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| Canal into Oxford City |
Thursday we headed up to Oxford to catch up with Ros, our ex NZ English friend who has recently bought a home in the city of Oxford, which was only just over the hour north of where we are staying (via motorways of course). Stunning warm day, we arrived at Ros's who was still in town at work, parked the car and did a lovely 20 minute walk into town along the Thames River. Lots of alternative living along the river in some of the lovely canal boats.
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| Christ College Gardens |
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Our "Free" Guide is in red beside me
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We arrived into town just after mid day & was approached by a man doing "free 2 hour city tours" sounded like us we thought :) so till then we filled in the couple of hours wandering the delightful town, eating some lunch on the way ( so many choices of foods), coming across other "free 2 hour tours", all having their own pamphlets of what they are authorised to do and where they will take you. Bill made the right choice with the first guy, who took us around the city without actually going into the churches or University's but gave us a lot of history and showed us places of interest to go back to. Oxford is the home of the oldest university of the English speaking world - the prestigious Oxford University which was established in the 12th century. There are a total of 30 odd university colleges around the medieval centre of Oxford.
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| Grounds into University College |
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| The Examinations Hall |
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| The Bridge of Sighs linking Hertford College. |
The city was buzzing with students on bikes (lots of bikes) or foot and equal numbers of tourists. It had a real summery feel about the place with all the old trees out in fresh leaf, the gardens were perfectly trimmed, and lawns immaculately trimmed.
We really enjoyed our tour
(which did cost us £5 each as a donation, and well worth it. We found that they all had this way of charging)
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| Police on Bikes in hi viz |
It was then time to meet up with Ros at the Golden Cross, a 15th century building where William Shakespeare was rumoured to have had Hamlet played, for a wine or two. Then into another local Ros wanted us to visit and have cocktails. What a lovely introduction to Oxford.
It was then back to Ros's via bus thankully, and see her new home and all she has done since she bought it recently. She is amazing how she can visualise and transform rooms. It was a lovely catch up Ros, and to meet your friends.
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| Ros & I after a couple of wines & a cocktail! |
Friday we strolled around more of Oxford not so sunny today, visiting churches and the Varsity Club Bar to get a fantastic view out over Oxford (and a nice coffee). Met Ros and headed back to her place for lunch before returning to Winchester. It is a long weekend here in England (Bank Holiday they call it - banks are normally closed - similar to our public holidays. It was a lovely look at Oxford, which if time allows we will return to before returning to NZ. So many things to do........ only so much time........!
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| Coffee with a view in Oxford- 4th Floor |
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| The College Coffers trunk - look at the locks! |
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| Plenty of spires & turrets in Oxford |
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