One of my best friends from Canada came to visit and we did a day trip to Oxford. It was cold and windy (a common theme) but what blew me away was Oxford. Growing up in Western Canada, we don’t have a lot of really old anything. Sidebar: I was lucky enough to go to Wanuskawin (www.wanuskewin.com) several times, a beautiful Canadian Aboriginal heritage spot where a sliver of Aboriginal culture dating back more than 6000yrs.
The architecture is what struck me first. I said to S, even if you didn’t know the date of building, you can tell everything is freaking old! This notion is very exciting to me. The idea of everything being lit and heated by fire is hard to grasp. Walking around buildings that have been in existence for hundreds of years was surreal. (Christchurch was built in 1529, well 3/4 of it anyway, and Oxford has been a place of teaching from at least 1096, so the year I graduated high school, Oxford was at least 900 yrs old. My little Canadian mind blown).
There was so much to see so S and I chose to ride the tourist bus and pick one place to visit We picked Christchurch Cathedral.
The gardens around the Cathedral and College were so green and thick, pretty much like a postcard. We took most of our photos outside.
A few selfies in the Tom Quad once we had past through the Cloister Garden.
I only took one photo in the Church it’s self.
There was very little stained glass. This is painted glass, quite beautiful. According to the docent nearly all of the widows were painted glass, but they little such little light in most were removed and clear panes installed. I may have taken more pics but between the ABC (another bloody cathedral) phenomenon and Britton desperately needing to eat an avocado or he was going to die, pics inside were limited to this one.
After Christchurch we went in the hunt for a true pub. We hopped back on the bus and ended up getting off at The White Horse Pub. It was tiny! There were ppl in every corner and no room to manoeuvre a stroller and three yr old. Britton, thinking that every time we go to pub me meet Daddy, walked through the whole pub calling “DADDY! DADDY!” at the top of his lungs. Needless to say it got everyone’s attention and now D has a reputation as a pub hound in Oxford. I wish I had a video of it. I was priceless.
We had to settle on another pub. The King’s head I think. S and I had a toast to our day and our visit and a great English meal.
All in all, a quick but fun first trip to Oxford. We plan to go back for the Christmas Market and lights. We may have to avoid The White Horse though. I wouldn’t want D to feel shame! LOL!
weRNtheBritzone 