Keble College

Our time here is passing quickly, and we will be back in Ardmore in less than five weeks. Every day here has made some new memories, the little pieces of life that we can’t capture in pictures or in our blog. We don’t have a sound track, for example, so we can’t pass on the wide mix of languages that we hear every day on the street—Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, eastern European languages that we can’t identify, and of course Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Through the open window of our flat this evening, we can hear African drumming and the sound of field day games at the nearby meadow and park. Last Saturday during our walk, there was some type of graduation ceremony, and we were treated to the ringing of the bells at Magdalen College. (There are many graduation ceremonies—this city gives more degrees than a thermometer.)

We keep adding different colleges to our collection. (see July 12 post) Yesterday's was Keble College. This is officially the one that Phil is associated with, although he is physically working at the nearby science park and we had not actually been to the college grounds before.

Keble College Quad

Architecturally, Keble is very different from all of others. The walls are brick rather than stone, and have a complex mosaic of different colors—a red background with a crisscrossing yellow pattern, and a mixture of darker ones that appear black or dark blue, depending on the light. In addition, the quads are sunken, so that the buildings seem even taller.

Keble College Chapel

The chapel was being used for a wedding so we did not get inside to see its most famous (or hideous, according to some) art work, a painting called The Light of the World by the British artist William Holman Hunt. So we can save that for another day.

Library Card

If you're looking for exciting,riveting news from Oxford today, we're afraid you will be sadly disappointed. Today's post is of the everyday routine of life.

Running dangerously low on reading material, it occurred to Deb a few days ago that maybe--just maybe-- she could qualify for a library card. She was prepared to throw herself at the mercy of the Oxford Public Librarian and ask for some professional courtesy (no librarian worth her salt would abscond with another library's materials), but it didn't come to that. An easy online membership form produced a temporary card she could print out and use-- which we promptly did by renting a DVD of the British television series Inspector Morse, which is set in Oxford. Then, the very next day her official card arrived in the mail-- a sharp card with a photo of Oxford's stately Sheldonian Theater on it.



Before she was able to put her new minted card to use, we turned on the Oxford BBC radio station in time to hear that the Oxfordshire libraries were closed for the next two days. The librarians had gone on strike! They are hoping for 50 pence more per hour (equal to $1.00). Wanting to show solidarity with her comrades, Deb hasn't crossed the picket lines. But if she does, you'll hear it here.....

Sandford Lock

Sunday dawned virtually cloudless, so after church we decided to continue our exploration of the Thames footpath. (Click link for satellite map view)

We picked it up from the Donnington Bridge and headed south past Iffley, in search of the Sandford Lock. We noticed that the water level of the river had definitely increased from last week-- we were not surprised! Once we passed under the bridge of the ring road, the vistas were decidedly more rural. It appears that fishing season opened this week, however, because there were quite a few fishermen out, and we had never seen any before. Part of the path leads you away from the riverside and into a cow pasture, so it made for some interesting walking (dodging the cowpies). For the most part the walk was quite serene.

Thames River Footpath

About a mile and a half along, we began to see more activity along the river and realized that we were approaching the Sandford Lock. This lock is larger than the one at Iffley and the area was quite lively since there was a pub called The Kings Arms that was doing a lot of business (Everyone decided they needed to "dry out" in the sun).

Kings Arms Pub at Sandford-on-Thames

After staying to watch a few steamers full of tourists make their way through the lock, we headed back. Sustaining us on our Sunday hike was the knowledge that the Isis Tavern was up ahead, with promise of coffee and dessert. Last Sunday was drizzly so just a few tables were filled when we stopped for lunch with Ray, Linda & Claire, but this week every single picnic table in their huge yard was filled with folks enjoying time with friends and family. And yes, they still had that piece of chocolate cake I had been dreaming about.
--Deb

Hangin' around Oxford

We are returning to our “established” routine now after having Ray, Linda, and Claire visiting us. They left on the bus for London Thursday morning—the rain let up long enough for them to get out of town. The trip to Blenheim on Wednesday was truly miserable—not the palace itself which was quite interesting, but the weather. We were in a deluge all day long. As veterans of the Seattle rains, we thought we would be ready for the British weather, but it is not so. Perhaps we lost our water wings after moving to Philadelphia. Maybe we will go back to see the gardens on a dry day.

Phil’s colleague from Haverford Naomi Koltun-Fromm has arrived in town for a summer program in Middle Eastern studies. (Naomi is a professor of religion whose specialty is ancient Judaism.) Her program is housed just north of town, so we met for a stroll and dinner on Thursday evening. We did not get a picture to prove that both she and we are here and working, but we will get one next time. It was good to see another familiar face. (We are beginning to recognize faces on the street now as people we have seen before, even if we don’t know who they are. And today, as we were walking around, we ran into our friend from Vienna Alexander who was a graduate student there and is doing research here now—we mentioned having tea with him in our blog on June 23. We don’t know that many people here, but we do seem to meet the ones we know.)

We spent today wandering around town exploring some more of the colleges. Phil’s academic visitor ID card has given him a sense of great authority. He shows it to the attendant at the closed gates, and they wave us through like we were important people. (Unfortunately, it does not seem to allow him to get into the lab building on the weekends, so he will have to confine himself to normal working hours.) There are 39 colleges in all, of which nine are only for graduate students and research. Of the remaining 30, we have seen probably a third, and toured even fewer than that. So we have a lot left to do.

The colleges are fairly well hidden, and it is very easy to pass one without realizing it is there. A typical situation has an arched wooden door in middle of a forbidding stone wall. On the other side of the door is a beautiful grassy quad with the buildings and cloisters of the college arranged around it. On one hand there is a similarity of style and architecture among the different colleges; on the other hand, each of them is distinctive. We continue to be amazed at the separation between the noisy, busy, grimy streets, and the seclusion of the college on the other side of the wall. The streets are far noisier and more crowded than we are used to even in American cities (let alone the suburbs where we live). And the colleges are much quieter and more private than any place around us in the US. They invite a life of quiet contemplation or, as we did today, getting a picnic lunch from a shop in the Covered Market and eating it in one of the quads of Brasenose College. Each college has a chapel—the one at Christ Church is a cathedral but none of them is very big—with architecture that is often amazing. The beauty is in the details.

Brasenose College Quad

After our quiet lunch of serious contemplation, we headed to Blackwell’s Books for some coffee and then on to some more shopping. We keep telling you how much we walk, but maybe this can convey it even better. Both of us have worn out a pair of shoes since we have been here and have had to buy new ones. Fortunately, Clarks’ shoes are the one thing we have found to be less expensive here than it is in the States, so we have not had to hobble around in our bare feet. Today was Phil’s turn to get some new ones, but Deb is hoping that the rains hold off for a few days because she is about to wear out her second pair. Oxford—the city of spires and shoes.

Blenheim Palace

Wednesday was our last day with the Tennessee Meneelys visiting , and unfortunately it was a soggy one. We had postponed our trip to Blenheim Palace from Sunday, hoping for better weather, but it was not to be. In fact, over 2" of rain fell that day-- more than Oxford usually gets for the entire month of July-- and we believe it!

Ray, Claire and Linda at Blenheim

Blenheim Palace is about 8 miles north of Oxford, the home of the 11th Duke of Marlborough. It was built in the first quarter of the 18th century, as a "thank you" gift to John Churchill (the 1st Duke of Marlborough) for a job well-done in the battle of Blenheim in Bavaria. In more recent years, its claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and served as a location for scenes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (Not being Harry Potter fans, we are a little weary of Harry popping up everywhere in these regions.... but if you are a fan, Oxford is a treasure trove of Potterism).

We weren't allowed to take photos of the inside of the palace, but if you click on the link above, there are some pictures on wikipedia that will give you an idea of what it looks like. We ventured out in the rain to look at the gardens, but it was difficult to appreciate their beauty-- we'll have to go back when the sun returns. We did stop in the butterfly house and the Marlborough Maze-- a hedge maze. After getting fueled with hot coffee to warm up-- we headed home.




For one last meal together we chose Qumin, a Indian restaurant recommended by Philip's editor at Oxford University Press. It was a great way to end a week with family exploring southern England!

Bath-time

After spending Sunday locally in Oxford, Monday morning found us hitting the rails for Bath Spa.

We arrived there late morning, and headed straight for the ruins of the Roman Baths. Around 60 AD, the Romans built an impressive temple and bathing complex over natural geothermal hot springs... and it still works today just the way it did then. The ruins are extensive and very well preserved-- it kept the five of us fascinated for several hours.




When everyone had satisfied their curiosity about the ruins, we headed up the hill toward the Circus and the Royal Crescent. The Circus and Crescent are an amazing set of curved Georgian buildings designed by the architects John Wood (the elder) and his son John Wood (the younger) in the 1750's. If you click on the links, you can see some great photos-- it was difficult to get decent photos of the unique structures with our camera.

After a late lunch in a local pub, we wandered down to the Pulteney Bridge. This bridge is distinguished because it is one of four bridges in the world that has shops built along both sides of the street. In reality it was mildly disappointing, because as you walk down the street you can't even see or hear the river, so it might as well be a regular street. But the view of the span over the River Avon, is really nice from a vantage point further down Grand Parade street.




By this time it was late in the day and time to return home. (We didn't have any Jane Austen fans in the group, so we skipped the museum dedicated to her.) All in all, we decided that Bath was a pretty impressive place that had exceeded our expectations.
--Deb

Sunday rains

The notorious English rains have descended on us . We had been expecting it since we arrived, but the rain has only come in the past few days. It has been a hard, soaking rain accompanied by strong winds, and it has affected our plans a bit. Sunday we postponed a trip to Blenheim Palace and Gardens (hoping for more sun later in the week) and instead walked to Iffley to show them the locks, the village, and the Norman church. (This was the topic of a previous blog.)

Humorous sign we saw in Iffley... worthy of a blog photo
"These horses have been castrated"

The rain cleared enough to make it a pleasant walk along the Thames, with Phil being fascinated by the many different species of colorful snails along the way. He was all set to explain the genetics of shell coiling (clockwise or counterclockwise, which actually does have an important role in the history of genetic thought) but no one else was particularly interested so he will inflict it on his students some day. On our walk back to Oxford, we stopped at the Isis Tavern, which can only be reached by those walking or boating on the Thames. The food was great, the atmosphere is nice, and the prices were (for Oxford at least) reasonable. (And our barista turned out to be a psychology professor on sabbatical.) Since it is only a pleasant 30 minute walk from our flat, we may do that more often.

Back in town, we went to Christ Church and toured inside the Cathedral, dining hall, and so on. It is considered one of the most impressive of the colleges—it certainly impressed us—and was used as the setting for Harry Potter movies.

Christ Church Dining Room

It also has a stained glass window with Alice in Wonderland characters, and a friendly guide was pointing out many things that served as inspirations for Alice. By the time we left and began our walk back home, the rains returned again.