Weekend sightseeing

The Cathedral at Christ Church (College)


An interesting lane

Since our last update the weather has improved in Oxford. The temperatures are warmer, and some gentle rain combined with the temperatures to melt all the snow that greeted us when we arrived.

We have done some exploring and taken care of some business over the past few days. For example, Ken got his reader's card at the Bodleian Library of Oxford University--one of the largest, oldest, and most famous libraries in the world. Getting a reader's card requires a letter from the applicant's home institution, along with some paperwork specifying research interests, intended areas of study, and such. The most interesting part of the process is the fact that the library requires each applicant for a card to recite, aloud, an oath that has been used for applicants since the year 1412:

"I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, or to mark, deface, injure in any way, any volume, document, or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library or kindle therein any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library."

The oath was originally administered in Latin; luckily for me, they now do it in English. The woman who processed my application was very friendly and funny, but firm.

We took long walks on both Saturday and Sunday, exploring various parts of the city. On Sunday we had a fine sunny day for the first time since arriving, and explored some more of Oxford University. Merton College, one of the oldest of the colleges (1264), was open to visitors, so we strolled through the courtyards and among the ancient buildings there. Then we walked around another of the colleges, Christ Church (the largest of the colleges), and past Christ Church Meadow to the River Thames. Merton has a beautiful old chapel, and Christ Church has the smallest cathedral in England.

On Sunday we had an interesting lunch in a cafe called the Vault, in the ancient rooms beneath the 12th-century Church of St. Mary the Virgin. Oxford is sometimes called "The City of Dreaming Spires," a name that seems apt as we walk around and see all the ancient buildings with towers and spires that seem to reach toward the sky. In the neighborhood near our place we discovered a short little street called North Parade that has several small shops, a couple of cafes, and a couple of small pubs. We'll no doubt walk back there for dinner or a pint sometime soon.

Tonight (Tuesday) we'll attend another lecture in the St. Clare's series on censorship. Tonight's lecture will be given by a professor from St. Hugh's College of Oxford University. Ken will be the speaker next week, talking about attempts in American public schools to censor the science of Charles Darwin. Connie has scouted out a fabric shop in the city of Banbury a few miles to the north, so maybe before long we'll find a bus going that way and try to check it out.

We continue to find it remarkable that we're living in a city that has been home to academics for more than 800 years. It's reminiscent of the late Abraham Maslow, who loved walking in the commencement ceremonies at Brandeis University, he said, because he could envision himself one in a long line of scholars--imagining Aristotle, Plato, and all the ancients marching ahead of him, and, along with the students in line behind him all the great scholars yet to come. That feeling is alive and well in Oxford.

The chapel at Merton College which was founded in 1264

Corpus Christi College, founded in 1512

Radcliffe Camera finished in 1748 (camera is Latin word for room or chamber), originally a library