The City of Dreaming Spires

It's almost like the opening sequence from an episode of Endeavour as we drive towards Oxford in the brilliant morning sunshine with Beethoven's Emperor Concerto playing on the car radio. We take our host's advice and only drive as far as the Peartree Park 'n Ride before hopping on a bus into the city centre. Although it's early, Oxford is already bustling when we arrive. Our first stop is the tourist office where we sign up to a 2-hour walking tour. As we have some time to kill before the tour starts we visit Blackwell's bookshop - something of an Oxford institution. I'm sad we only have time to go there to feed Ross' cappuccino habit, rather than to browse, but with floors and floors of books, we'd have to spend a whole day there to do it any justice.

Back on the High Street, there are crowds of tourists assembling in groups for various walking tours in different languages. We find our guide and so begins a tiring but amazing tour of Oxford grandeur. We wander past the Sheldonian Theatre, where graduation ceremonies still take place entirely in Latin. From the outside of the Divinity School, we see the door added by Sir Christopher Wren in the 17th Century. There is a book motif high up on the door frame with an inscription in Greek from St Luke's Gospel which reads, 'They found Him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors'. It's a bit of a tradition apparently for graduands to stand under the book before they make their way across the courtyard and into the Sheldonian to receive their degrees. My own graduation ceremony is still very fresh in my mind so it's nice to soak up a bit of Oxford graduation magic.

One of many beautiful views of Oxford University buildings

Grand doorways all

Outside the Divinity School

The Wren door with book and inscription

We soon discover that Oxford is as famous for its links to the Harry Potter movie franchise as it is for its University and centuries old traditions. There is plenty of HP merchandise on sale and when we actually go inside the Divinity School, we're told that it stood in for the Hogwarts infirmary. Personally I was more taken with the vaulted ceilings and magnificent windows.  

Divinity School

Divinity School ceiling

Although it's a Saturday and summer holidays, the University is still working (all those postgrads and researchers beavering away!) so we're only shown the outside of the Bodleian Library. We are allowed into certain colleges so we walk around New College and the beautiful Trinity College. It's all grand dining halls, chapels and walled gardens, age-old quadrangles and stone buildings that emanate history and learning.

Radcliffe Camera - built in the 18th Century and part of the Bodleian Library 

More Oxford vistas

The Bridge of Sighs

Trinity College

By the time the tour finishes, we are both hungry and tired. We swap the old for the new and walk through the main shopping precinct to the new Westgate Centre. There is a rooftop promenade with lots of eateries so we settle on a Japanese restaurant and indulge in some sushi (rice! splendid!). After lunch we retrace our steps and return to the Weston Library where earlier, we'd spied a free exhibition on Tolkien's artwork and draft manuscripts. Although it's free we have to get tickets from the front desk ... We end up leaving disappointed as the library has already allocated its quota of tickets for the day. Bit weird that a free exhibition should have a quota but there's nothing for it so we must leave.

We arrived this morning in a city bathed in beautiful sunshine and a dazzling blue sky but as the day has wore on, clouds have moved in and the wind has picked up. As it's mid-afternoon we call it a day and take the bus back to our car and back to the comfort of our room for some much needed rest before dinner.