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.