Suggestions on places to go in Oxford
My kids and I got into a discussion with some of y'all at dinner the other night, about the places we're visiting in Oxford. I was asked today, "Could you put together a list of places that you recommend seeing in Oxford?" I'll make a first pass here – feel free to add on your own!
- Punting, at either Folley's Bridge (follow Cornmarket to St. Aldates and keep going to the river) or Magdalen Bridge (take Cornmarket to High, hang a left, and keep going to the river). It's about 15 pounds an hour and it's THE thing to do in the summer in Oxford.
- The Tower of the University Church of the Virgin Mary. It's on High Street, near the Camera. It's a 13th century tower, so skinny and worn are the steps that you're sure you're going to die or be squished going up-and-down. But the view is the best in the city.
- The Eagle and Child: The pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien used to hang out with their fellow writing friends, the Inklings. There are pictures of them on the wall. Just go soak up the atmosphere.
- The Perch: A thatched roof pub that requires you to walk through the Port Meadow. You can get directions from Carolyn Wierson, or just walk up the towpath of the Oxford Canal. It's about a 30-45 minute walk and it's amazing. You walk through land that's been a common grazing field for over 900 years.
- The University Museum of Natural History is a blast – go see a stuffed Dodo, a huge bug collection, and the most gorgeous museum building you've ever seen. Walk through the back to get to the Pitt Rivers Museum. Y'know the stereotype of the 1800's British Explorer? Imagine his attic. That's Pitt Rivers – filled with shrunken heads, a witch in a bottle, and ballerinas with the heads of flies. Absolutely amazing.
- The Oxford Museum (kitty-corner to Carfax Tower) helps you figure out why the place we're living at is so amazing. You can even learn about Worcester College, Jericho, and the Oxford Canal.
- The Ashmolean is one of the world's great archaeology museums, with a really nice art collection, too (including impressionists like Pissaro and Manet and Renoir), and it's only two blocks away up Beaumont – and it's FREE!
- Turf Tavern – supposedly Bill Clinton's favorite when he was here as a Rhodes Scholar. Just getting there is tricky – take the alleyway below the Bridge of Sighs near the Bodleian Library.
- Christ Church College – go there and look for the spots that appeared in the first two Harry Potter movies.