The next few days consisted of getting settled in and exploring the city (and getting my first smart phone). The picture above was taken at Christ Church College. The most surprising thing about this city is how many buses there are. I think I've seen more buses here than in DC! The city is also incredibly bike friendly. There are some roads you can only bike down because they are blocked off or are too small for a car. The bad thing about this town is that basically everything closes at 5 on Sundays. There are also a bunch of homeless people, and they all seem to have scruffy dogs with them. Fun fact: restaurants were already advertising their Christmas dinners in September.
More photos of the city and Christ Church are below the jump:
Cornmarket Street is a main street in Oxford, and cars are not permitted on it (there are rising bollards to let in any vehicles that need to be on it). There are always musicians out, and it is usually quite busy. It also has interesting benches:
Broad Street is another big street, and cars are not allowed on part of it. It's very broad. ha. The Sheldonian Theatre is on it.
Christ Church College:
You might recognize this from Harry Potter:
Radcliffe Square/Bodleian Library/Sheldonian Theatre:
The Radcliffe Camera is that big round building. It is a library, and you can't take books out of it. I also don't think you can get books on your own - the staff has to get them for you. Not that I know -- I don't think I'll ever be using books from the library (or at least this library). They check your bag when you leave to make sure you don't have any books, so you end up waiting in a line if you leave at the time the library closes. Oddly enough, the bathroom closes half an hour before the library closes. You have to swipe your card to enter AND exit the reading room, which is a silent study area. No food or drink allowed. It closes at 10 on weekdays, 4 on Saturdays, and 5 on Sundays.
The lighting in the RadCam is way more pleasant than the institutional lighting of Lau. There are no cubicles though. I haven't been on the upper floor yet.
These two towers are inside All Souls College. There are no students there, just fellows. They have a famously tough exam. Google it.
This is part of the main Bodleian library. I haven't been inside yet.
This is the Sheldonian Theatre, where we matriculate (and graduate if we're still around Oxford when we can get a graduation ceremony -- otherwise we graduate in absentia).
Waterways:
Oxford has two rivers running through it - the Thames and the Cherwell. Unlike Cambridge, rivers don't run through the city centre.
This is the Thames river. This bridge is a little bit down from the city centre.
You can also walk along the canals. There are many long boats.
"If you are a tourist, you'll have to fork up the 8 or so pounds to get into select areas of the college grounds."
ReplyDeleteOR you can just walk in and pretend like you know where you're going and hope no one stops you!