Moving on from my Austen theme, but still quite close to London are the two prestigious university towns of Oxford and Cambridge. For the educated Brit, there are fierce loyalties, and the rivalry is apparently fairly intense. Oxford is older, but maybe Cambridge has more famous alumni now (and of course, a very famous current student in Prince William). I visited Oxford early in my trip after my jaunt out west to Bath, and caught Cambridge at the end, just before returning to London, but both are just about an hour away from London (via train or car). Therefore both could easily be done as day trips from the big city. SHOCKINGLY, my otherwise excellent Rick Steves guide does NOT include anything about Oxford. It isn’t even in the index – and I read that thing cover to cover multiple times, absolutely incredulous that he didn’t even mention it. On the contrary, not only is there a full chapter on Cambridge, but I also met up with two friends from my days in Australia there, so my experiences in each town are likely highly biased. I’ll go through my experiences in separate posts, and then at the end give you my final verdict on which is “better”.
First up- Oxford. I had asked a few London friends where I should stay, but when I got around to booking (rather last minute), the very central spots were either full or incredibly expensive, so I ended up at a little guesthouse which described itself as being a “short walk” from the center of town. Let me just say that I was not impressed with anything about it, and in fact it may have been my least favorite lodging of my entire stay. Sigh. Anyway, that “short walk” was about 20-30 minutes along the main artery headed south out of town. Even though it was mainly residential, the road was full of traffic and completely unpleasant. I was also rushing to try to meet one of the many walking tours, so I tried to hop on one of the many buses that were zipping by. I literally was 2p short of the fare and the driver wouldn’t let me on, even though it was only a few stops. How very welcoming to a stressed out tourist.
As I trudged into the central part of town on what was actually a gloriously warm spring day, I thought if I grabbed an incredibly quick lunch, I might still catch one of the walking tours. I tried to find something else, but gave in and grabbed McDonalds, along with approximately 500 French teenagers. By the time I got to the tourist office, I had definitely missed the walking tours, and to my chagrin it was “low season” still, so there weren’t any other walks scheduled for the rest of the day. Can you sense that I was incredibly frustrated? I gathered some materials from the TO, looked around aimlessly for a moment, and then said, screw it. I negotiated with Mad Hatter tours to do a private walking tour for I think 15 pounds – turning point in my day, for sure. While it was a bit awkward to be one on one with someone in a Mad Hatter hat who normally does silly performances for large groups of tourists, it was FAR better than trying to do it all on my own. I could finally focus on the incredible history and architecture of the place. The University is obviously home to just ridiculous amounts of very smart people, and smart people usually end up being successful and then give back to their University, so, yeah- it’s pretty. One of the first things I saw was a game of cricket on the grounds by Christ Church Cathedral (a Harry Potter location, for sure). Little alleys lead to gorgeous towers or libraries or pubs, and giant wooden doors hide lovely, peaceful quads. My fabulous private guide mostly struck out with getting me into any of the colleges, but I did get a few peeks in. Hilariously, the students aren’t allowed on the grass in said quads, which to me is basically sacrilege. I know I did my fair share of lounging on a grassy quad in my Uni days! Here are a few shots from my tour:
Once my little tour was over, there were all sorts of museums and places I could go into, but if I’ve learned anything from my travels, it’s to go up, whenever possible. If there’s a tower to climb, I generally do my best to get to the top, just to see the city from a different perspective. So I retraced my steps to the St. Mary the Virgin church, which is situated right in the center of things. Tons of teeny, old spiral steps led me up to an incredible array of views, in all directions – including into a few of the college quads I wasn’t able to enter myself!
After my climb, I had some time to kill before I headed to the Evensong service (which got me into Christ Church Cathedral for free – a very handy tip from Rick Steves which I used often during this trip!), so I left the grounds of the colleges to check out other pubs & such. The main street itself has really cool, very old buildings, and I even stumbled upon the Burton/Taylor studio (named in honor of Liz & Dick, though only Burton had his stage debut in Oxford). A restorative pint of cider later, it was time to head to the church. Clearly, I snuck a few pictures inside, though I was supposed to be there solely for a lovely religious experience. I do highly recommend attending a service just because the singing is enchanting, it’s very peaceful, and it’s cool to see a church as a participant, not just a tourist, and remember that people have been attending services in this same space for hundreds of years.
After the peaceful service, and with the clouds threatening, I didn’t want to head all the way down the busy street to my lodging, so I stopped for a meal along the river. Had I allotted more time for Oxford, I would have OF COURSE arranged for a river tour of some sort (hello, “Oxford Blues”?!?!), but with just this one afternoon to explore, I had to deal with just watching a few single crew boats by this adorable, cozy pub.
So, after an unfortunately miserable start, my afternoon in Oxford ended quite well. I still don’t understand why it wasn’t in the guide book, from the Lewis Carroll and Harry Potter associations, to the much more serious academic and theological ones, plus the simply amazing architecture, but at least I made the effort. Next up: My visit to Cambridge, as a comparison.