Random things I saw in Oxford

Clockwise from top left: a homemade Black Lives Matter sign in the window of a student flat; the tower of University Church on the High Street; an assortment of condoms and tampons in the laundry room at Merton; tourists in the Schools Quad in front of the Old Bodleian.

And still more boats

 

More boats along the Thames

There are a variety of narrowboats and houseboats docked along the side of the Thames. Some of them seemed to be leisure crafts, though I only saw one or two actually out on the water, and some of them seemed to be residences.

I took the picture on the left from the water, on a Tea on the Thames cruise, where alas the high blood sugar brought on by consuming multiple scones with cream and jam apparently left me incapable of taking a decent photograph. I saw the bâteau ivre on the right on one of my walks.

Lost boat

In an inlet off the Thames path, this boat from Balliol College. There were college boathouses all along the water there, so I'm sure someone knew the boat was there.

Cricket

Coming back to Oxford, and some odds and ends. Here's something you never see in New York: a friendly game of cricket on a Sunday afternoon.

This is one of the playing fields I used to walk past on the Thames path near the hotel where I stayed my first weekend in Oxford.

Urban poetry, Bath style

And here's the last of Bath: rows of chimneys encircling a hill. A lovely image from a lovely city.

Pulteney weir

There has been a weir to prevent flooding on the Avon river in Bath since the 1600's. It was rebuilt in the 1970's in this unusual, and apparently more effective, horseshoe design.

That beautiful bridge across the river is from the 18th century. It's full of shops but sadly I had no time to linger there.

A park (but from a distance)

The parade grounds look like a lovely park for any Regency couple to take a stroll in, but since it wasn't public—you had to buy a ticket to enter—we changed our minds about taking a shortcut across it and admired it from a distance.

Jane Austen's Bath

I would have loved to spend more time wandering through the streets of Georgian houses in the city. I had really never seen much of England outside London until this summer; although I used to dream about Cornwall and Yorkshire, there were always places I wanted to see more. If I go back to Oxford next summer I may have to travel around the country a little while I'm there.

A somewhat smaller church

This Seventh Day Adventist church near Bath Abbey made me smile. I am guessing they have a rather small congregation.

Bath Abbey details

I especially love the angels climbing Jacob's Ladder.

Bath Abbey

 

The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is right next to the Roman baths, is a parish church, not a cathedral. Judging by the exterior (we couldn't go inside because of a service in progress) it would make any bishop proud. The main building is 12th and 16th century, with a major renovation in the 1860's.