Oxford

Like any scholar, I dreamed of entering Oxford as a student, preferably one who received a Rhodes or Marshall scholarship. Nonetheless, I was happy to enter the city at all, and to bask in its architecture and academia. The University dominates Oxford, where even the taxi cabs are educational since they are emblazoned with the periodic table of elements.

My first day in Oxford I simply wandered the streets, taking in the architecture and visiting several of the colleges. As always, I loved the grotesques, some of which are rumored to have been some of the inspiration for C.S. Lewis as he wrote The Lion, the Witch, and the wardrobe.

I also happened to be there as the cherry blossoms were blooming. 

The Radcliffe Camera, which houses one of the many libraries here, is one of the more distinctive buildings in the city and so everyone takes pictures of it. I was no exception.

I'm always heartened when the schools of logic and metaphysics look as impressive as I think they should:

That night I watched a Korean horror (or perhaps comedy) film with my couchsurf host. 

The next day was full of museums, at least after I spent some time marveling at 118 miles of shelving at the Bodleian Library. The University Museum holds the first dinosaur bones discovered, among other treasures. As I visited, a Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson exhibit cataloged some of the author's personal effects, as well as exhibits from the museum's history that had been inspiration for him. He used to take Alice here and tell her stories about the taxidermied animals, such as the dodo. Oh Lewis Carroll, a (possible) example of how pedophiles can be adored by society so long as they never act upon their desires (other than with marriage proposals that people could pretend were in jest). 

The attached Pitt Rivers museum was stuffed with curiosity cases, full of loot taken back by Victorian explorers. Some of my favorites included shrunken heads, skulls decorated with stones, paint, and feathers, and unusual body modifications like shaped skulls that are altered when baby's skull was still soft.

Next up was the Ashmodian Museum. Highlights included a Roman coin printed from gold taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, Rodin sculptures, and the displays of the Neolithic Egyptian period -- which lasted from 1,000,000 to 10,000 BCE. A somewhat more recent Nubian Egyptian burial chamber left me standing in absolute awe. 

After a full day, I headed out to Cheltenham, my base in the Cotswolds.