Out and About in Oxford-Town: Part II

Monday

For our last day without Amy and Libby, Caitlin and I tried to visit some Oxford University colleges that were open to visitors daily for free. Note the tried in that statement. Our plans did not go as well as we had hoped.

Our planned journey, based on opening times and the location of the colleges, was to go to:

1) St. Edmund's Hall

2) Harris Manchester College

3) Wadham College

4) Hertford College

5) Exeter College

6) Lincoln College

St. Edmund's Hall ended up being closed to visitors, according to the sign. We probably could have just walked in and pretended like we belonged their but I wasn't really brave enough to try. We walked down the winding Queen's Lane which is only wide enough for one car and surrounded by stone walls on either side. It is a very peaceful road as there are more direct roads to take and it probably isn't one most tourists notice.

The day was sunny with puffy white clouds. It was a bit warmer than on Sunday (about 44 degrees Fahrenheit), especially in the sun. The backdrop of blue sky allowed me to get some really great photographs during our walks from college to college.

Queen's Lane

Radcliffe Camera and University Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Both Harris Manchester College and Wadham College also had signs saying that they were closed to visitors. This was very frustrating since they were supposed to open at that time. At least Wadham College was closed for a "special event" so it actually had a good reason for not wanting visitors wandering around.

Since we were already at Wadham College on Parks Road, we decided to walk further down towards the Pitt Rivers Museum to see if Keble College was open. It was not on our original list of places to go but since we had plenty of time to spare before the other colleges opened at 2pm, we gave it a try. 

It ended up being a great decision. There was no sign out front saying that it was closed so Caitlin and I just walked in. We were trying to be incognito and look like we were supposed to be there, so when we walked by a group of students talking, I tried to start talking about exams. It was a nerve-wracking at first, but when no one demanded that we leave, I relaxed. We walked around the grassy inner courtyard to the side opposite the entrance and sat on a bench.

Keble College is absolutely beautiful. Architecturally, it is very different from the older colleges lining High Street. Built in 1870, the building is considered quite new by Oxford University standards. The neo-gothic structure features walls with designs formed from the arrangement of red and beige bricks. I think its architectural beauty is definitely in competition with Magdalen College for the top spot in my mind. 

  

By the time we left Keble College, it was only about 1:15pm and none of the other colleges we planned to visit opened until 2pm. So, we took the less populated streets than run roughly parallel to High Street to West Gate Shopping center for a snack. Caitlin and Amy have gone to Shakespeare's, a shop that sells only milkshakes, several times since it opened and told me how good it was. 

There are lots of flavors to choose from but I tried Bakewell Tart (Bakewell tarts are a pastry bowl filled with jam, sponge cake, almond icing and topped with a maraschino cherry). The milkshake was literally ice cream blended with an actual Bakewell Tart until it reached milkshake consistency. I found the texture a bit strange, a bit lumpy from the blended tart instead of smooth like a typical milkshake. It was still very good though, and I drank it way to fast.

Caitlin was going to try Yule Log, a special Christmas flavor, but they were out of the ingredients so she got chocolate brownie flavor...hot. Yes, Shakespeare's sells hot milkshakes. It sounds really strange, but according to the woman working there, it works really well depending on the flavor (aka, chocolate brownie flavor = good, skittles = really bad). She described the drink as similar to a really creamy, indulgent hot chocolate. Next time we go I think I might be adventurous and try a hot Mince Pie milkshake.

Our college visits after our milkshake break went no better than it did before. Both Hertford and Exeter were closed to visitors, and I completely forgot about looking for Lincoln College. Caitlin was really disappointed about Exeter being closed because that was were J.R.R. Tolkien studied. We have seen things relating to Doctor Who and Harry Potter now, so it is only right that we should do something to add Lord of the Rings to that list. We just satisfied ourselves by agreeing to go another day.

Before stopping off at the grocery store for dinner supplies, we chose to take a final walk, this time down St. Giles Street, past the Martyrs' Memorial (where we met for the ghost tour on Halloween). We were in search of a cemetery. That sounds really strange but we have been meaning to find one since we got to Oxford. Reading gravestones and trying to imagine the life of the person buried there is a lot of fun, though it could be considered morbid as well.

War Memorial

There is a small cemetery next to the Martyrs' Memorial at St. Mary Magdalen Church but there is a fence around it. We continued down St. Giles Street, going farther than we ever have before. Along the way we noticed an open door to what appeared to be an Oxford University college. It ended up being St. John's College. We went into the small, circular inner courtyard paved in grey stone, but there was not anything to see. There wasn't even a bench to sit on. 

This little journey allowed us to see the City War Memorial which is still encircled with wreaths of plastic poppies put there during Remembrance Day on November 11. Beyond the Memorial we found our graveyard.

The graveyard was attached to St. Giles' Church, nestled between to busy streets. We stayed on the pathway and tried to read the weather-worn stones. I felt it would be disrespectful to go walking in the grass over the graves. The stones I could read were more recent than I had expected. Most were for people who died in the 1800s. It could be that this particular graveyard was more recent, or it was older and we just could not read the words on the more aged markers.

   

We covered a lot of ground in one day, visiting parts of Oxford we had never been to before. As there is only about three weeks left in the semester, I feel like my time to see everything is running out. I want to imprint the sights of Oxford into my memory so I can look back on them when I am back in the United States.