Museums, Museums, Museums!

Magical Book Exhibit - Bodleian Library

We visited several museums / exhibits while in Oxford. In the Bodleian Library, we saw an awesome book exhibit entitled Magical books - Middle Ages through Middle Earth. The exhibit had books with artwork depicting alchemy, unicorns, mermen, etc. dating back to the 14th century. They also had original drawings of Middle Earth and Narnia. We couldn't take pictures, but I've included the image from the exhibit's webpage. 

We also visited the Ashmolean Museum. This museum was free, very large, and very, very old. In fact, the first picture below is part of a BC-era egyptian wall that was donated to the Ashmolean in 1628. Yup, the museum  is at least 385 years old. I guess if you've been collecting artifacts for 400 or so years, you're apt to have a pretty amazing collection. 

Egyptian wall donated to Ashmolean Museum in 1628

They had everything laid out not only regionally, but also showing the timeline. They had the ancient Egyptian artifacts merge into the ancient Roman, Celtic, and Asian artifacts.

Greek tragedy statue

Gold death mask

On the upper floors they had a lot of the more recent artifacts. And by more recent, I mean middle ages (14th century) and later, also somewhat arranged by region. 

Chess Set

Virginal - basically a piano / harpsichord hybrid

On the top floor were the two special exhibits that Bill & I paid to enter. The first one, Master Drawings, did not allow photography, but it had drawings by Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Cezanne, Degas, etc. 

The other special exhibit was on Stradivarius and included many of his violins and other instruments. The pictures really don't do the instuments justice, but here are a few photos. We wish we could have heard a few of them in action! 

First known Stradivarius Violin

Ornate Stradivarius violin

Ornate violin - side view

Stradivarius mandolin

Last but not least, we went to the Museum of Science. This museum was also awesome. They had scientific instruments dating back hundreds and hundreds of years. Instruments that calibrated things. Instruments that held energy. Medical instruments (these were rather scary!) and astronomical instruments. But I think my favorite was Albert Einstein's chalkboard with his equations that someone knew to save for posterity! 

Albert Einstein's Chalkboard

Oxford & Oxford University

We drove four hours down to Oxford recently, during a heat wave, in a car whose air conditioner (unbeknownst to us) was broken. Thankfully the visit to Oxford was well worth the trip!

After we arrived and got settled in our B and B (also non-air conditioned), we walked into town. The walk included a bridge over the river Cherwell (which feeds the nearby Thames), where these little boats were docked. The next day we saw tourists getting pushed around the river as though the boats were Venetian gondolas. 

River Cherwell

We walked around the various colleges that make up the university. We didn't take a tour, so we didn't learn a lot of details. We read on a plaque somewhere (and I just confirmed using Wikipedia) that there is written evidence of teaching taking place in Oxford as far back as 1096, and the university has had an appointed chancellor since 1201. Here are a few pictures of various buildings that make up the university.

Oxford University Building

College of Philosophy

Oxford Courtyard

Oxford Building Bridge

We visited the Ashmolean Museum, which I will detail in a separate post. After the museum, we walked past a row of nondescript houses where JRR Tolkien used to live. Around the corner we had a pint at The Eagle and Child pub where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien used to eat, drink, and be merry... and discuss their respective writing projects. Something tells me those writing projects would eventually be successful.

The Eagle and Child Pub

The Lorettas could kick the Oxford students' butts!!

Independence Day in York

Bill and I have been fairly busy, working and having fun. We have a bit of a backlog of photos, so we'll try to catch up with our blog over the next several days. Without further ado...

We took the train to York for the 4th of July! It was on a Thursday and obviously not a holiday for the Brits, so York wasn't too overrun with tourists on this particular day. We have been to York on earlier occasions and have already seen quite a number of the sites, so we didn't have any particular goal in mind. 

After arriving we walked over the river Ouse (pronounced ooze) and saw the little tiny sandwich shop that Rachael took us to for a bacon sandwich on our first visit to York, almost eight years ago. 

The River Ouse

We walked over the the York minster and were going to go inside, but a huge tourist group had just entered, so we opted to come back another time. I learned in my History of Yorkshire class that the York minster has over half of the remaining medieval stained glass in all of England. I'm sure we'll see the inside of the minster again when we take our family and friends to the minster when they visit :-)

York Minster

The treasurer's house, right next to the York minster is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in York, which is said to be one of the most haunted cities in England. For years (like a thousand), witnesses had reported seeing Roman troops walking through the field and later through the treasurer's house - and all the witnesses said they walked on their knees. During a recent expedition (I think within the last 100 years), an old Roman road was unearthed about knee-deep below the current surface. Spooky! The internet just told me the treasurer's house was featured on the first episode of Ghosthunters, so it MUST be haunted! :-) 

The treasurer's house is now a National Trust site and Bill and I were going to go in, but someone (I won't say who so as not to incriminate myself) forgot their National Trust card...

Treasurer's House

We did a bit of shopping as well. I picked up some yarn at the Ramshambles, the knit shop in the Shambles where Rachael used to work. The Shambles is one of the oldest undisturbed streets in York - notice the buildings leaning into the street on the upper levels. Most medieval streets were devoted to one craft or another and then named appropriately; the Shambles was the street butchers were located. You can see in the middle of the street, the channel (big enough for a horse cart to tread) is a bit deeper; this is so that all the butcher's blood can run down the street and there is still a place for pedestrians to walk. The next time you describe something as a shambles (oh, my room is a shambles!), you're basically saying it looks like a medieval butcher has been working in there. Yuck!

The Shambles

I hope you enjoyed your little history lesson for today! 

Craftsmanship

Craftsmanship: when your task is humble, but your work endures.

Here is a simple drain at Skipton Castle in North Yorkshire, dated 1659.  None of the downspouts on any home in which I have ever lived would have lasted this long.  Nor were they so carefully wrought.  I guess I'm also not nobility, and thus don't pay for this kind of quality.  Still, I find myself resonating with this simple work, as someone who tries his best to deliver quality in every hidden nook and corner as part of my own work.

Studley Royal Water Garden

A short walk down a lovely path from Fountains Abbey is the Studley Royal Water Garden. We don't know much of the history of the water garden, other than it's from the Georgian period (early 18th century) and it's pretty.

A plaque said the stone pavilion amongst the trees was built using stone remnants from Fountains Abbey's demolition piles. 

Studley Royal Water Garden and Pavilion

You could walk a loop around the entire water garden, but by the time we walked to one end we were ready for a tea luncheon and to head back to our car. We are members of the National Trust, so we are able to come back here at any time to explore free of charge. We will be coming back! 

Part of the river and formal gardens. You can see the gentle waterfall and bridge further in the distance.  

Waterfall and bridge - Studley Royal

A closer photo of the bridge and small statue. Somewhere on the grounds of the Studley Royal Water Park there is a headless statue of Anne Bolyn symbolizing what she (ahem, Henry VIII) did to the catholics and their churches, abbeys, etc... and what eventually happened to her. 

Bridge and Statue - Studley Royal

Which reminds me of a children's rhyme we were taught recently at a dinner party: in order to remember the many wives of Henry VIII in chronological order, just say

Divorced, beheaded, died.

Divorced, beheaded, survived!

And on that happy note, I think I'll end this blog post :-)

Fountains Abbey

Last weekend Bill and I took a trip out to Fountains Abbey. We went to Fountains three years ago when we were here for Rachael's wedding, and took the two-hour guided tour, so this time we just went to explore and have fun. 

It took Cistercian Monks 300 years to build Fountains Abbey and throughout the 12th - 14th centuries it became a safe place for rich people to spend a few weeks away from their worries and responsibilities. Basically, it was a medieval spa / retreat center that cost a pretty penny. The monks made excellent food and beer, and had private privies and plumbing (for fresh water, not for the privies). All of this fancy living started rubbing off on the monks, who, over time, began enjoying their own food, drink, and "household women" instead of, you know, being pious. The Abbots and monks at Fountains became arrogant, ostentatious, and "too big for their britches." (Quote from my history of Yorkshire teacher, Dr. Sid Brown.)

Fountains Abbey front view

When Henry VIII was in the process of separating from the church of Rome, he had most of the abbeys, churches, etc. torn down and the catholic clergy sent away (if they were lucky). Because of Fountains Abbey's high-and-mighty acting clergy, Henry VIII was more than happy to destroy the location, as it (and the clergy) were becoming more and more problematic. 

This is all that's left of what one can only assume was once a glorious Abbey / vacation spot. 

Fountains Abbey entrance - side view

I can imagine what the stained glass looked like inside those giant windows (and all of the small side windows), and I am sure the reality for the 12th century folks was even more magnificent than my imagination. 

A view through the front door of the back (now empty) stained glass window. Again, entering the Abbey for the first time must have been a mighty impressive sight! 

Entry and back window

All of the archways from within the Abbey are impressive, even without a ceiling! 

Abbey hallway

Below is one of the hallways in another building (right next to the Abbey). If my memory from the tour we took several years ago is correct, this was part of the hospitium (as in hospital) for either the visiting (paying) well-to-do folks from all over Yorkshire and beyond. They called where the visitors slept a hospitium  because you go there for hospitality. During the medieval period you would go to the infirmary if you were sick and a hospital for a bit of a vacation. 

Hospitium hallway

We followed a trail around to the water garden, and got a great view of the back of Fountains Abbey through the meadow. Although the skies were gray that day, it was actually a warm and a rather nice day. We had fun :-)

Meadow and Fountains Abbey