Shopping in Oxford

Not so much us, but all of Oxford. When we first went out this morning, there didn't seem to be many people but later in the day, the place was jumping, probably because there's only 2 major shopping streets. It's surprising because the population is about 165,000 and an additional 22,000 students. Not huge.

 We went to the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, the first university museum in the country, so named because it was started with the collection of some guy named Ashmole. The building was finished in 1678. There is an excellent exhibit of ancient tapestries and musical instruments that was set up because tapestries typically hung in the music room. There is a case of Amati violins and violas. The ancient textile exhibit contains an Arab ceremonial dress of Lawrence of Arabia. 

Ashmolean Museum

Henry Moore sculpture in front of the museum

After the museum, we went to St. Mary the Virgin church which has been the official church of Oxford University since the 1200s. You can pay to climb the tower but we didn't have any money...yes, that's the reason.

St. Mary's Altar

The Organ in St. Mary's

 After the touring, we took a walk through the covered market. The pedestrian and other major streets were full of people. We saw a few people in academic garb and found out later there was a graduation ceremony today.  The covered market has a lot of different shops and is much like an uncovered market. It's always fun to see the food. Big sale on pheasants today.








We went to the Bodlian library which houses every book published in England. You can't go in unless you're on a tour. Everyone likes to tell you the books are housed underground on 110 miles of shelves. Getting a book often takes 6 hours.

Radclif Square; where Bodlian Library is

Then we walked around and crossed a bridge where one of the colleges is. Oxford has 35 colleges, so it's difficult to remember them all. My favorite is Magdalen because it's pronounced "Maudlin."

On the river, Oxford's "answer to the gondola" are punt boats. You navigate with a long pole but most outsiders get the pole stuck at the bottom of the river and we didn't want to fall in. 

Not a great picture because punt guy is bent over

After the walk, we hopped on a Hop-on bus and got the last two seats in the open air; it was freezing.  This one had a live guide. The driver was Polish but the guides are Brits. He said many of the same things the audio guide says but added some stories. He mostly told us what famous people went to each of the colleges. He showed us where Bill Clinton lived and said "Some Americans told me there are probably a lot of signs on buildings that say 'Bill Clinton slept here.'" Everyone likes to tell you that Richard Burton was kicked out of Exeter after a year and that he and also Churchill drank at the White Horse. We saw that pub; it dates back to 1600. Another pub is famous for being the meeting place of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien who met often and read whatever they were working on at the time.

We went to Blackwell's, a real bookstore 10 minutes before it closed and then had dinner at a highly-rated Indian restaurant. We had tried to get into the French restaurant but it was packed, as was every burger (have a "proper burger") place. We've had good Indian food in England but this one is now in my top 1. It was excellent and not too crowded. Our Polish waitress asked us where we're from and said she has been here for two weeks. We asked her where she's from even though we knew--Krakow.