Only in Oxford

Student haunts and local pubs:
Students have been in Oxford for the past 800 years. Favorite haunts include the Bodlein Library and of course the pubs. To get the student feel try The Turf or on a sunny day skip through Port Meadows to The Trout Inn.

Follow the literary trail:

Drink a pint at the Eagle and Child, where JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, and friends met to read their famous epochs for the first time. Head over to the Natural History Museum to see the remains of the dodo bird that inspired a character for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland or head to Christchurch itself to see where Charles Dodgson and Alice lived.

Shot on location: Any Harry Potter fan will recognize the scenes of the Divinity School and Christchurch meadows and steps to the dining hall from the last two blockbusters. Movie buffs may also like to know that part of "Queen's Lane" was used as Brad Pitt's chinese prision in Spy Games.

Appreciating nature in a cold, damp climate:
All that rain has to go to somewhere. Be sure to check out the University Parks as well as college gardens in the spring or summer. Punting is also a great way to enjoy the pastoral surroundings.

Quick Tips:

Beware of the academic schedule: Oxford terms are eight weeks long and run from October - early December, mid-January to mid-March, and end of April to mid-June. During the term, you are likely to see many students but especially during the last term, many of the colleges are closed for exam prep. Out-of-term time, there are rooms available in many of the colleges and Oxford can be less crowded.

Costs: Oxford is only out-priced by London. Expect to pay more for housing, food, and shows in Oxford than in the surrounding countryside. The cheapest eating out for dinner will be at least £10 (main meal and drink) unless you favor American fast food. Hotels will run at least £50/night in the outskirts and will be more expensive in the city center. Try the B and B's up Woodstock road. It's about a 15 - 20 minute walk to the center, but might be as cheap as £40 for a double room.

Best Way To Get Around:

Getting to Oxford: Fast trains from London leave Paddington every 30 minutes during the day and every hour in the later evening and take just over an hour. The Oxford Tube and the London Express are competing bus companies that leave every 15 minutes or so from Oxford and London and take at least one and a half hours. A good trick is to get off at Notting Hill if you are going into London since it is in zone one of the underground (the real "tube") and cuts down on the time in traffic. The train is £18 for a cheap-day return from Oxford including an all-day travelcard for the London underground (worth £4) while the bus is about £7.

Around Oxford: Within the city-center, not only is walking one of your only options (most of it is blocked off to non-commerical traffic) but it's the best way to enjoy the scenery. Stay on the sidewalks because the bicyclists are libel to run you over, if not the buses. The bus is a great option for seeing little surrounding villages or Blenheim Palace.

This recently renovated luxury hotel is located in the city center and offers an elegant and extremely comfortable setting a a very high price. Rooms begin at £175 per night.

The entrance to the hotel is almost hidden, but it is next door to the trendy restaurant Quod and across the street from the University Church of St. Mary. The rooms are of moderate size and include lounge chairs, desk, table, night stands, and huge comfy bed with thick down comfortors all in subdued grey-greens, tan, and ivory colors. Bathrooms are marble and en-suite. The views look down on the university buildings which are quite charming.

Their webpage has lovely pictures and all the information (and e-reservations) at http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/pages/OBH1.html.

Chiang Mai is located down a narrow alley off the High Street (Oxford's main street). Look for the little dark blue sign with gold lettering and then head down that alley. Chiang Mai is located in an old 15th/16th building with hardwood floors, huge fireplaces, creeky stairs and sagging timber ceilings. It has quite the old world charm while serving outstanding Thai food.

There are three dining rooms (one non-smoking on the ground floor and two on the first floor). When you enter go up the flight of stairs because the hostess is on the first floor. Reservations are highly recommended (unless you want to wait an hour) since this restaurant is very popular with Oxonians. It was recommended by the UK Vogue Magazine under "Where Ladies Lunch" so even lunch time can be busy.

All of the dishes are very tasty; some special suggestions include the peanut chicken, green curry, and pad thai. The ice cream for dessert is also surprisingly tasty in a natural/organic type of way. Unless you are ordering off of the lunch menu, you need to order rice separately. The food quality is excellent but the quantity is moderate so be sure to order at least one dish for each person and maybe an extra dish if you are sharing. Most dishes are around £6-7.

The service is also very friendly and efficient. If you fail to reserve a table in advnace, you might wait to sit down; however, once seated, you won't have to wait long for your food.

G & D's is an Oxford classic with north (Little Clarendon Street) and south (St. Aldate's across from Christchurch) locations. With a prominent cow theme, G&D's offers an excellent selection of ice cream that is all made freshly in the store. Popular flavors include Bailey's, Dime Bar Crunch, Bananarama, and Oxford Blue. Flavors rotate and there is the every popular petition of flavors where patrons put suggestions in a book for new flavors and when the suggestion gets 30 signatures, G&D's will make it. My favorite petition flavor was pina colada or raspberry pavlova. G&D's also offers a selection of coffees and fresh-baked desserts and the option for bagel sandwiches. These are quite good for lunch or a late dinner. I suggest turkey with cranberry sauce.

The north G&D's has a cow motif decor and is very reminiscent of icecream parlors like JPLick's in the Boston area, while the newer south store has chick ivory walls and a dark wood fire place giving you a hint of the old oxford buildings past. Both stores have many games, quizzes, and contests going on during the weeknights to foster a community spirit and give away free icecream to the winners. You'll find a lot of students here. One scoop in a cone is around £1.75 and a bagel sandwich is around £3.

The name G&D's is short for George & Davies in the north and George & Danvers in the south. There are many urban legends explaining who these guys are but the most probable one is that they are the owner's dogs.

This is a self-guided tour I've created for my guests in Oxford. Good if you have a few hours in Oxford and want to avoid the group tours:

1. Assuming you arrived by train, turn left out of parking lot and walk east toward the city center. As you pass over Hythe Street Bridge, keep an eye out for house boats, which were undoubtedly the inspiration for the 'gyptians in Philip Pullman's Dark Marterials triology.

2. Following the road as it curves to the left. At Worcester college (near site of the real Prince John's, of Robin Hood fame, birthplace), turn right (use cross walk) onto Beaumont Street. Turn left again onto St. Giles and walk up to the Eagle & Child Pub. This is where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis met to discuss their writing with friends.

3. Cross the street and take the "Lamb & Flag Passage" through to South Parks Road where the Natural History Museum is. Charles Dodgson used to take Alice here and you can see the remains of the dodo that worked their way into Alice in Wonderland.

4. After leaving the museum, turn left again and head down South Parks Road and then down Catte street to the Bodlein Library. Try to see the Divinity School where the infirmary scenes were shot for the movie version of Harry Potter.

5. Continue on Catte street to the University Church. For £1.60, you can climb to the top of the tower which gives excellent views of Oxford in the sunshine and let's you look down on University College where poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was a student.

6. Next head right down the High Street. Turn on Magpie Lane and enter the back entrance of Christchurch college. To the left of the entrance is the Gallery where there are two cases of old letter and pictures of Alice. Wander around Christchurch to get a feel of where she and Charles Dodgson roamed, and visit the staircase to the dining hall where more scenes from Harry Potter were filmed. A jaunt into the meadows is justified as well.

Punting is an Oxford tradition. Most colleges own punts for their students and Trinity term (mid-April to mid-June) is when you will see most students out on the water.

Punts are long flat boats that are propelled by pushing a long pole against the river bed (the Isis - Oxonian name for the Thames - is rather shallow here) while standing in the back of the boat. Punts are designed for a leisurely pace, so relax and enjoy a slower pace of life! The passengers (the punt will easily hold four to six people plus the punter) lounge on cushions in the middle and front of the boat. Bringing along a picnic is always a good idea or cheese, biscuits (crackers), and wine, if you want to be truly oxonian.

The main difference between the two rental places is the location where one punts from. From Magdalen Bridge one can head south all the way to the crew boathouses and Foley Bridge, while from the Cherwell Boathouse (located a 25 minute walk north of the city center in north Oxford) one can punt past the university parks - less crowded and very picturesque. Pick the former if you are tired of walking and the latter if you are up for an adventure. The Magdalen Bridge boathouse also has the option of paying a pro to punt you for ~$30/hr., while the Cherwell Boathouse has an elegant restaurant with outdoor seating for nice evenings which will cost you $30 for a three-course meal.

Natural History Museum:

Even the outside of the Natural History Museum is impressively Victorian, but the high ceilings with the skylights are even more impressive once you step inside. Even those who are not huge biology buffs will enjoy examining the bones of many extinct animals (like dinosaurs and ice age mammals, many of which were found in Oxford) intermingled with stone statues of princes and scientists and stuffed animals from around the globe.

Some of the most humorous finds are the Alice in Wonderland exhibit in which all of Alice's little animal friends in the book are stuffed and displayed with quotes from the book. If that wasn't a little odd, check out the stuffed white rabbit who has a pocket watch attached to his paw (no joke!). A little bit further on there is a case with a large blue fish that was discovered deep in the ocean and is thought to be the only surviving dinosaur left. There is a stern condemnation of those who fish for it for display purposes, as this threatens the fish's survival. Just when you begin to think the museum is a bit hypocritical, it goes on to tell you this is actually a model and not the real thing...hmmmmm.

Pitt Rivers Museum:

The entrance is hidden away in the back of the Natural History museum. The museum is really one enormous room with a ceiling that reaches up three stories, with more exhibits on the first and second floors. The room is literally crammed with artifacts from around the world, all collected from the 19th to early 20th century and organized, surprisingly, by type of object, rather than what culture they came from. For example, there is a case of lanterns, stringed musical instruments, shrunken heads, model boats, smoking pipes, snow shoes, and so on. There are even much larger items including a boat suspended from the ceiling and a totem pole that reaches up both stories.

Although it can first seem a bit jumbled and crammed, the real treat of this museum is that the visitor is invited to feel the same sense of discovery that the collector who traveled all over the world to bring this stuff back to Oxford felt. There is so much to see and study; there are even drawers under the cases that you can pull out and see more artifacts. There are moral catches to the "old-world" charm. Remembering the effect that bringing these oddities back had on the imperialist zeal of the nation during the 19th century is sobering as well as noting the treatment of some of the cultures. For example, there is a mummified child pinned on the wall in one of the displays as if it were a butterfly that seriously questions the founders sense of taste. In a way, taking the good and the bad from this museum tells one as much about English academic culture during the time period as the cultures from which the artifacts came.

"Where is Oxford University?" you might ask upon arriving. The answer is all around, mixed among shops, pubs, and churches. There are 39 colleges, 60+ departments, and many associated groups as well. The colleges are independent in both the way they govern and finance their college. Colleges provide housing, food, and tuition (in Britain this means "teaching") in the form of tutorials with 1 or more students and a fellow (teaching member of the college) for their students.

Tourists will be most interested in visiting the older colleges for their pre-19th century architecture and famous members. Most colleges admit visitors during the morning and afternoon and charge a nominal fee of £1-2 per person. Since during medieval times, the colleges provided not only housing but protection they are surrounded by big stone walls. Look for the large wooden doors at most colleges, which will lead you to the lodge. The lodge is the information hub of the college where students get their mail and knowledgable porters will take your money and give you instructions. It is recommended that you look for them immediately since if you just try to wander in, they can get very irritated and deny you entry to the rest of the college.

Inside most of the older colleges is a maze of several quads. Quads (coming from the word quadrangle, we think) refer to the patches of carefully manicured grass surrounded by the various college buildings. Whatever you do, do not walk on the grass. The highlights of most colleges are their chapel, dining hall, library, and gardens. Try to avoid meal times if you would like to see the halls. Also most colleges have a regular schedule of church services (some have evensong every night); these are free and are a great way to see the chapel and, if you are lucky, here an excellent choir. Most services last only 45-60 minutes and are traditional Anglican services.

Notable colleges for generally wandering through the quads are Magdalen, New, St. John's, and Christchurch although taking in a few smaller colleges such as Lincoln or Exeterwill provide nice surprises. All Soul's is difficult to get in but worth a look from the gates on Catte Street or the top of the University Church tower. The most impressive chapels (in size) are Christchurch cathedral, Keble, New, and Merton while my favorite evensong service during term time is at Lincoln. New, Magdalen, and Christchurch all have boys choirs that sing almost daily; New is undoubtedly the best and has the potential to bring one to tears with their high clear voices. By far the best gardens are at Trinity, Worcester (which has a big pond!) and St. John's. The dining halls are best at Balliol (my personal favorite), Christchurch (very large), and Lincoln (a very cozy one). The library at St. John's has many rare texts, beautiful ceilings & shelves, and even a cannonball that was once shot at the college when it was under seige.

For the less adventurous, an alternative to random wandering through college is to pay £5 for a guided walking tour. There are several guides leaving from in front of Trinity as well as from the tourist office in Gloucester Green (near the bus station). These are general good but take you to a lot of random, less interesting bit--ie big time suck. For those tired of walking, the bus tours are a good option £8-£11 and you can jump on and off all day, a seat on the top of the double-decker buses will allow you to actually look over the wall into some of the colleges. Not recommended on rainy days since sitting up top is uncomfortable and down on the bottom you can't see anything.