Oxford
In an effort to reward myself for a good first week, I decided to go to Oxford and poke around for the better part of a day. The train ride from Reading to Oxford is fairly short (about 30 minutes); however, they were doing construction on the tracks and the commuter bus doubled the commute time. I was okay with this because it meant that I got to see more of the countryside.
Having laid out a pretty ambitious itinerary, my day started early and I arrived just as things began to open. I had covered a piece of paper with directions, opening times, and notes for things to see. My route was a circuit around the town to some of the more major sites. The first stop was the Ashmolean Museum, the oldest public museum in England. It was full of Greek and Roman artifacts, but also contained a substantial amount of material from Asia and Europe. The collection on display was concise and approachable. I overheard another visitor comment that this museum was much more digestible in an afternoon than the British Museum, and I have to agree. The most interesting non-ancient display they had was about conservation practices and issues. The Egyptian collection opens late next month, so I will have to sneak another visit in after it opens.
After thoroughly wearing my feet down, I walked around the corner to the Eagle and Child pub. This particular establishment was frequented by both Tolkien and CS Lewis, and many of my friends had mentioned it was decent. I had a nice Sunday roast chicken dinner and a glass of porter. Some other foreigners (all girls doing a study abroad in Bristol) invited me to dine with them. It was a kind gesture, and I enjoyed making small talk with them.
After the meal was over I walked to the Natural History Museum. As expected it was overrun with families and the atmosphere was a sharp contrast to the mellow one at the Ashmolean. However, the lively excitement of a five-year-old seeing a T. Rex skeleton for the first time is pretty hard to top. The Pitt Rivers Anthropology Museum was next, connected as a backroom appendage to the Natural History Museum. It still had the traditional display cases chock full of artifacts. Some displays were of an artifact assemblage of a particular culture, whereas others showed a cross-cultural comparison of, say, flutes. I found the room very overwhelming and left rather quickly.
I continued down the street further into the university to see some colleges and other buildings. After poking around the Radcliffe Camera area, I headed back towards the train station through a bustling shopping area. I went into a few shops (mostly selling stationery, books, and accessories) to see what was offered and then made my way back to the train station.
Photos (I’m continually updating the same album throughout this term):
You are, as always, awesomely adventurous to do all these things by yourself! Go you! I loved the Oxford nat. hist. mus. — the Gothic-inspired interior is the perfect foil for the dino skellies.