Oxford in a day : Botanic Garden

Welcome to the bald Botanic Garden in winter

11:45 a.m.// Botanic Garden

Leaving the Christ Church, I went for a stroll around the neighborhood.

Bathing in the warming sunshine, soon I reached the Botanic Garden of Oxford University.

The entrance is at the right. I still regret I didn’t take a photo of the entrance.

Visiting a Botanic Garden during winter was a bad idea?

No, as the staff there said there was a Christmas tree. And I did have high hope for it.

After all, it costed me 5 pounds.

Right after the entrance, there was a running river by the green houses.

The river by the blinding sunlight. I wonder if someone has ever been drowned fishing here.

To the right of the river, there were a few green houses keeping “exotic” plants.

I envisioned a man-eating plant like this:

From the movie “Little shop of horrors”

Well instead I was greeted by plants commonly found in Hong kong.

Well they do have some insect-engulfing species there. I resisted to stick my fingers in them.

Going pass the green houses, you can see the real garden behind. However it was winter, so…

Almost all the trees went bald. Fortunately the grass was still refreshingly green.

By the way where was the promised Christmas Tree?

Not here!

Nope, but nice vase. Collecting corrosion and goo here in the open I suppose?

No, and what the hell is that!

1:00 p.m. // Mission Burrito

Well I got bored eventually and went for tacos. Really good tacos here.

And the hot sauce really made up for the broken promise of the Christmas miracle:

I want a tree, just a Christmas tree… Or actually giving me 5 pounds back would be better.

And you can speak Spanish to the staff there. (Not that I know any Spanish.)

Next time I will be possibly concluding my visit to Oxford. Not much to write about this time. Hope you had a good laugh.

©Paulus of Sinae (Chan Po Lo Paul) April 2016

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Oxford: Christ Church

 

 

 

Oxford in a Day: Christ Church

11:00am // Christ Church 

The Christ Church was the highlight of my trip to Oxford. Again it was heavily publicised as where Harry Potter was filmed.

However what stunned me immediately was the entrance.

And you will see the Christ Church entrance afar.

A short path leading up to the open field.

That’s a magical scene after the rain. And you can see which I suspect may be the tracks of carriages on the muddy ground. Imagine the Victorian carriages led by handsome horses. I envy the students.

Upon entering and paying the fee (Again asking me if I were a student there, while just giving the most expensive ticket on the price list to the younger Asian couples besides me.), you can immediately smell the medieval-ness within.

Going down the corridor and passing a courtyard, you will see stairs going up. But before that, I took a little a peek at the grand court outside.

It looks like a royal tournament ground behind, where knights used to joust on horseback and earned honour for their king or queens, or possibly earned their accidental death by just a splinter of wood from the broken lance lodged into their chest or neck.

The Christ Church was founded in 1546, when Italy was already experiencing Renaissance. I can’t say the style of the interior is very medieval, but certainly more dated when compared to Italy of that time. What I suspect is the building itself was built probably in the 12th or 13th century, but later they founded the college based on that.

The grand hall of Christ Church. Looks familiar?

 

Voilà! Image from Film Locations Around the world (Part I)

It will definitely be cool if they do it like Harry Potter in the Christ Church for the academic ceremonies. To me the hall is like a gathering ground for the Norse high kings. I think you now know I am a nerd of Fantasy legends.

Leaving the Hall, I went back to the grand court. Turn right and you will get to the Cathedral.

Go up and deliver a speech.

Such details!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love stained glass. I wish to know what story it depicts there. I am sure it must be some courageous story.

Another one. This one looks like some noble man looking at a city from a distance, under the orange tree?

This is very magnificent.

Up near the altar. I wonder if the Church is Anglican or Catholic now, it seems to be too many Icons for an Anglican church.

My nerd mode was on when I SAW this. My immediate thought was whether there was a remain beneath. It would be like the plot in the book Timeline by Michael Crichton.

It was indeed a good visit to the Christ Church, though I do think the Cathedral was a bit too small (The Cathedral is famed to be the smallest all over England). I often have this conception of things in the UK being a bit small. Narrow seats on the train; low ceilings and miniature medieval castles. This is very funny. Now I know where do most property developers in Hong Kong draw their inspirations from:

Hong Kong’s 40-sqaure-foot apartment. Rent was approximately 670 USD (in 2013).

Anyway, that concluded my visit to Christ Church.

But my visit to Oxford was not over. please look forward to the next one. I will update more frequently on my travels. 😉

©Paulus of Sinae (Chan Po Lo Paul) April 2016

Please consider visiting and liking my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/PaulusOfSinae/

Thank you for reading.

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Oxford Botanic Garden:

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Divinity School and the Bodleian Library

 

 

Oxford in a day: of the Divinity School and the Bodleian Library

I was in the UK in Christmas. It was more of a social visit than a vacation. I did minimal touristy stuff. Yet to my surprise, the UK is very different than what I would have pictured.

As their former colonized, I had mixed feelings when I stepped on the English soil. Was I actually coming back “home”? I am from Hong Kong, which, out of the numerous Former colonies of the Great Britain, is one of the (or only?) few colonized who are strangely affectionate towards their colonizer. Yet due to the BNO gate incident, most Hong Kong people feel the UK has abandoned them utterly. Nonetheless, I am happy I could blend in, mostly thanks to my RP accent.

I stayed at the suburb outside of London at my friend’s. If you do not have a car, you are pretty much dead. Of course you can try using your feet,

it will be a very good way to lose weight, or to step in goo.

So many Shauns up on the lawn!

Transport outside to other cities or towns will mainly be train, and the fare really

hurt my bank account. Later my friend, who worked near Cambridge and escaped that hell hole (As he put it) by coming back to HK, told me that the fare was actually cheap! They do pay engineers handsomely in the UK right?

 

The local train station

Also the seats in the train are not as wide as I would expect. Even the seats in Hong Kong trams are bigger than those. UK people must be in shape.

Because of my limited budget and the unforgivingly short daylight duration in winter, most of my days in the UK were spent on my PS vita. Then my friend asked me if I wanted to go to Oxford. I never thought about actually going until my ex-Boss recommended it to me. And it turned out to be the best moment I had in the UK.

10:00 am // Oxford train station

I was lucky that it was a sunny beautiful morning when I arrived, other than all the arresting cold and wet weather you usually see in the UK during winter. Maybe since it was near the Christmas, the train station was packed with far east Asians (Very sure they are Chinese from the Mandarin) hurrying back home with luggage of all kinds. I wonder if they had packed the whole wardrobe in.

The river just 5 minutes from the railway station

It felt fabulous walking in this merry little town with all the medieval buildings along sides of the avenues

I think to most people (not the British of course), Oxford would just mean the famous university (or the press?). In fact it is a very lovely town. Well, a town full of pilgrims for Harry Potter.

Aiming for the Botanic garden to the east of the Campus, I arrived at the Faculty of Theology.

10:25 am // Divinity School

 

 

Above is the Divinity School at Oxford, the oldest surviving building built for teaching purpose. It was mainly purposed for theology. Although not used for teaching anymore, Divinity school is still offering degrees by the Faculty of Theology. I am wondering if since it was built in the medieval time that the hall is not massive, actually quite a bummer in terms of the size.

Of course now, it is Harry Potter’s ward. Divinity School is the Hospital Wing in Hogwarts in the movie.

From Harry Potter Lexicon: http://www.hp-lexicon.org/magic/medical.html

It certainly helps the tourism.

By the way, you do have to pay to get into the Hall (Someone please tell me if you had to prior to the “Age” of Harry Potter). I believe it was just 1 or 2 GBP. Whether it is worth it or not is really up to you. I love medieval buildings, especially the fine ornate ceiling, so no complaint from me.

Leaving the Divinity School behind, I arrived at the Science Museum, but it was closed during my visit, so I turned to the Bodleian Library. I really wished I could gain access to the book collection.

11:15 am // Bodleian Library

The staff at the library was very nice to ask if I was a student. I said no and she continued to asked intently if I was associated with any university or institution. Unfortunately I am just one nobody from a former fishing village.

Fine additions to the “F” word.

Hell I did get something interesting from the gift shop.

It was a fine day!

Okay I think I am gonna stop here for now. Next time I shall show you more about the Botanic Garden, the beautiful Christ Church and where to get taco in Oxford.

 

 

 

 

 

Next: Christ Church