Oxford

On our third full day of tour (July 5th) we awoke early and caught our motor coach for the drive to North Wales. While we were going to spend a lot of time on the bus, the itinerary had a pair of stops built in for some great sight seeing.



Our first pause was in the college town of Oxford, where just about everybody had to buy a University of Oxford sweatshirt. There are actually dozens of colleges that make up the University of Oxford, and we toured Braenose college and its very picturesque environs, located right in the center of town.



Of course the whole city was so darned picturesque I'm surprised my camera didn't overheat from all the shooting. I suppose the only thing that saved it was that we only had a couple of hours there.



This HDR image is of the Braenose quad, and behind the college buildings you can see the Radcliffe Camera. This is now the reading room for the Bodleian Library, which as an institution dates back to 1602.





Right next door to the Camera is a very nice little church, one of many dotted throughout the city. A mere three pounds gave access to the spire, and a wonderful view of the area. The clouds that had been chasing us since we left London almost caught up with us at this point, and turned the glorious blue skies to a very leaden gray.







Still and all, I really enjoyed my brief visit to Oxford, and would love to go back. Preferably as a student... though I suppose that would be unlikely! Our next stop was the town of Stratford and the phenomenon of William Shakespeare.