Travels with Charley - A Morning Walk in Oxford

Our group stayed at Linton Lodge in Oxford. It was a most agreeable place and Charley and I were fortunate to have a room that overlooked an enclosed yard where the children played at every opportunity.

Our first program day in Oxford, started with an orientation tour of the neighborhood.

St. Andrews church was nearby and, like the American churches of my childhood, was open to the public during the day.

The old houses sported many chimneys from the days when heating must have been dependent on fireplaces. They reminded me of the rooftops in Mary Poppins.

Still smarting from the extreme Texas heat we had left behind, Charlie and I marveled at the English gardens flourishing with seemingly little effort on anyone's part. Several brief afternoon showers kept the flowers watered and the temperatures down.

One of the adult lectures touched on author J.R.R. Tolkien who wrote Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien lived just around the corner from Linton Lodge from 1930 - 1947.

We meandered down to the river where "punts" were available for hire. These flat boats with a broad front are propelled by a long pole. The pole is wielded by a person who stands on the flat portion of the front, much as a gondola is moved along.

Travels with Charley - The Saxon Tower, Oxford, England

Road Scholar filled our days and evenings with varied literary and cultural activities but we did have a little free time. From the several church towers that offer good views of the city, we chose the Saxon Tower at the Parish Church of St. Michael at the North Gate. This tower dates from 1050, the oldest building in Oxford, and the only original portion of the church remaining. The church itself has been destroyed at various times, and has been rebuilt several times.









John Wesley preached from the 15th Century pulpit on 29 September 1726.









At least one of the stained glass windows dates from the 13th Century.

There is no charge to visit the church. There is a small fee to view the treasures in the tower and climb to the top.

Charlie could maneuver the many steps much more quickly than I.

There are six huge bells in the tower but ringing them would cause severe damage, so chimes are used instead.

For a few pence, a 19th Century clock mechanism will perform.

This is the door of the prison cell in which Archbishop Cranmer and Bishops Latimer and Ridley were held before they were burned at the stake on what is now called Broad Street. Their crime - refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism during the reign of Queen Mary in the 16th Century.

The cell was in Bocardo Prison which adjoined this church until it was demolished in 1771.

The stairs emerge on the roof of the tower for a commanding view of the city....

....and the street below.

Travels with Charlie - Inside the Museum of Natural History

Arriving a day early in Oxford provided an opportunity to catch up on rest and see a few things before the program started. Knowing the children would visit the Museum of Natural History, I did not want to spend too long there, but it would be my only opportunity to see it. My first thought on entering the neo-Gothic building, was that a church had been revamped to make the museum. I still can't help but feel that way way when I look around.

Construction started on the museum about 1855 with a plan centered on a large square court topped by a glass roof. The roof is supported by cast iron pillars which serve to divide the square into three aisles.

Columns, each formed from a different stone, and "cloistered arcades" cover the outer perimeters of the first and ground floors. What I first thought to be statues of saints were actually statues of important men of science - Aristotle, Bacon, Darwin , etc.- on the ground floor of the court.

Ornamentation of the stonework (which remains incomplete) features natural elements, like leaves and branches, funded by public subscription. Irish stone carvers were hired to "create lively freehand carvings in the Gothic manner." When the money ran out, the carvers volunteered to finish anyway, but members of the University Congregation accused them of "defacing" the building. The carvers retaliated by caricaturing the congregation as parrots and owls in carvings above the entrance. Those are said to have been removed.

The museum has a host of interesting artifacts, including the head and foot of a, now extinct, Dodo bird. This may have been one of the influences in Lewis Carroll's story of "Alice in Wonderland." I also found this diorama of a hatching Allosaurus egg interesting. There were several hands-on displays amongst the eclectic items.

The museum is free (donations encouraged), open 9-5 daily and also serves as an entrance to the Pitt River Museum (fee).

Travels with Charlie - The Ghost Forest

Charlie and I arrived at Heathrow about 6:30 AM and were in the heart of Oxford by 11 AM. We had a quick brunch at the Giraffe Cafe before taking a taxi to our hotel. Charlie had a hearty meal of three huge pancakes, divided by thickly sliced bananas and topped with blueberry conserve. He took a photo before devouring the lot.

You almost get a 36 hour day when you cross the International Date Line from West to East. The overwhelming desire to take a long nap on arrival is best suppressed to avoid, or at least recover more quickly, from jet lag. Charlie's energy was flagging, but I coerced him into a walk downtown to explore our surroundings.

The display of massive tree trunks and roots out side the Museum of Natural History caught our eyes right away. Entitled Ghost Forest, the display of tree roots and portions of giant trees were from a commercially logged primary rain forest in Western Africa. Artist, Angela Palmer, brought the display to Europe "as ambassadors for all rain forest trees and to highlight the alarming depletion of the world's natural resources. Today, a tropical rain forest the size of a football pitch is destroyed every 4 seconds. An area the size of Belgium is lost every year."

A nice long walk in the crisp air of Oxford, England and an early bedtime serve to prepare us for the beginning of our program on the next day.

Travels with Charlie- Austin to England

Two years ago, Em and I traveled to Oxford, England, for a literary based tour with ElderHostel. In July this year, Charlie and I made the same trip. I was a bit worried I would be bored since the basis of the trip, with its focus on Harry Potter, had not changed much, but there were enough differences to make it interesting. I just knew that Charlie would love the program, and he really did!

First, the name of the company has changed to Road Scholar and age limits have been dropped. The main group was still composed of grandparents and their grandchildren, but there were a few different relationships - aunt, friend, etc. The children were 9-11 years old, but Charlie, aged 12, was not bothered by the age difference. Being a little older actually gave him some of the advantages of maturity. He was a great traveling companion and the whole experience was quite different from a boy's viewpoint.

TranAtlantic flights are never fun, but Charlie took advantage of the opportunity to have uninterrupted TV time on tiny screens embedded in the seat ahead of each passenger. I, on the other hand, lamented the fact we could not fly first-class where the seats actually made into comfortable looking bed-like modules. Of course, the front and back of the plane arrived at the same time and since there was no big corporation funding our trip, we managed quite happily.

Immigration was a nightmare with several, fully-loaded, aircraft arriving at the same time. Charlie and I enjoyed the opportunity to do some people watching, a great wait-time "sport." I was entranced by a man in a kilt, not the first I have ever seen, but certainly the most unusual. The kilt appeared to be a pair of khaki pants down to the hips, complete with belt loops, pockets, etc. Just below the pockets in back, the pleated kilt / skirt(?) began, and continued to the knees, leaving hairy legs exposed. He topped it off with an ordinary shirt, black socks and a kind of sandal. The man appeared quite comfortable in his attire.

I took Charlie out of the U.S. with no problem, but the English authorities were stricter. I had to show proof that I had his parents permission for him to travel with me. They also questioned Charlie. He can normally be heard several blocks away, but in front of this British symbol of authority who occupied a stool making him even taller than normal, Charlie was all shrugs and mumbles. We were eventually passed on with a friendly smile.

Getting to London was the simple part of our travels. Just hop a plane in Austin, change in Houston, and get off at Heathrow many hours later. Now we had to rely on my searches of the internet to make our way to Oxford. As it turned out, this was not a difficult task. We walked a short distance to the bus terminal and took a comfortale, air-conditioned bus right into the heart of Oxford. The kindly driver was soft-spoken and helpful. We bought our tickets right on the bus, luggage was loaded in the hole below, and we were off to Oxford.

Charlie and I shared a similar thought later when we were discussing a lady we had seen at the bus depot. She was older, thin, somewhat eccentric looking, and appeared to have stepped right out of "My Fair Lady." She wore a vintage. ruffled trimmed, chiffon-like dress and sported a wide, vintage, flower trimmed hat. Underneath the hat was a nightcap and peeking out from under the calf length frock, was either pajamas or colorful tights. Both Charlie and I had ached to get a photo but chose not to invade the woman's privacy.

Today's Flowers - "Pink Rose"

See more flowers here every Monday

Travels with Em - Em Update

Helen, the EH staffer in charge of the children, sometimes keeps the children for activities while the adults pursue other avenues. I am not quite sure who benefits more. The children love her, they are bonding, having a great time, and Em couldn't care less where I am. In other words, Em is having a great time and is being very independent. She has become quite friendly with 1-2 other girls and has someone to pal around with. I gave her a key the very first day and she has felt like she is older and ready to take on the world. I have to bring her back to earth occasionally, like when she plays with the ketchup bottle and (accidentally) squirts it into the air and a plop of it lands in my hair.......or when she sticks the bowl of a spoon into her mouth sideways and leaves the handle hanging out on one side, and turns around to show everyone......or when she orders coffee.....

I got her up for a walk the first morning we were here. She did not want to go...dragged her feet....refused...until I suggested we go to take photos of the Dragon School. That is actually the name of the school where the girl who played Hermione, in the Harry Potter film, went to school. That got her out and we managed pretty well except I couldn't keep up with her. Either I am slowing down or she just doesn't want to be seen with me, or both. We managed alright until we headed back to the hotel and she was more anxious to get there than I. She kept running ahead and I kept calling her back. As we got closer to our destination, she got faster, until I saw her heels disappear around a corner. Unfortunately, she was going the wrong way....and going fast. Calling out someone's name on the street with other people around, is not a safe practice, but when I finally got within calling distance, I called her. It took three tries before she heard me. She was standing by a very busy street.
"Well, I wasn't going to cross it," she told me.
I gave her a lecture and we headed back.
There is a fine line between guarding Em's safety and squashing her independence. I hope we can get it resolved here, where the streets are mostly quiet and life is slower.