Oxford: City of Dreaming Spires

Article by Erik Redli

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Oxford: City of Dreaming Spires

Oxford is a city in England, in Oxfordshire, GPS data suited to the Carfax Tower in the city centre. It is accessible from London by the M40 motorway. Bus journey takes approximately 1.5 hours and you can get the Oxford Tube bus from Park Lane just off Marble Arch.

Everyone knows about the famous university which is the oldest in the Anglophonic world. But believe me; the city has much more to offer.

Pictured left: Carfax Tower is the GPS centre of Oxford. The van parked in front points out the symbiosis between the historical university and modern city.

What do Mr. Bean and Bill Clinton have in common?

Dreaming Spires of Oxford, from the left: All Saint's Church, University Church of St Mary the Virgin and Merton College Chapel

They both studied at Oxford. Rowan Atkinson matriculated from Queens College in engineering. Bill Clinton is an alumni from the University College, the oldest college in Oxbridge. The college was also attended by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Stephen Hawking. Oxford's 38 colleges are verged around the city centre, interwoven with traffic. Many of the buildings have sharp towers, thereby the nickname "City of Dreaming Spires". While trying to take photos, walking with camera down the street, I was overtaken by a wheelchair student. But it was not Stephen Hawking.

Be smart or drive a BMW

Except of Education, Oxford is known for the automobile industry, particularly the BMW minis

Another saying associated with Oxford is 'knowledge is perishable'. Maybe it is because of the fact than wisdom is not permanent. Actually, the second university in Oxford, Brookes, established in 1991, was voted the best new university in England, while Most of Oxford's public schools underperform the national GCSE standards. Hence the focus on the industry (unlike the solely academic rival Cambridge) - a car manufacture in nearby Cowley specializes in BMW minis. However, the rowing rival Cambridge does better in university rankings.

Castle that never served its purpose

Pizza restaurant designed into the Castle walls.

Oxford is also known for literature, because the many scholars left significant written works. In 12ct, Geoffrey of Mammoth wrote the Arthurian legends in the castle originally intended as a military fortress, but never serving this purpose. Even now, it is turned into hotel and restaurants. They are nicely designed into the castle walls.

Literature of Oxford

Alice in Wonderland, written by C S Lewis, mats lecturer at the Christ Church College

Oscar Wildest, the precursor of glamorous rock flamboyant artists, studied at Magdalene College. C S Lewis set the story of Alice in Wonderland into the gardens adjacent to the Christ Church College where he lectured. Although the journey down the rabbit hole starts with Alice tasting some mushrooms, it is not about drug experiments. Lewis, mathematician, wanted to point out the discrepancies in the old school mats.

For years I thought it was the King’s College Chapel, Cambridge used as the dining room in Harry Potter movies. Now I learned that it was Christ Church College, Oxford.

Few facts from the Town Hall

Town Hall is the home of the Museum of Oxford. I went in to learn a few important historical facts. Here they are.

Oxford marmalade and dictionary, two famous exports.

It started raining so I retreated to the Ashmolean Museum, the first in Britain open to public. It displays the history of the whole world, including one room devoted to the development of money. Similarly, the Town Hall is the home of the Museum of Oxford. In both I learned few important historical facts. For example, a Roman legionnaire on the Hadrian’s Wall could buy 325 pints of beer from his daily wage. Pretty impressive. But later, the value of money went down.

1. In 19 century certain Sarah Cooper cooked 34kg of marmalade from Seville oranges, intended for her husband to sell them on the market. The marmalade turned into one of the most famous Oxford’s exports delivered even to the royal court.

2. The current edition of the Oxford English dictionary contains 500,000 entries. The most frequent ones are 'time', 'person' and 'year'.

3. JRR Tolkien was the professor of English at Merton College. He knew how to create languages and the runes in his book make sense. But also credit to his imagination.

My one day visit ended with the hobbits in a bookshop, because it was raining again. But anyway, I can tick off Oxford on the "must visit" list. Although I want to come back.