, another college of the university. I was really glad I had booked this in advance, because the queue for people who wanted to buy a ticket was extremely long, apparently because the dining hall had just reopened after lunch. The dining hall is pretty spectacular, full of portraits of significant alumni. Because the college only first allowed women as students in the 1980s, you would be unsurprised to note that bar Queen Elizabeth I, the portraits are all males within the Great Hall (something which was not lost upon the school students also touring at the same time as me.)

 

Tom Quad of Christ Church College - we were not allowed on the grass (or into the quad at all)

Christ Church's Cathedral was full of stunning stained glass and shrines

 

 

 

The Cathedral featured a memorial to the Wesley Brothers, key figures of the Methodist movement

 

Unfortunately, as has been the theme of the day, a number of areas were restricted due to exams. Throughout the college you could see students in their black gowns, wearing carnations. According to my tour, the carnations are different colours depending on your exam - white for your first exam, red for your last and pink for any in between. I kind of like that notion, of showing everyone how stressed you are via your outfit, but I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed sitting my exams in my graduation gown.

 

Time was short unfortunately, and I was quickly back on the Oxford Tube back to London. I was pretty reliant on Google Maps to optimise my journey which ended up taking me into Baker Street station. With the sound of saxophones in my head, and being amused by the decoration of the tube station, I made my way to His Majesty's Theatre for an evening of Phantom of the Opera. I have never seen the musical before and bought the tickets somewhat on a whim. Not only did I get fantastic seats, but the musical was amazing. Definitely shot to the top of my list of musicals that I've seen. 

 

I didn't go to 221b but the subway wall decoration was pretty cool

The seat was awesome and the show was incredible.

It's been another late finish but the adventures will keep coming tomorrow. I had better get some rest.