Oxford

 And so to Lewis country - both CS the writer and Robert the detective. There are stationery and book shops everywhere along with Alice memorabilia, guided tour operators, tourists and students on bicycles (they have just started back at uni). The train trip is only about an hour from where we are staying so it was a pleasant journey. This sign tickled John's fancy, as the main street is Broad Street.
Our first stop was to book a walking tour, which took us to and through Balliol College, one of Oxford's 38 colleges, working with nearly 24,000 students from around the world. 
The dining room  (below)will be recognisable to Harry Potter fans, but the students eat 3 meals a day in this room. The difference in noise levels within the quadrangle and then when you walk back out to the street, is incredible. The Virginia creeper is changing colour all over the place and the gardens are still lovely.

This is Oxford's version of The Bridge of Sighs. The walkway makes it easier for students to get from one side of Hertford College to the other. When they graduate they apparently have their photos taken under the bridge, throwing their mortar boards into the air. It is supposed to be a closer copy of the Rialto bridge in Venice, not the actual Bridge of Sighs.






Broard Street, Oxford, and like The Netherlands, watch out for cyclists!



The Bodleian Libraries is a collection of 28 libraries, of whichthe Bodleian Library, right, and together they hold more than 12 million print copies. The first 3 editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are held here.

This map is on display in the foyer of the Bodleian. It's the Sheldon Tapestry Map of Worcestershire - one of 4 commissioned in the late 1500's, and is about 20feet (6m) across.The Bodleian owns the Oxfordshire (on display in the Ashmolean Museum) and Glouscestershire tapestries as well. The info says the scale is 1:25,000 and towns and villages can be traced on modern day maps of the area and took 4 men a year to create each tapestry. The four originally hung in the home of Ralph Sheldon, so the rooms must have been huge.

A visit to the Ashmolean took up the rest of our visit. What an amazing place. The collection of fob watches would delight the White Rabbit and a few people we know who collect watches and clocks.






These nautilus shells are so intricately carved!


Seen today: No-one walking on the grass at any of the quadrangles; Settings from Lewis that we recognised; pubs called The Old Book Binder, the Rusty Bicycle and the Turf tavern which boasts you'll get  'an education in intoxication'.