And so it begins

Oxford by C.S. Lewis

It is well that there are palaces of peace
And discipline and dreaming and desire,
Lest we forget our heritage and cease
The Spirit’s work—to hunger and aspire:

Lest we forget that we were born divine,
Now tangled in red battle’s animal net,
Murder the work and lust the anodyne,
Pains of the beast ‘gainst bestial solace set.

But this shall never be: to us remains
One city that has nothing of the beast,
That was not built for gross, material gains,
Sharp, wolfish power or empire’s glutted feast.

We are not wholly brute. To us remains
A clean, sweet city lulled by ancient streams,
A place of visions and of loosening chains,
A refuge of the elect, a tower of dreams.

She was not builded out of common stone
But out of all men’s yearning and all prayer
That she might live, eternally our own,
The Spirit’s stronghold—barred against despair.

-C.S. Lewis

After months (and perhaps a lifetime) of anticipation, we have stepped foot in Oxford. As of today, Monica, Frank, Stephanie, Steph O. and I have been here for a week. And what a week it has been. I have decided that on this blog, I will keep the details to a minimum and provide instead select photos with description. The more extensive recordings will be reserved for my journal and updates for close family. That being said, I look forward to sharing my adventures with many of you upon my return.

So, without further adieu.

Here we are when we at long last saw the happy sight of our Apt. building sign:

(After carrying 100+ pounds of luggage behind us for over an hour that is)

Eating lunch on a tree stump outside of Christ Church Meadows:

Standing in front of The Eagle and Child. I hope you understand the significance of this landmark. If not, either look it up or just stop reading. 

A few shots from around this beautiful campus:

I feel like I'm in Archenland of Narnia every time I pass under this tree.

 Frank really likes it here.

Wall of the great Bodleian Library, the library at which much of our time will be spent while here. (Otherwise referred to as "the Bod".)

 The Bodleian is one of the oldest and largest libraries in Europe. It is the main research library of Oxford and also the main library we will have access to while we are here. Sir Thomas Bodley, the founder of the library, established an agreement that every book that was published in Britain from that point on would be available in the Bod. So as you can imagine, the book selection is vast;. It houses over 11 million titles and is still growing.

Photo taking was not permitted in this exhibit, so I'm afraid I cannot provide images of treasures that lie behind these doors. The exhibit was called Magical Books: The Middle Ages to Middle Earth. They had original transcripts, drawings and letters of Tolkien and Lewis (most notable in my opinion) among others. There was also an entire case devoted to the topic of Alchemy and alchemical literature (a particular interest of mine) which was also incredible. 

And lastly, because we are always to remember our mortality, I leave you with this image:

This is the place at which people were (rightly or wrongly) burned at the stake many years ago.

It seemed so misplaced, right in the center of the busy city. To be sure, countless oblivious passers-by tread over that somber brick cross without a thought.

And on that note ... Cheerio!

Stay tuned for the next installment which will include photos from our trip to London!