Oxford

Oxford (July 17 -22)

Our main reason for visiting Oxford was to participate in a one week course on the subject of "Lewis Carroll's Oxford and the Surprising Histories of Alice's Wonderland".  The course was  held at Christ Church College in the heart of Oxford and one of Oxford's oldest colleges. It was originally founded by Thomas Cromwell, but when he fell out of favour (and was executed) it was completed by our old friend, Henry VIII, in 1546.

Christ Church quadrangle with Tom Tower, the main entrance, in the middle.

The view from Tom Tower. The spire belongs to the Cathedral, which is located in the college.

The interior of the Cathedral, where we attended Evensong one evening

One of the highlights was the Great Hall, also built by Henry VIII, where we took all our meals.

The stairs leading up to The Great Hall. The stairs featured in Harry Potter, but the Great Hall did not

The Great Hall has several items on display which are "Alice in Wonderland" related.

Painting of Henry Dodgson , better known as Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice"

Firedogs with long necks. At one point in the story, Alice grows a long neck

Stained glass with characters from "Alice"

The Queen and King of Hearts and the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter

The White Rabbit and the Gryphon

The "new" library, completed in 1772. Most of the books came from the collections of various famous and rich Victorians

We spent a couple of evenings at outdoor events in the garden behind the Deanery, but we didn't get any pictures.

The garden behind the Deanery (in the background), where Alice lived

One evening, we did a pub crawl, although we only went to one pub, claimed to be the oldest in Oxford.

That was the evening when Paul first started to have flu symptoms, which turned out to be Covid, although we didn't know it at the time. 

We also took a walking tour of Oxford, with emphasis on locations used in "Morse" and "Endeavour".

The Bodleian Library, which appears regularly in both TV series

The Hertford Bridge, better known as The Bridge of Sighs, as it looks like the bridge of the same name in Venice. It connects two buildings of Hertford College

One evening, we took the train into London and went to The Albert Hall for a Promenade concert. Paul was feeling quite ill, with Covid as it turns out, but it was still a good concert. 

I wonder how many people I infected ?

The BBC Symphony Orchestra, getting ready to play

The Albert Hall, during the intermission

The famous fiberglass "mushrooms" installed in the 1960's, to improve the acoustics of the hall

After the concert was over, around 9:30, we took and Uber to Paddington to catch our train. However all trains to Oxford were cancelled, because of a suicide on the line. We rushed to Marylebone, where we caught a stopping train to Oxford, so actually got back to the College around 1:00am !

We spent six nights in Oxford and attended classes every morning. In the afternoon, we either took tours of the College or of Oxford. On Tuesday, the hottest days on record, we stayed in our room, with a fan blowing, just trying to keep cool. Paul was quite sick with Covid on Wednesday and Thursday and was happy to take it easy. We attended the Promenade Concert on Thursday evening and had a Farewell Dinner on the Friday. On Saturday, we left for Yorkshire