May 5

After an early night I was awake at 5:45 and up at 6:00. Breakfast was a full English breakfast with toast, coffee, egg, ham and sausage. It was served at 7:45 and Yanna the housemaid was also the cook. She only works Monday to Friday and is a nice young lady. By 8:45 I was ready to start my walk and decided to combine the Morse and City walks which covered generally the same area but gave different perspectives. I walked up Abingdon and then through the grounds of Christ Church College to Rose Lane where I was able to enter the Botanical Gardens which are the oldest in England. It only cost 3 pounds, with a printed guide and I was the only one there as it was quite early. I walked around all the beds taking pictures of plants I thought might work well back home. I entered all the glass houses and saw lots of unusual plants. The gardens were pretty well in bloom and were a treat to walk around. The last time I was here, Carol and I arrived 30 minutes before they closed and we rushed around to take in as much as we could. My job was to take pictures as directed by Carol. I was able to recognize most of the places we had seen before. I finished up about 10:45 and then walked out to Iffley Street where I stood on Magdalen Bridge, pronounced Maudlin for some reason. Off up to Longwall Street where I saw a young man take a terrible tumble on his bicycle after hitting a curb. Fortunately, his pride was hurt more than he physically but he was shaken up. Continued on to Holywell where I saw a site of execution of 4 Catholics as martyrs in 1589. I know this will draw at least one comment from one of my readers but I should reassure him by saying that I tried to find the site of the death of 3 Protestants also martyred in 1555. I know I saw it the last time I was here but couldn’t find it this time.

I walked back down Longwall to High and up Queen’s Lane past New College and under the Bridge of Sighs (Hertford Bridge.) From there I was directed to retrace my steps a few metres and go down a very small lane to one of Morse’s pubs, the Turf Tavern. It was nearly lunch so I had a half pint of Thwaite Black Nutty a new one for me. Apparently this pub only receives two barrels of each ale so they are constantly bringing in new ones. Too bad I’m not here longer to sample more of their fare. At 11:55 I’m off to continue my tour. I went around the Sheldonian Theatre, with the Bodleian Library and the Radcliffe Camera being prominent in a square. By that time I was due for another pub visit where I stopped at the White Horse, another Morse favourite and had a half pint of Wayland Smitty which was red and quite tasty. I was down to drinking half pints just in case I was stopping a little more frequently than in the past. I must say for a busy city it has been the place where I have spoken to the least people. It reinforces my belief that small communities present better opportunities for dialogue.

I had seen a reference to the John Tredescants, father and son, collections that as gardeners to kings and nobles had been accumulated during their travels around the world in the 1600s. It used to be at the former Ashmolean Museum and since I have a great interest in them would have really enjoyed seeing it. Unfortunately the collection is in storage as the museum has been moved and is now under renovation. The collection largely dealt with artifacts in natural history and based on a few items I saw would have been fascinating. I did spend half hour at the Museum of the History of Science which was marvellous. Scientific instruments from as early as the 1600s such as telescopes, compasses and medical instruments. The precision of such old tools was inspiring. I believe we must have lost a lot of knowledge at times and then rediscovered it later on. The artifacts from their gardening efforts are on display at Lambeth and Carol and I have visited their.

I wanted to mail two cards and when I went to the post office the line was right out the door so I went to a Western Union office and changed most of the remaining Euros I had left. Thinking ahead to tomorrow I made enquiries about a bus that goes direct from Oxford to Heathrow and decided I would take the 6:30 in the morning which should get me to Terminal 3 about 8:00 for my 10:00 flight. I also arranged for a taxi to pick me up in the morning. Walking back down to the post office I stood in line for 30 minutes to buy 2 stamps and ensure my mail was sent. I walked back to my room and typed up this and yesterday’s blog, while having a couple of Stella so please excuse the typos. It is 7:00 and I am watching a fascinating show on 6 degrees of separation. Once it is over I am going to pack, go to a pub for a meal and either there or back in my room watch the football game (soccer) between Man U and Arsenal. This is a very important game. I will do one more update tomorrow about getting to the airport and arriving home but as that is the end of my trip so ends the blog. Pictures today focus on pubs and one of the Radcliffe Camera. Thanks for watching.....Brian