Oxford

Oxford: ancient Saxon settlement, home to esteemed institutes of academia, many a pub and not one British accent to be heard… they’re all Americans! Well not really, but there where a lot of American students about. Ok onto the excruciating details.
The day started off with a tube ride to Paddington station. We’ve come to enjoy the Circle line stations because they’re relatively old (in comparison to others), but don’t have a rundown feel like north Manhattan stations. The brick-walled stations are above ground and therefore seem to age well… whatever. The train ride to Oxford was about an hour and had us trembling with excitement in Oxford center before noontime. So, basically here is our Oxford experience: walk, pub, walk, pub, historic building, walk, pub, stagger, pub, stagger, museum, stagger, pub. Well not really that much walking. In reality though, there were quite a few pubs, but we also went to take in the archeological and academic sites. The whole drink fest started off with us walking through the Christ Church grounds, and although this goes with out saying, it was raining. So, up through Christ Church we went, had some moments of head scratching navigation, and ultimately landed at the Bear Pub. Bear Pub: small, low ceilings and lots of framed ends of neckties; we liked it! However, there was some Canadian woman there making fun of all the missteps the Vancouver Olympics had been having; as if we wanted to hear her shout about it. Did I mention she was wearing flannel? Ice Truck driver’s daughter on scholarship to Oxford? From there it was over to the Old Tom pub, nothing special except for a lovely Thai food smell. A few steps later and up to Carfax tower, the only remaining structure from an old church, care to know more Levar Burton style? Click here (but don’t take my word for it.) A quick geocache stop at the Tower and on to The Chequers pub: huge and with a great selection of real ales! We opted to make our way to the Oxford Uni Botanical Garden. Obviously, it was winter and there won’t be much going on but we went for the glasshouses. There was no one there so we took our time. Unfortunately, the glasshouses have been experiencing thefts so we kept a watchful eye out… for no one. The Botanical Gardens were on the High Street but a half-mile from town center. Looking back towards town from High Street really offers a decent representation of the age of the city. Not to mention, the insane amount of buses that pass through. Next stop, The Rose, not a pub but a little place for afternoon tea. Best tea yet: great scones, great clotted cream, and excellent tea (Lapsang Souchong). Of course, we had to have some California students next to us. From there it was up to Radcliffe Camera and to a teashop to get some of that excellent Lapsong Souchong. The teashop was at the covered market, half market half tourist attraction. While in the shop, we also decided to purchase a proper porcelain teapot as a useful souvenir. As with most student towns, the preferred mode of transport is the bicycle (or push bike in UK speak). The center city roads are perfectly suited for it because they’re narrow, winding and have some neat shops ideal for hopping off a bike for a quick stop. We forwent a pub (gasp!) and went to the Museum of the History of Science. It is probably the coolest museum ever, sorry Franklin Institute. The name says it all-they have all sorts of old instruments and scientific devices, some from 600 hundred years ago. Most, if not all, are in stellar cosmetic condition. In the photos for example, the orb that looks like a brown “Golden Snitch” is an Islamic astrolabe from the 15th century. The photos really explain it all. I want to go back and record some of the stuff. When they closed at 5 (way too early), we started our pub run and to catch up on some geocaching. This took us a little bit north of the city center to Jude the Obscure & The Royal Oak and then back down. We of course had pub food at the Eagle & Child, which seemed like it was small and old at one point but is now expanded Denny’s style. The food was good though, unlike Denny’s. Next was the Lamb & Flag for another drink, which was our last, thank goodness. We only had about 2 hours remaining before our train so we used geocaching to explore the city. In case anyone cares, it was hard to get an accurate signal/electronic compass reading. For us, Oxford is easily a 2-3 day city so we’ll certainly be going back...hopefully with friends and family.