My clever friend Poorna is doing her PhD in Oxford. She invited me to stay on my way to Italy earlier this year. I jumped at the chance to revisit this gorgeous place.
I was there in February, the middle of winter. The weather was just as you would expect, cold and damp, but that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm. Oxford is a lively town, full of students of all ages from all over the world.
The colleges, departments, libraries, accommodation and other facilities are scattered throughout the city centre. Oxford is the oldest university in the English speaking world and has a beautiful collection of buildings…from different centuries.
The Sheldonian Theatre was built by Christopher Wren between 1664 and 1668.
The Bodleian Library, which includes the Radcliffe Camera and the Clarendon Building, is the largest university library system in the UK, with over a million volumes housed on over 120 miles of shelving. A tunnel under Broad St connects the buildings.
A cross in the middle of Broad St marks the spot where Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, Nicolas Ridley, Bishop of London and Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury were burnt for their faith in 1555 and 1556.
We visited the University Museum of Natural History in its huge Neo-Gothic building. Among many exotic delights they have the most complete remains of a dodo.
There is lots of wonderful open space in and around the colleges. The botanic garden is the oldest in the UK. Even in the depths of winter, signs of spring were beginning to appear.
I was delighted to see a fat little robin. He is the first one I have ever seen and he posed very nicely for me.
Oxford is a beautiful and interesting place to visit. I would love to be there on a fine spring day. Being an Oxford student must be an amazing experience.