Oxford Culture Shock

Our friends Martin and Maggie came to stay for the weekend and we went out on the town on Saturday night. We just missed Happy Hour in the cocktail bar so our round was tear-jerkingly expensive but it was a good start to a great evening. If you're looking for a good restaurant in Oxford I can really recommend Pierre Victoire in the Jericho quarter of the city. The food was superb, one of the best French meals we've had in this country, and the service was very friendly and efficient too.

On Sunday we did "the tourist trail" following the map from the Oxford City Guide website. None of us have been to Oxford before but we all want to come back soon. It's a beautiful city with plenty to see and do.

The Carfax Tower

One of the oldest buildings in Oxford - now a Costa Coffee shop

The Bodlean Library, which contains over 9 million items on 176 kilometers of shelves and is large enough for 2,500 readers at any one time.

The Radcliffe Camera which was built in 1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library and is now a reading room for the Bodlean Library

Hertford Bridge which connects two sections of Hertford College and is know locally as the Bridge of Sighs because of it's similarity to the famous bridge in Venice.

Christ Church College

Anyone need any wood for winter fuel?

When we came out of Christ Church we were shocked to find the World Naked Bike Ride riding past. They'd have been better off on Saturday as it was quite chilly on Sunday afternoon.....or maybe the chill made them a bit less "noticeable"

Oxford

We've seen lots of herons today. I think the heatwave is making them a bit dopey as they've nearly all stayed put when we went past instead of flying off.

This one was fishing in the storm drain below the road bridge in Oxford. It was still there 2 hours later when we got back from our walk around the city.

The sluice beside his fishing spot looks like it's used to quickly drop the river level in times of flood, diverting some of the water into the storm drain.

We were a bit concerned that we'd be able to moor above Osney Lock as we'd been hearing stories from other boaters about how busy it was but when we arrived the lock-keeper told us all the "gin palaces" had left this morning and the visitor moorings were now empty.

We're staying here for the weekend as we've got friends coming tomorrow and it's really convenient for the station which is only a 5 minute walk away. It'll be interesting to see if the moorings fill up again tomorrow.