Oxford University is the oldest English-speaking university in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford There are those who say it is also the best university in the world. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49666979 It seemed an appropriate place then to see Stephen Fry (http://www.stephenfry.com/ ) and his one-man talk on Mythos; Men. It fit our schedule and is easy to get to by taking the Great Western Railroad train out of Paddington Station. Oxford is both a university and a town. The town is made up of the Castle, the individual Colleges, and the support venues necessary for a university and town. While the streets are confusing, it is not possible to be blown off course as Odysseus was, all you need do is turn at the next corner. The weekend was something of an adventure, but not of mythic proportions.
After arriving via the train and leaving our bags at our hotel, the Malmaison (within the Castle), we headed out for the Botanical Gardens https://www.obga.ox.ac.uk/ via the Christ Church Meadow. https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/visiting-christ-church/meadow This was a lovely walk on a beautiful day. The Botanical Gardens burst with color from the variety of fall plantings. After lunch we walked back to Christ Church to tour the complex when it reopened at 2:15 pm. https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/ The grounds house both the Cathedral and College buildings. Of particular interest to Harry Potter fans; Christ Church Hall was the model for Hogwarts Great Hall. The actual Bodley Tower staircase to the hall, was used as a set within many of the movies. https://www.experienceoxfordshire.org/venue/christ-church-college/ Harry Potter aside, the Hall, Stairs, and the Frideswide Cathedral were all very much worth visiting.
As we left Christ Church at 4:30, we found that most other locations of interest were closing or already closed. As the day was beautiful, we had planned our visits to museums and the Covered Market for Sunday which was forecast for rainy weather. But we had learned during our hotel registration that the Market has a restaurant/bar (The Varsity Club) on its roof top area – we headed there. https://tvcoxford.co.uk/# Fabulous; a Spritz and a great view. As the day wound down, it was time to head back to the hotel and prepare for our evening with Stephen Fry.
I did not want to miss a chance to see Stephen Fry in person while we are London-based. I appreciate his intellect and humor. For many years in the UK, Fry was the host of a trivia inspired panel program, QI (Quite Interesting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QI He has since left the program, which is available in reruns, and has been replaced as host by Susan Toksvig (Great British Bakeoff) We very much like this show. Stephen Fry has in the meantime created a book and talk series based on the Greek myths. https://stephenfrymythoslive.com/ Oxford was one of 40 locations we could have selected. The New Theater in Oxford is a nice venue. It is well maintained and unfortunately for me, the seats had been re-stuffed and re-covered; they were too fluffy for my feet to reach the floor. There was plenty of leg room, so it was comfortable enough for both of us. The presentation by Stephen Fry did not disappoint.
We returned to the hotel ready to call it a day. Unfortunately, we learned a lesson about accepting a room which is over a restaurant/bar. The electronica music did not stop until after 1:00 in the morning, the bar did not close until 2:00. We had a pretty good sleep after that.
The next morning, we went to the Covered Market to browse the shops. Many were not open because it was Sunday, but we didn’t need fresh meat or fish anyway. Several craft shops were open and that was enough for us. http://oxford-coveredmarket.co.uk/ From here it was on to the History of Science Museum. https://hsm.ox.ac.uk/ Quite the interesting collection of the tools of science and includes their treasure of a blackboard completed by Albert Einstein during a lecture at Oxford. Next stop was to be the Bodleian Library. https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ Aside from being a beautiful, old, really old library, this is another stop on the Harry Potter tour with several rooms and hallways being used in various movies. While we waited for our tour to begin, we crossed the street to the affiliated Weston Library which had a café and a great display on Maps.
After the libraries we walked out to see the Bridge of Sighs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_of_Sighs_(Oxford) Again, by 5:00 pm most venues were closing or closed. We took another lap around the town center while a lone saxophone busker played in the square – I had not heard “The Shadow of your Smile” for many years. A lovely way to end the day.
Back to the train station, back to Paddington, back to Chiswick, back to work on Monday for Andy.