Monday, April 02, 2007

Oxford: City of Aquatint


Let me get a few of the pictures up if nothing else (Radcliffe Camera pictured above), so you can share a little of the beauty of this medieval center of learning. Oxford and Cambridge were the first universities in England; Chaucer's "Clerk of Oxenford" would likely have learned his trivium and quadrivium and gone into the priesthood. Nowadays, the beauties of Christ Church College at Oxford (below left)are primarily known as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.

The time I happened to be there, it was also host to the Oxford Literary Festival (which is how I saw Philip Pullman). But it will always be the home of Alice and Lewis Carroll also. You never know when you might come across just the right rabbit hole (this one found in Christ Church meadow).

As you wander around town, there are endless beauties to see -- in fact, there are endless grotesques, too, which for some of us is at least as much fun. I took a lot of pictures of them (naturally) but this travelogue will have to be spread out over several days, so here's one to start on. If I recall correctly (uh oh, already forgetting where I took what picture) these rams come from St. Mary the Virgin's church.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

it's all about the grotesqueS :D