In all else it is a most pleasant city.[Oscar Wilde]
Oxford was boring, boring and boring…well, not really. For some reason, despite of me being reluctant to love the place, I like the place. I like it more now then I did some time before. And more before then the time I’ve never been here…
There is something very special about this city. And I can’t catch it quite yet. But it does mean something, I guess, when you really pleased to show your favourite spots, to share your favourite paths, to visit again all those favourite nooks, when the opportunity presents.
I found myself enjoying being a guide in a city that is so very special. Very historical and very modern too. I must admit, I have my own hidden places that I like visiting myself, so my guests didn’t really have a choice of what to see in Oxford. I also hate it to run around in a desperate attempt to see as much as possible, only to have it all mixed up in your head later.
So we walked around Oxford today. We visited few colleges, and a tower with the panoramic view of the city.
We sat in a café and in an open air bar and sat on a grass in front of the museum…we didn’t hurry, we didn’t make any plans to fulfil. It was wonderful. And we did see a lot as well. Fully enjoying it, as much as one can enjoy touring the city in a blooming heat! Yes it was a hot day. A very hot day. A very very hot one. The one that you’d rather be at home, melting on a sofa, then wandering around old dusty streets of an old city, packed with cars, tourists, and university graduates.
Yes it was a senior graduation day in Oxford. Apart from graduates spreading in masses around the city, there was also a graduation procession – very old traditional ceremony where the senior members of the oldest University, academics, professors, etc, walked around the main building of a Bodleian Library, carrying standards and ..well…other “stuff”.
It was kind of both fun and the feeling of reverence watching honourable academics, even more interesting – meet them everywhere on the streets, in their gowns, as we’ve making our ways around the city. Gave us an impression of walking in the centuries of a past…
We’ve been in the colleges, really old historical one, some were built in 1300 years....others are famous not only for historical significance, but for modern days fame as well. Like, for example, Christ Church College, where Lewis Carroll used to work as a math’s professor, while writing his Alice in the Wonderland…and the same college used to serve as a venue for the modern days wonder boy – that famous Harry Potter (some scenes from the movie have been shot here)…
Or another college, that simple pleasant to look at – perfect architecture, perfect style, not a single unnecessary lines
I do like this city...I like its unhurried life. Its noble style, its old traditions…the deer’s in the park of one of the colleges
Its canals and rivers…punting boats…hidden treasured corners with old mills…gargoyles everywhere…each one is – different…I like this city…hmmmm…who wouldn’t?…