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Saturday, March 11, 2017

Oxford, England - 02/24/17



Oxford is a city in the South East region of Oxfordshire England, of which it is the county town. Oxford is widely known for it's main University, Oxford University, which is the oldest university in the English speaking country. A curious fact: Oxford only fully started accepting women in universities in 1878 and Cambridge University was actually opened by Oxford students who fled the city during the "Town versus Gown" riots.

Oxford was spared from the Blitz during WW2, some say it's because Hitler wanted to make the city his capital, though there are other possible reasons. This is the reason why the cities buildings are so well preserved

Oxford is place to the oldest public museum, the Ashmolean Museum: Galleries and Collections: Ashmolean keeps drawings, paintings, sculptures, books, artifacts and many other objects from famous places and artists, such as:  Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, a dress owned by Lawrence of Arabia, The Messiah Stradivarius, antiquities from Prehistoric Egypt and the succeeding Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, Metrological Relief, showing Ancient Greek measurements and much more




13 stops and we are in Oxford, also 15 days have passed since the beginning of our journey in Europe




Let's fill the entire globe with red round pushpins! I'm exited for all the places we are to visit. We are in Oxford: a city in the South East region of Oxfordshire England, of which it is the county town. Oxford is widely known for it's main University, Oxford University, which is the oldest university in the English speaking country A curious fact: Oxford was spared from the Blitz during WW2, some say it's because Hitler wanted to make the city his capital, though there are other possible reasons. This is the reason why the cities buildings are so well preserved



To get over the anxiety at once, we first make a visit to the so well known, number one University for many years, Oxford University, which we discovered is a "City University" meaning that the buildings are scattered throughout the city center, and that it has 38 colleges. Interesting facts: 1. The number of students grew rapidly only after Henry II banned them from studying in University of Paris.2. Oxford only fully started accepting women in universities in 1878 and Cambridge University was actually opened by Oxford students who fled the city during the "Town versus Gown" riots. 3. From 1333 to the 1820 no new universities were allowed to be founded in England, thus Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly. 4. The Royal Society started with a philosophy group of Oxford students, run by John Wilkins, known as "Oxford Philosophical Club"


Considering some theories a few Habiticans are spreading, we decide to make a visit to Blenheim Palace, the place where, according to some, Hitler would make his, had he won WW2. Blenheim Palace was a present from Queen Anne to a German soldier, John Churchill, who got the money and land to build in the city. He then built a palace and named it after a German city. We are now evaluating this ourselves, sadly we haven't reached a consensus yet.


Time flies! After a short 8 miles we arrive in Radcliff Square, to see the Radcliff Camera, a building in name of John Radcliff, an Oxford doctor who left his estate of £40.000 for the construction and maintenance of a library, (Rad Cam) which is now 280 years old, and beautiful to see. We hold hands around the library and hug it.The party gains +4 Constitution and +1 Vitality (On the bottom you can see St Mary's church, it's facing Radcliff Cam)


A very important stop, we'll get to know Ashmolean Museum, the oldest university museum in the world. It started in 1678 with collections from Oxford university


Galleries and Collections: Ashmolean keeps drawings, paintings, sculptures, books, artifacts and many other objects from famous places and artists, such as: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, a dress owned by Lawrence of Arabia, The Messiah Stradivarius, antiquities from Prehistoric Egypt and Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, The Metrological Relief, showing Ancient Greek measurements, and much more


The museum has an extensive collection of artifacts including European and Egyptian ceramic


Of course Oxford also has many commercial places, such as Queen Street, St Aldate's and the High but we decided to relax and regroup at South Park, Headington Hill in east Oxford, England. The largest Park in Oxford with views to the city. - "Our shoes might be cracked but we are whole" - Fell the city through a live stream - https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/webcams/

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