Walking out of the train station we saw a large statue of a bull.... there was no name or plaque on it. Athol is a big fan of bulls, in his younger years, others called him "Bull".
We then walked to our guesthouse which was called White House View Guesthouse just off Abdington Street, it was about a 20 min walk from the station.
After checking in, we decided to walk into the city centre. We passed the Thames River (yes the very same river which is connected to London!). It is a very small city but busy around peak times. We had lunch at Cafe Loco, a Alice in wonderland themed cafe. There was a shop next door called Lewis Carroll's Alice shop.
We saw Christ Church College which was very grand. There are many Oxford Colleges, probably over 40 and each of them as grand as the next. We sat on a bench for a while just watching the cars and people go by. I pointed out a "bull" on some water sign which I kept seeing. Then it occurred to us, it was an Ox! After all we are in Oxford! :) So the "bull" which we had seen at the station was in fact meant to be an Ox. Technically an Ox is just a castrated bull. So it all made sense now :)
On our way back to the guesthouse, we found a footpath (or should I say cycle path!) along the river so there a while and watched the rowers practice. People also park their canal boats there.
We had supper at the White House Pub, which was a little dingy but I guess most pubs are :) we even did a crossword. We have a crossword book which we take on all our travels and we do at least one wherever we go. We write in the date and comments depending on where we are. Coincidentally, we got all the answers right in the crossword - I guess that we are just smarter in Oxford ;)
On the Tuesday, we wandered back into the city centre and saw a lot more of the Colleges. We had bought some fruit and ate it in the Christ Church College Park. The building in Oxford re so impressive! We walked past the Botanical Gardens, the one entrance had a grand ancient arch with a little maze garden outside.
We wandered around the city. There was a covered market along High Street, we stopped by a cafe called Brothers for lunch. The sandwiches were huge. We saw the Bodleian Library which was a grand round building.
We walked past some of the places which Athol had been to on previous visits. This was my first visit to Oxford.
Oxford is a lovely, academic city. There was even a small mall and Cornmarket street is a closed pedestrian street for shoppers.
The Randolph Hotel, where Athol stayed once for a conference
Postboxes in Oxford
Christ Church
