I Am In The Oxford Vein Today

When you can't think of a good blog title, just paraphrase a line from Shakespeare. It makes you feel so much smarter. 

Speaking of the man from Stratford (William Shakespeare), I didn't see a single pub sign claiming that he had caroused there, or written a play there (like the one I saw in Windsor). That confirms my impression that Oxford is too cool for that kind of misinformation. In fact, I thought I saw an old sign on the original Town Wall that had a picture of Shakespeare on it and said "Call security if you see this man." It was dark, so maybe I'm wrong. I wouldn't want to spread any misinformation.

Even though we're back in Uxbridge, I've been gathering up some of the Oxford photos that I haven't posted yet.

Maybe "left here" means "overnight" or "more than 8 hours."

These statues are of various emperors. They surround a building that's used for a ceremony to matriculate new Oxford students.

If you study hard, you too can apply for those vacant emperor jobs.

The Ivory Towers of Academia. They're actually here.

Maria and Robin ponder the academia of the ivory towers. 

An old house on Cornmarket Street.

Lots of reminders in town that Oxford has been around for a while.

Cornmarket street again.

Not your average small town.

Entering the Bodleian Library courtyard.

In the Bodleian courtyard.

Also in the Bodleian courtyard is a bronze statue of William Herbert, oldest son of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. He and his brother Philip were two of the wealthiest and most powerful men in England, after the king (King James). He might not have gone in The Turf or The Bear where the lower class types were drinking, but I'm guessing he knew where they were.

The Carfax Tower

The Carfax Tower is the center of Oxford. It's name is somehow derived from a French word for "crossroads" (quatre-face). You'll have to take my word for it - doesn't make much sense to me either.  The tower was originally part of a 13th century church. Today it provides a nice 360° view of Oxford.

To be an Oxford student, you must live on the campus of your college, or within six miles of this tower.

 

Maria and Robin climb the tower. This is the middle section of three flights of spiral stairs, some of them stone.

Looking towards Christ Church from the tower. From here you can often see Hogwarts students engaged in games of quidditch.

Maria looks over Oxford. The square tower in the background is Merton College, one of the three oldest colleges here. Robin studied there during two different summer semesters. Or at least that's what she said. After being here myself, I'm wondering why all the pub bartenders know her. Just kidding. 

Gotta have at least one photo like this. At least we're not planking or Tebowing.

The round dome in the background is The Camera, a former library that now serves as reading rooms for the Bodleian Library.

Looking down on the High. The street in the foreground is Cornmarket, a popular pedestrian street. Most English towns have a High Street, similar to Main Street in America. But only in Oxford is High Street called "the High." 

Providing information you never knew you needed. That's my mission statement.

The Bear

If you happened to be in Oxford anytime between 1242 and today, you could have stopped by this place for some ale or a meal. It's at the corner of Alfred and Blue Boar Street. It was originally a coaching inn, a place for coach travelers, named Parne Hall, then Le Tabard, then changed to The Bear in the 15th century. The present building was built in the early 1600s as a residence for the inn's ostler (the guy who took care of the horses). At some point it became the Jolly Trooper and in 1774 became The Bear. 

Robin and Maria approach The Bear.

Two American women at The Bear. This is obviously where the action is. And I'm willing to bet Bill Clinton stopped by here at least once. 

Ordering pub food and cider.

Heather served up cider, food, and local information. Including directions to The Turf Tavern.

The walls and even one of the ceilings of The Bear are covered with snipped-off neckties. In 1952 the landlord started a popular custom. For half of your necktie you could get a half-pint of beer. There are over 4,000 neckties here. Each one is identified with a note. Most of them are associated with a club, sports team, or school.

Our table has a nice view of Blue Boar Street.

I prefer real fireplaces in my drinking establishments. 

Another pub crossed off the list and we head towards High Street. Or, as they say here, the High.

The Turf Tavern, 1381

While in The Bear pub having lunch, the bartender gave us directions to Turf Tavern (or "The Turf"). These two pubs are the oldest in Oxford. The Bear is technically older, but the part of the original building that survived, and that the pub now occupies, was probably used as horse stables back in the 1200s.

The Turf Tavern, on the other hand, has been in continuous use as a pub and tavern since at least 1381, as evidenced by a tax imposed by King Richard II. The tavern appears to have changed its name at some point early on from The Spotted Cow to Turf Tavern to reflect its reputation as a gambling venue. Patrons would meet their "turfmen" (or "turf accountants") here to place bets on just about anything, including the tavern's namesake (sort of), horses. 

Directions: Go under the Bridge of Sighs. It's called the Bridge of Sighs because it looks like the original Bridge of Sighs in Venice which was, at one time, a passageway for convicted criminals from prison to their execution. 

After passing under the Bridge of Sighs, take the first alley on the left, St. Helens Passage. You can also see it in the top photo, just past the bridge.

Robin and Maria in St. Helens Passage.

Looks like that could be a tavern courtyard ahead. 

Turf Tavern's entrance, on the right. The tavern is surrounded on three sides by outdoor courtyards. 

Robin and Maria check out the signs in the front courtyard.

You can bet this guy was here a lot when he was going to school in Oxford. The pubs here give me a whole new perspective on the phrase "Oxford scholar."

In courtyard at the back of the Turf Tavern, the wall is the original Oxford Town Wall.

Checking out the history and ales of the Turf.

Busier inside than it looked from the outside. 

Perfect slogan for an Oxford Ale House.

Another entrance to The Turf Tavern courtyard from another alley. Or maybe it was a small street. Hard to tell. I love this place.

Hogwart's Great Hall

The Great Hall in Harry Potter's school at Hogwarts School of Wizardry is actually the Great Hall at Christ Church College. The name "Christ Church College" is considered technically incorrect because it ignores the fact that it's also a cathedral. It's the only college in the world that's also a cathedral. 

The planning and building of Christ Church was started in 1525 by Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor of England under King Henry VIII (he showed up a lot in the TV mini-series The Tudors). In 1529 Wolsey fell out of favor. With the construction three-quarters complete, it sat unfinished. It was finished and refounded in 1532 as King Henry VIII's College. Then refounded again by King Henry VIII in 1546 as Christ Church (after he broke with the Church of Rome and acquired great wealth through the dissolution of monasteries in England). I guess that means the monasteries meant to do good, and they ended up doing great.

The visitors entrance where lots of Harry Potter fans gather for a tour. 

Maria in The Hall where Harry Potter and his schoolmates were served their meals. Well, actually, the Great Hall in the Harry Potter movies was inspired by this Hall and built as a movie set on an indoor sound stage. The current students of Christ Church had just finished lunch, and the staff was still putting things in order. 

The High Table is in the background, at the end of the room. It's where the faculty, special guests, and high-ranking wizards sit during meals. The faculty wears their graduation gowns. It's more prestigious to wear your MA graduation gown than your PhD gown (if your MA degree is from Oxford) because Oxford awarded MAs long before they awarded PhDs. Robin got to sit at the High Table at Regent's College when she was a guest of Lynn's. She also sat at the High Table of Merton College the couple of times she took a summer course there. During the Merton summer classes, a different student is invited to eat at the High Table for each meal.

A monument in the Christ Church Chapel. I've included it as one of many reasons I don't work in marble. It's just too darn difficult to adjust fonts, point sizes, and margins later. 

Harry Potter fans (or maybe King Henry VIII groupies) check out the main courtyard. 

It looks so... 16th century.

I'd love to see these vines in Spring or Summer.

A tenor rehearses in the chapel. Great acoustics. Sounded very 16th century.

The bell in the tower (Great Tom) is rung every night at 9 p.m. 101 times for the original 100 scholars of the school and one other scholar added in 1664. Originally this was done at midnight to signal the midnight closing of all college gates throughout Oxford. Since it took 20 minutes to ring the bell 101 times, the Christ Church gates weren't closed until 12:20. Even though the ringing has been moved to 9:30 p.m., Christ Church retains the tradition of keeping their gates open until 12:20.

Dinner at The Eagle and Child

The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford is famous for being the hangout of The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and other noteworthy writers and scholars of their day. They referred to the pub as The Bird and Baby. This place has been in business since 1650. That sounds pretty old, but not as old as The Turf Tavern or The Bear (more on them later).

After spending the day strolling around Oxford, we walked to Regent's Park College to meet our friend Lynn, who teaches there, and her son James. They also have tickets for the Hamlet production at Blackwell Bookshop later in the evening. It's just a short walk from Regent's College to The Eagle and Child.

The Eagle and Child is a long, narrow pub that goes back, room after room. The food was great. I had Haddock Fishcakes and chips. It was fabulous. Also Scottish cider and hot mulled wine. 

James and Lynn chat outside the Bird and Baby.

As we walked to Blackwell Bookshop, we passed a large monument to three martyrs, named Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer. They were two archbishops and one bishop who became protestant and were condemned by Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) to be burned alive. About a block away, in the middle of the street and just a few doors from Blackwell Bookshop, are the stones where, in 1555, Latimer and Ridley were burned while Cranmer was forced to watch. He recanted to avoid this fate, but Queen Mary didn't believe he was sincere and he was burned anyway, which made him repudiate his recantation. Bloody Mary was responsible for 300 people being burned alive. 

After this, Hamlet is almost a romantic comedy. 

What a rogue and peasant slave am I!

Is it not monstrous that I, in a fiction, in a dream of passion, have been strolling around ye olde Oxford among scholars and ancient universities?

If I sound strange, it's because we not only spent Monday in Oxford, we also attended a performance of Hamlet Monday night at Blackwell Bookshop, after a delicious dinner with Oxford friend Lynn, her son James, and our roommate Maria, at the Eagle & Child pub. 

Blackwell Bookshop is in the heart of Oxford. In more ways than one.

The stage was set up in the basement room of the store. After the store closes, chairs will be set up in the raised area where Robin is walking.

We found one of our new books on the shelf at Blackwell. I'm wishing now that we had taken the time to write it in iambic pentameter. 

The director welcomed us and told us this is experimental theater and to expect anything. He said "I'm the director, but before the night is over you'll probably ask yourself 'What did he direct?’" He noted that the actors had not even had any rehearsals, then called upon two actors who know the role of Hamlet. Each actor picked an audience member as their "champion." The two champions played a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to determine which actor would get the part of Hamlet. This process was repeated for all of the main parts, then the play began.

People were asked to bring props of any kind. Actors would occasionally grab props from the audience and work them into the scene. For example, for the sword fight scene between Hamlet and Laertes at the end of the play, there were no sword props. Each of the actors did have a glove, however. They fought and struggled to put a glove on each other's hand. So weird. But creative. During the graveyard scene Hamlet speaks to a teapot lid instead of Yorick's skull. Well, we didn't come here to see just any ordinary production, now did we? 

The actors take their bows and applaud the audience. The groundling area around the stage was for audience and players.

All the actors were great, especially Hamlet, the bald guy on the right.

As we left Blackwell's bookshop for the bus stop that would get us back to Uxbridge, I noticed this chalk art on the sidewalk. 

As we left, Hamlet's words echoed inside my head: "The cat will mew and dog will have his day." I don't know what that means, or how it applies to this blog, but I'm just a rogue and peasant slave. Maybe you can figure it out.