Oxford

 I'm staying in Reading (Oxford is too expensive!), but Oxford is only a short train ride away.

Having arrived at Oxford station, I decided to buy tickets for the Hop on and Off bus, and I'm so pleased that I did. It was good value to get a 48 hour ticket (and senior discount!) because I can also use it tomorrow to get around to a few of the sites I haven't done yet.

The other bonus was a free short guided tour as part of the ticket and a map which I used constantly. I was the only person who turned up for the tour so it was a private tour and we had a great time. It was supposed to be 45 minutes, ended up being slightly over an hour. Lesley gave me some great background about the various colleges, and some of the famous buildings, and she also suggested what else I should see.

The central city area is a bit like a rabbit warren and it is easy to become 'geographically embarrassed' Some streets I went down 3 or 4 times. But the architecture is all interesting, and there was some beautiful wisteria growing on walls and the huge chestnut trees are in full flower.

I then went in search of the river, but encountered the Botanical Garden first.  It is the oldest Botanic Garden in the UK and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. It was founded in 1621 as a Physic garden, growing plants for medical research, and it now has an enormous variety of plants. They are grouped under their various scientific families. There are also a lot of plaques connecting various plants to literature and poetry. I have so many photos!! 

There is a path alond the river just next to the Botanic Garden so I set off for a lovely walk. Being Sunday, and a long weekend (Bank Holiday tomorrow for May Day), there were lots of people on the river, punting. Some were quite amusing the watch, but I didn't see anyone get their pole stuck and be left hanging on to the pole as the boat moves on. Where the River Cherwell meets the Thames, there were an assortment of 'narrow boats' parked on the sides. I would have loved to have done a short narrow boat trip, but it just wasn't going to work out.

The path then follows the Thames, then curves back, ending outside Christ Church. In fact the whole area is owned by the church and is called Christ Church meadow.

Back into the Town Centre to visit a Scientific Museum which has the blackboard that Einstein wrote on for his 1931 Rhodes address. Apparently the equations depict the age, density and size of the universe. There were also dozens of astrolabes, compasses and various measuring instruments.

I'm heading back to Oxford tomorrow, and I'll try to add some photos. Too tired tonight - step count was over 22,000 again. I'll talk about some of the famous writers as well.