Barnett Vicarious Adventures: May 31, 2013 Oxford and Highclere Castle(Downton Abbey)

Oxford, England is an amazing place. The first college opened here in 1231 and it has been a university town ever since. There are currently 27 colleges located in the town. In order to attend one of the colleges you apply for 2 or 3, submit extensive applications then sit for a personal interview. Many Prime Ministers were educated here and President Bill Clinton attended one of the colleges as a Rhodes Scholar. Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) went into the African jungle at a young age, discovered diamonds and ran one of the largest diamond mines in Africa for many years. His trust still funds Rhodes Scholarships today.

One of the many colleges. The college very small for the most part. The largest college has 625 students. Each is highly specialized in an area such as law, science, engineering, literature, political science etc.

Tower and clock of Church of St. Martin is all that remains of this 14th century church that has been in the center of Oxford's shopping area since the medieval times

Main shopping street of Oxford.

University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, largest parish in Oxford England

Above is a student showing up for final exams. There is another picture below. Note the formal dress. In order to take final exams one must wear a black suit, a white bowtie, a graduation gown and a mortar board. There are no exceptions to the ancient dress code.

The Law Library at the Oxford Law College. Only Harvard University has more legal texts than this library.

Old Radcliff Infirmary Building the medical facility for all the colleges.

Here, the dome of Rhodes Center where decisions are made on invitations to become a Rhodes Scholar.

Entrance to St Johns College, the most exclusive, most well endowed and most difficult to enter.

The Sheldonian Theatre built in 1664 and designed by Sir Christopher Wren (architect of St Paul’s Cathedral). Students enter this building twice during their college career: the first, when they come for orientation, the second, when they return for graduation. Otherwise, the building is used as a performance hall.

Statues of ancient Greek scholars outside Sheldonian Theater.

Above, some of the faculty housing in Oxford. A professorship at Oxford, needless to say, is one of the most difficult positions in academia to obtain.

Martyr’s Memorial built in 1843. Three professors were burned for what was considered antireligious teachings. Hard to believe this could have occurred in a center of learning but one of the many horrible acts done in the name of religion throughout history.

Below, in the Covered Market in Oxford we finally tried a "Meat Pie" at the Pieminister. Edward had venison and Elaine had a "meatless meat pie" or veggie pie. Not sure why these pies are not popular in the US. At home we only find, beef, chicken and turkey pot pies and they are not considered the best of food. The meat pies in England are made with high quality ingredients. But, note the steps in ordering. The Brits have a procedure for everything. You must follow the steps or you slow down the lunch line behind you. The third picture shows all the types available today.

Students arriving for final exams in their formal dress.

The entrance to the dreaded exam hall.

After a lovely day visiting the historic town of Oxford, we knew that Highclere Castle (the setting for Downton Abby for all you fellow fans) was not far away. As the pictures below show, the castle was closed the day we arrived. Actually, it closed the day before because they had started filming for the new season. The castle will not reopen until July 14. But, when did a little “CLOSED” sign ever affect Elaine? To quote her, “It did not say, ‘Closed To Me!!”, so into the grounds we went.

The castle is absolutely more stunning than it appears on television. Up close, you can see amazing detail. We learned later that the architect for the castle was the same architect for the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) and you can definitely see the resemblance between the two buildings. The castle is the home of the Earls and Countesses of Carnarvon and has been for more than 300 years. The grounds cover more than 1,000 acres. The 5th Earl of Carnarvon approximately 100 years ago was one the archeological team that discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt. In the basement of the castle is an exhibition of the Earl’s archeological finds. The library has more than 5,650 books, the salon has 50 foot vaulted ceilings and the gardens and park have existed since medieval times. Even though we could not enter the castle, it was an amazing site to see.

Below, the “Castle is Closed,” but not to Elaine. The road to the castle says, “closed beyond this point,” somehow we missed seeing that sign. There were a herd of Land Rovers on site loaded with camera equipment, scenery and costumes for the current season filming.