Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Alphabet Soup
Well, we've made it to the "O's" and what better place is there that Oxford, England? Perhaps the ultimate college town - what better way to begin our examination of the bastion of higher leaning than a picture of a building with a shark through the roof. Nothing says "college town" like something this silly. If only I could have gotten my hands on something like this when I was in college.
This is probably the most famous view in Oxford -- "The Bridge of Sighs." It's named for the bridge of the same name in Venice, but has almost nothing in common with it. It's photogenic as can be and makes a great landmark for navigating the scholarly sections of town, but there doesn't seem to be much reason for the name. It was built in 1913 for reasons of convenience. It's mostly a part of physics operations there.
Here we are looking out of the courtyard at Brazenose College. Oxford is organized quite differently than an American university. What we would call, architecturally, a "quad" is a college over there and is far more than a dormitory, it's pretty much a self contained little world with meal service, tudors, etc.Brazenose is one of the few colleges open to public inspection and it is an interesting look into the world of English academia, though quite cursory. Most colleges are centered on a chapel -- imagine that -- though used more for music concerts now than worship in many cases, it's still nice to note that the roots of academic excellence lie not in opposition to faith, but in faith itself.
Oxford, in addition ot being the center of education in England for centuries has played an important role governmentally as well. Often serving as the meeting place for Parliment historically it may be one of the historically richest cities in England, with London and Cantebury.
And here is the best reason to visit Oxford - The "Eagle and Child" pub, commonly called the "Bird and Babe" it was home to the Inklings. For those precious few not in the know, the Inkings was an informal group of Oxford writers, centered on two relative lightweights - CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien - which met Tuesdays in this pub for lunch and a pint and to talk stories. Here Lewis and Tolkien read Narnia and Middle-Earth to each other and helped each other develop their tales.The Inklings picture sits in their regular booth. It was perhaps the greatest thrill of my first trip to the UK to sit in that booth and drink a pint. One tried to hear the conversation that had passed that table and could dream such grand dreams....
