Oxford: Land of the Scholar

And so today my train journey came to an end with a visit to Oxford, which is home to the top university in the world. After dropping off my backpack at a local hostel, I headed into town. thinkers, and leaders and will continue to do so for years to come. During the English Civil War, the city was the capital for the royalists, and there are several markers commemorating the King’s cause. Despite being a center of learning, the town also has a history of violence. Like many college towns, relations between student and townie haven’t always been great, but unlike most other places citizens and students in Oxford have fought several civil wars with each other. Indeed, Cambridge University was originally formed by oxford professors who fled the town so they could teach without the threat of violence. All this combines into a city that has enough history in its walls to satisfy the requirements for a history degree.

Now Oxford University is made up of several colleges, and the first one I visited was Trinity. Each college acts as a self0contained unit and Trinity is no different. Its price of admission was lower than Christ College, which I would visit later and its atmosphere seemed more relaxed. The chapel on the college was partly designed by Christopher wren, a noted architect who designed the Wren Building in William and Mary. Yes, there’s some controversy about how actually designed it, but they called it the Wren building so I’m sticking with that.

After leaving Trinity College, I headed over to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. The steeple of the church offers a stunning view of the city and is worth the 3 pound asking price. From there I visited the Radcliffe Camera, a reading room and one of the cities architectural marvels. From there I walked the grounds of the Boden Library complex, one of the largest libraries in the world. While the public isn’t admitted into the buildings since it’s considered “disruptive,” I still got a sense of the vast amount of information and knowledge hidden within the walls. Indeed, I had to restrain myself from storming in and demanding a library card.

Following a leisurely walk around the city, during which I passed by several other colleges (sadly, closed ot the public) and Oxford’s 1,000 year old castle, I headed over to Christ Church College, aka Hogwarts. Several filming locations are present at the site and the Great Hall here was the model for the dining hall in the films. Founded by Cardinal Wolsey during the reign of Henry VIII , the college is the biggest of the schools in Oxford and contains both magnificent grardens and, political graffiti. The “No-Peel” graffiti refers to PM Peel (an oxford grad) who worked to give English Catholics the right to vote. Apparently, a student wasn’t too fond of this idea, and the graffit stands as a reminder that a college degree doesn’t equate to tolerance. Oxford grad Christopher Wren’s handiwork can be found here as well, in its magnificent bell tower.

Also present at Christ church was the magnificent Chapel, which serves as the Cathedral for the city. Thee site actually predates the university and despite being attacked during the Reformation the Chapel remains a site to be seen. One of the oldest examples of medieval stained glass can be found in a depiction of the Murder of Beckett. Nearby, the sister of Alice Liddell, who inspired Christ Church professor Lewis Carroll to write Alice in Wonderland, can be found in a stained glass depiction of St. Alexandria. During the English Civil War Charles I prayed here, but it turns out that God was Parliamentarian so the king’s prayers went unheard. The site also boasts a beatiufl collection of Renaissance Art.

My second to last stop was Exeter College. While small this college still boosts a lot of charm (although the attempt to match medieval and modern architecture in several buildings looked weird). The Chapel contains a memorial to all those who died during WWI. A gentlemen leaving the building noted that of the 3,00 Oxford students who left to fight only 1000 came back, with the resting dying in the trenches of Europe. My final stop was the museum of the History of the Sciences. Here were the scientific instruments of the centuries, astrolabes, telescopes, microscopes all donated to the museum. One can only think of the wonderful discoveries made by the scientists using these instruments.

After leaving Oxford I headed back to Exeter, but my travels were only just beginning…

In the Land of Shakespeare

Unlike many other great authors, Shakespeare's life was fairly normal compared with the works that he produced. While others such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, and Kate Chopin have lives that could form the basis for books and films, Shakespeare's life is more mundane. The son of a middle-class father and mother, he married young and went to London to seek his fortune. He wrote plays, achieved acclaim, lost one child (a common occurrence during those days), and then retired. Indeed, most of the attention on Shakespeare's life has to do with the question of whether or not he actually wrote his plays, considering his lack of formal education (my guess: yes he did). However, the plays that he wrote are some of the greatest works of literature the world has ever seen, and it was quite a privilege to visit the town where his story began.

I arrived in the evening, and took a leisurely walk through this quiet town full of small canals. For you Shakespeare fans, I have to say that this place is heaven. The central square is filled with statues of the Bard and his many creations. The streets are filled with places named after the plays and characters. Indeed, the boats on the river are named after the Shakespearian character (although naming a boat after Ophelia seems like a recipe for bad luck). Are they trying to milk the legacy for everything they can? Yes, but the overall affect is pleasant rather than tacky, at least in my opinion.

The next morning, I left the B&B (no hostels available in Stratford, so I got to have a proper English breakfast) and headed off to my first stop, Shakespeare’s birthplace. In this house, which is mostly original, is the room where Shakespeare was born. It also contains the graffiti of the many people who have visited to pay tribute to the bard. The house itself was fairly modest by today’s standards, but for the time would have been considered middle-class. Shakespeare’s father was an enterprising man who made a fair amount of money on the wool-trade. That being said, Shakespeare received only a basic education, but that didn’t stop him from writing some of the greatest dramatic works that the world has ever seen.

Having visited the site of the Bard’s birth, I visited the place where his journey came to an end, New Place. The original house where Shakespeare spent his last days and wrote such plays as The Tempest is no longer there, instead a small garden and some foundations mark residence. Next to the foundations is Nash’s House, the home of Shakespeare’s granddaughter, which has been restored to its original appearance.

After Nash’s House, I paid a visit to Hall’s Croft. This was the house of Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her husband, John. Like Nash’s house, this residence was an exceptional example of Tudor architecture. In addition, it also contained an excellent exhibit on medicine during Shakespeare’s day. Needless to say, one did not want to become ill back then.

My next stop was the Church of the Holy Trinity, Shakespeare’s final resting place. The tombstone is located within the church, near the alter, with the words, “Bleste be ye man yt spares thes stones,/ And cvrst be he yt moves my bones”. This curse is the reason that Shakespeare’s remains have not be moved to a more magnificent tomb. On the nearby wall hang a bust of Shakespeare. Sculpted while his wife Anne Hathaway was still alive, this is probably the best likeness there is of him. When Shakespeare died, the poet Ben Johnson stated that, “he was not of this age, but for all time!” A fitting epithet.

My last stop of the day was at Anne Hathaway’s cottage. It was here that Shakespeare met and courted his wife. The cottage contains several beautiful gardens and, like the other houses, is a an excellent example of Tudor architecture. However, I was a little confused by the fact that the place was billed as an extremely romantic spot. The story of Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway was not what one would call a storybook romance. The two met, kinda dated, she got knocked up, he had to marry her, and then he went to London and didn’t see her for years on end. The house is a top-notch attraction to be sure, but I wouldn’t call it romantic.

That evening, I headed to the theatre. The Royal Shakespeare Company, one of the finest theatre companies in the world, is based in Stratford and I had tickets. Unfortunately, they weren’t showing any Shakespeare shows that week, but the the performance I saw, The Empress, was quite good. Telling the story of a group of Indian immigrants to Great Britain during the time of Queen Victoria, the story started out a little slow, but had me, and the audience, completely memorized by the final scene. It was interesting to compare the reactions of the mostly British audience with the reactions of myself and a group of Canadian tourists. We all laughed at different parts (although a joke about English weather had the entire audience in stitches), responded to the characters differently, but in the end we all enjoyed the performance, which speaks to ability of theatre to reach across borders. As I headed back to my B&B after the performance, I had one last stop ahead of me, the famous college town of Oxford.