Oxford, Part I
This week’s tour took us to Oxford, the fount of education in the English speaking world. Higher education here is quite different than in the United States or even throughout the rest of England where the predominant model is the German university.
With its ancient colleges, Oxford evokes medieval education as developed here, in Paris and Bologna a thousand years ago.
We began the day with a fairly unstructured walk about Oxford, but for
most of us, the highlight of the day was a “backscenes” tour of Christchurch, the largest of the Oxford colleges which took us through the college and into a few places that most tourists do not see.
Everyone agreed that a single day in Oxford did not suffice, for me, if only because I did not get to visit Pens Plus on the High Street. In April Sharon has a conference in Oxford and I shall tag along, looking to crawl the city, take more pictures and prowl for pens. For now, this is Oxford, part one.
Carfax Tower is the centre of the city and is all that remains of the 13th century St. Martin's Church
Merton college (I think) from the Christ Church green
The Meadow Building the largest residence hall at Christ Church
Magdalen tower from a distance
The back of Christ Church
Random images in Oxford
The famous Radcliffe Camera
One of our students, Kristen Carder, has this thing for tractors, she says.
Inside Christ Church gardens, the tree that supposedly inspired Lewis Carroll to envision the Jabberwock
Stuart Fleming, one of the Assistant Custodians of the College, led us in a "backstage" tour that took us into a few places like the gardens and the quadrangle, where tourists normally do not go.
The Tom quad
Inside Christ Church Cathedral, musicians rehearsing
The Becket window, from 1320, is a rare image of the martydon of Thomas a Becket.
Fans of Harry Potter will recognise the dining hall of Christ Church as that from Hogwarts
Custodian Fleming explains college life to Rickie Lee Bolin and Rob Huffman, among others
The Tom quad again
With its ancient colleges, Oxford evokes medieval education as developed here, in Paris and Bologna a thousand years ago.
We began the day with a fairly unstructured walk about Oxford, but for
most of us, the highlight of the day was a “backscenes” tour of Christchurch, the largest of the Oxford colleges which took us through the college and into a few places that most tourists do not see.
Everyone agreed that a single day in Oxford did not suffice, for me, if only because I did not get to visit Pens Plus on the High Street. In April Sharon has a conference in Oxford and I shall tag along, looking to crawl the city, take more pictures and prowl for pens. For now, this is Oxford, part one.
Carfax Tower is the centre of the city and is all that remains of the 13th century St. Martin's Church
Merton college (I think) from the Christ Church green
The Meadow Building the largest residence hall at Christ Church
Magdalen tower from a distance
The back of Christ Church
Random images in Oxford
The famous Radcliffe Camera
One of our students, Kristen Carder, has this thing for tractors, she says.
Inside Christ Church gardens, the tree that supposedly inspired Lewis Carroll to envision the Jabberwock
Stuart Fleming, one of the Assistant Custodians of the College, led us in a "backstage" tour that took us into a few places like the gardens and the quadrangle, where tourists normally do not go.
The Tom quad
Inside Christ Church Cathedral, musicians rehearsing
The Becket window, from 1320, is a rare image of the martydon of Thomas a Becket.
Fans of Harry Potter will recognise the dining hall of Christ Church as that from Hogwarts
Custodian Fleming explains college life to Rickie Lee Bolin and Rob Huffman, among others
The Tom quad again
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