An Oxford Education

                                                 Photo from Jim Jaffe

Oxford University dates back to around 1056 making it the oldest institution of higher learning I've ever visited.  The huge stone piles of buildings some dating back to medieval times are impressive.  Less impressive is the fact that there is charge of a few pounds to walk through the quads of most colleges.  And there are around forty colleges so that can add up.  Still, one can see quite a bit of the campus by just strolling around which is what we did.  We also found a lovely little church and graveyard with most of the headstones indicating deaths in the 1600's.  The old Bodlieian Library is impressive but the book collection is not open to the public.  The newer library is modern and had a nice little coffee shop in its atrium where we took a brief rest.  The university has served as a training ground for 26 prime ministers of England as well as heads of state of many other coutries.  It is the quintessential extablishment institution.  Even today the students there look as if they are in training to become future world leaders.  The town itself is full of shops and restaurants.  Oxford is about sixty miles outside London and we had an easy train ride up and back.  It was a full day.  Although most of the restaurants and pubs had typical British treats like "plougman's lunch and fish and chips" we opted for a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant that had great dim sum.  Then back to London where we took a walk around Covent Garden.