Stonehenge and Oxford

Leaving Kent and our lovely first b&b, the Vicarage, we headed west, with Graham maneuvering the driving. As we approached Stonehenge I told Graham and Sam how, 10 years ago when I was travelling with my mom and my Israeli cousins, Hana and Gadi, we topped a ridge on the way to Cornwall and THERE WAS STONEHENGE!!!!! It was good to know my memory was accurate, as this was our first view!Unfortunately, it was the best view we got. Yesterday, June 21, was the summer solstice and there had been a sun rising gathering there. Thousands of people attended but you needed to have special tickets. I had noticed all that on the Stonehenge website but no where had they said the site would not be open to the public at normal hours. As we got closer, the access was blocked and finally, at another way in, we were told by a bobby (aka cop) that Stonehenge was closed until 4pm because of the need to clean up the "rubbish" left behind. I think it a sad statement that people there to celebrate the earth made such a mess that it was going to take over 6 hours to clean up the place. So, no up close wandering and no chance for the classic photos. We are assuming Stonehenge will be around for our next visit to England and will schedule another visit at that time.

When I first told Sam that we were going to England on this summer's vacation, he asked if we could go to Oxford. It took only another minute to inform me that it was NOT the University he wanted to see, but the track. Even I, a non-athlete, know the name of Roger Bannister, the man who broke the 4 minute mile in May 1954. He ran this on the Oxford University track at the age of 25.

The track is undergoing a fund raising campaign to upgrade facilities. The decision was made to keep the facilities where they are not only because of the historic value of the site, but its proximity to the town and campus.

This says it all....altho his time was not his best, he was thrilled to be able to run the mile here. We had arranged for a long distance runner to meet Sam but no one showed up. This guy was practicing hurdle jumps and was very kind to chat with us. He already had graduated with a degree in biology and now works in London for a pharmaceutical firm. He has recently moved back to Oxford with his fiance who is pursuing her PhD and commutes by train daily (45 minutes..sounds like the New York area.) He said that every 4 years the Oxford and Cambridge track teams travel to the US to have meets with Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and a few other Ivy League schools. In the interim, the US teams travel to England, so meets are held every two years. The US teams will be here next week. Oh well...that would have been fun to see, but we will be in Croatia by then!

So on to the University. We took a ghost tour starting at 7:30 and learned not only where ghosts had been seen but a bit of the history of the university. Did you know there are 23 colleges here? In answer to my question why, I was told the various counties started colleges here in order to train clergy to go back to the home county.

This church, built in a Norman French architecture, is now one of the college libraries. The church yard is full of gravestones. Our guide informed us that only poor people were buried outside, with the bones dug up and the graves reused. Bones would be piled in the back of the yard and dried and then burned....hence bone fire or bonfire. He also told us that the rich people were buried inside the church so their bones would NOT be disturbed but sometimes the coffins were crack and the aroma would waft out, hence the expression "stinking rich".

We noticed that all of the entries into the colleges were restricted and many had locked gates. As we learned the history, we heard how the king and the government were often at odds and also that the town and gown relations were often not only strained but often bloody. For that reason, access to the colleges are through gates and not easy for anyone just to walk in much of the time.

Surrounding one building are a series of statues that are called the emperors, but no one knows who they are. No notes exist as to their identity. Christopher Wren built the building but never indicated anything!

Near the roof like of the Merton College Chapel, on the north side are rain spouts in the shape of the 7 deadly sins....on the north side where no sun shines...hence the dark side.

Many famous people have studied at Oxford, including Bill Clinton who was a Rhodes scholar. This is the first white house Bill lived in.

We thought the gowns that the Hogwarts students wore were fantastic, but the students at Oxford wear gowns also. Here are two women, walking down the sidewalk and we saw many others. This is exam week and robes are required attire. The guide told us a tale of a student who went to the exam hall a few years ago and demanded a pint of beer. He said it was in the regulations that students would be served beer and after the proctor checked it out, sure enough, it was true and a pint of beer was summoned. But while that student went through the exam, the rules were checked rigorously and following the exam the student was then fined for the lack of black socks and numerous other items of attire that were missing, including his sword. Turned out to be a very expensive pint of beer!

This is Broad Street where 3 of the colleges are located. Our hotel, the Buttery, is the gray and white one and our window was on the 1st floor (US 2nd floor) with the bay window. It was NOT air conditioned so we left windows open and as in any college campus, students who were finished with exams celebrated way into the wee hours...I think it got quiet around 2am.

We ate our evening meal at one of the many pubs in Oxford...the food itself as nothing to rave over but at least one patron was enjoying his pint.