Oxford

Our first day trip we hit up Oxford, a town made famous by its prestigious University, about an hours train ride north of London. First impression of the city was that it has amazing architecture. Oxford University was founded in 1167 when Henry II prohibited all English students from attending the University of Paris. The students then set up camp in Oxford and continued their love of learning. The University is made up of impressive buildings that were built from money donated by the rich and famous of the time. There are now more than 20,000 students in Oxford attending the University. We started our adventure with a visit to Oxford Castle (below).

Built by a Norman baron in 1071 the castle has a rich and colourful history. We took a guided tour (Oxford Castle - unlocked) to find out more about the castle. Most notably it was where Empress Matilda escaped a 3 month siege by being lowered from the walls dressed completely in white to camouflage her against the snow after a small disagreement on who should have the throne. The castle was eventually fell into a state of disrepair by the 14th century but done up again in 1888 to become a county jail. This jail housed some famous criminals including one of the Great Train Robbers. The view from the top was also one of the best in Oxford, to see all those 'dreaming spires'. The picture below is of us on a massive earth mound that used to house another stone tower.

The jail was only closed as recently as 1996, and has since been used as a film set for many movies and TV shows including Inspector Morse and Midsummer night murders (Dave, you can actually take a tour around Oxford specifically devoted to film locations for the show).

After the Castle we visited Christ Church (Christchurch, NZ's namesake) which is one of the largest of the 38 colleges that make up Oxford University. We had to visit here as a lot of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed here. Again, England showed how well they looked after their gardens.

These gardens were also the gardens that Lewis Carroll met Alice (Alice did actually exist), it was also here that he took photos of her on one of the first cameras in Britain. We then headed back to the covered markets and tucked into a great traditional lunch of home made pies and mushy peas.....mmmmm.

After lunch up we joined in the walking tour around the University and a select few Colleges. Lots of quirky interesting facts came out of this tour (too many to mention or write about!) and we also got a chance to go into the Colleges (we call them Halls of Residence in NZ) where students lived. Each college was unique but share the same features - rooms, dinning room, small chapel and a quad. Lou found it hard to look at these students and not feel stupid, as you know that they must be incredibly bright. Hamish on the other hand for some reason thought he could "smoke the exam" if he "wanted" to. Below are some of the pictures from the walking tour. Far left is inside one of the chapels (have forgotten exactly which one). Centre pictures is a sweet bridge connecting one of colleges and far right is Radcliffe Camera. 

We finished the evening up with a cider at a local pub and then onto dinner back at Oxford castle, where they have renovated some of the jail cells into a boutique hotel and restaurant - the Malmaison. It was very well done, and a good feed.

Highlight: Seeing the countryside after weeks of city scape

Lowlight: It was freezing! 3 layers of thermals for Louise.

Interesting fact #1: The Bodleian Library receives 1 copy of every single book printed in Britain, meaning they have over 9 million books.

Interesting fact #2: Penicillin was invented in Oxford. There is a garden commemorating/thanking them for the achievement.

Interesting fact #3: During our time here we have noticed that things in England seem to take awhile to get going and people start work really late in the day, this was even more apparent in Oxford when we arrived at 8.30am ready to have an action packed day and nothing opened until 10am.

Interesting fact #4: Uncle Joes mint balls are pure good.