Oxford

We took a two hour walking tour of Oxford today with Footprints Tours. Our guide was Tom, who was born and bred Oxford (Town & Gown) and if I closed my eyes it was as though Hugh Grant was talking to me ... I'm a sucker for a posh Oxford accent!

Our tour took us past the colleges (where the likes of Lewis, Tolkien and Carroll stayed and wrote), into St Mary's church, to the Bodleian Library, the Radcliffe Camera ('camera' meaning obscured or hidden), and Tom Tower. Most of all the tour was about the stories and anecdotes of the people who have lived and studied here for the past 1000 years - all told with that fabulous self-effacing humour the Brits are so good at.

At one point, we stopped to look at the Bridge of Sighs and the story was told about another queer Oxford tradition. When students graduate, they leave the court yard and stand in front of the Bridge of Sighs and jump as high as they can for a photo. No one knows why or when it began. But our guide got us to have a go ...

We finished by the river and had a picnic lunch before wandering around the rest of Oxford on our own. We enjoyed spending time in Blackwells Bookstore - this place was massive, and visiting the History of Science Museum. The things on display were stunningly elegant - I imagine I would get distracted from mathematical study just looking at the beautifully crafted pieces. Finally we made our way to The Thirsty Meeple Board Games Cafe where we had afternoon tea and played a game of Medici. A great finish to a great day out.

We are now in London until Tuesday when we fly out in the evening.

Balliol College, one of 3 claiming to be the oldest in the UK (depending on how one chooses to define "oldest").

Cake decorating in the Covered Market.

The spot where the Archbishop of Canterbury was burnt at the stake by Mary I because he would not renounce his Protestant faith.  Apparently he was brought to Oxford to be burned because, as an ex-Cambridge student, he was less likely to have a sympathetic audience.

Gargoyle love!  Our guide described the right-most as "ET with a wig".

Bridge of Sighs.  Built two years after Cambridge built a similar structure in a piece of fairly typical one-upmanship.

School of Astronomy and Public Speaking - an interesting combination

The clock was showing the incorrect time, so was in the process of being wound forward.  That lead to the interesting experience of hearing the quarter-hours chimed every 30 seconds or so.

Christ Chrurch college gardens.  Originally "Cardinal College", its founded fell afoul of the King in the Reformation.  Renamed "King Henry VIII's College" by Henry VIII, which was a little too blatantly self-promoting, it was changed to its current name 12 years later.

Picnic

Old board games we found in a game store we stumbled across in our walking

At Blackwells Bookstore :)  Found memories of dodgy made-up debating quotes from high school.

This is the basement level - well some of it anyway. Three levels of books above this..

The last Lonely Planet guide we will need!

Musuem of History of Science. Whilst in there a cavalcade with the King and Queen of Spain travelled past, hence the police everywhere.

On the left, spheres to help in the teaching of 3D trigonometry.  Central front, "miniatures" of military formations, designed to be moved around a map like a wargame.

Microscopes

A large (about a metre across) globe with an engraving describing it being given as a gift in the 1750's.  Interestingly, it shows the east coast of Australia - discovered in the 1770's.  The assumption is that the original maps on the surface of the globe were replaced in the 1780s, that being cheaper that manufacturing a whole new globe.

Many different calculators.

The microphone used to capture the first pre-announced live broadcast of public entertainment: Dame Nellie Melba in 1920.

At Meeple Cafe

The mother of all round-a-bouts. Ken has nailed it now, yay!  Note that only _one_ of these lanes (the 5th of eight) enables us to access our accommodation in London.