Day 26 – Oxford, England

Today we slept in until 8am! After breakfast, we headed to our local subway station and hopped the Tube to Paddington Station. From there, we took a train to Oxford and spent the day.

We took a bus into the city centre and wandered through the old streets steeped in history. Oxford University was founded in the 12th century, but the land was settled much earlier.

Our first stop was The King’s Arms, the oldest pub in Oxford (1607), for a traditional English pub lunch – fish and chips, hearty soup and bread, cider, and ale. The food was excellent!

After filling up, we walked to the Ashmolean Museum, which has an eclectic collection of art, musical instruments, and cultural artifacts. We saw work by Michelangelo, the “Messiah” Violin, made by Antonio Stradivari, and art from around the world.

Just before 2pm, we left the museum for our Oxford University tour, led by Andrew, an Oxford student. He was fantastic, infusing so many historical stories into the tour. We stopped at Trinity College, the Divinity School, the Bodleian Library, the Sheldonian Theatre, the Radcliffe Camera, the Bridge of Sighs, and more!

The history was incredible – we learned of how The Reformation almost caused the doors of Oxford to be shuttered. Kendra and I both were excited to see the oars painted on the exterior walls at Trinity College – once a rower, always a rower…

Inside the Weston Library (one of Oxford’s 26!!! libraries), we viewed old/rare manuscripts from around the world, including works by Shakespeare, Chaucer, Christina Rosetti, the Koran, the Torah, a clay tablet with the story of Gilgamesh, and so many more!

Once we finished the tour, we did a little shopping, got some ice cream, and headed back to the train station. Dinner was at our Airbnb, and now we are settled in for the night, watching a Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited.