Abingdon

While visiting Oxford, we stayed in a town called Abingdon, about a 15 minute drive south of Oxford. If visiting Oxford, we highly recommend staying outside the city a bit (much easier for parking), and it was easy to get into Oxford (it was a 15 minute bus ride from the center of town).

 We spent the night in an idyllic hotel called the Upper Reaches, located on the Thames.

The Upper Reaches along the Thames

Because they are so beautiful

The view from our room, the Bridal Suite (not quite sure how we ended up in it, but it was great-- a full suite!)

 The four poster bed in our room.  Sorry the bed is unmade... had to share.

Just outside the hotel was a walking path along the Thames. It wound along the river, taking us to a lock that was manually controlled. It was amazing to watch the lock in action, and it was a beautiful walk.

The Thames

The manually operated Abingdon Lock

Swan

The trees in England are beautiful. My favorite are the tall whispy trees in the background. Does anyone (Ron?) know what they are?

Boats along the Thames. Charters and private houseboats.

Abingdon also has ruins from a medieval abbey that King Henry VIII demanded be dismantled after the creation of the Church of England. The ruins are still rather intact, and the gardens are beautiful.

This way to the Abbey

Statue of Queen Victoria in the Abbey Gardens

The Gardens

The Abbey Ruins

The Abbey Ruins

The Abbey Ruins

Today We Became English (at Sulgrave Manor)



On our way home from Oxford, we stopped at the ancestral home of George Washington. As in the first president of the United States. George was born and bred in America, but his great grandparents (5th generation removed) lived here, in a beautiful place called Sulgrave Manor. 

Sulgrave Manor

And it is here that we became English.

It is hard not to be swell with pride while touring this Manor. Which is amazing. See, while here in England, there are so many beautiful and amazing buildings and places to see. And we stand in awe. But we don't swell with pride. But here, in this very English Manor, this Italian-Polish American and this Welsh-Finnish-German (etc.) American both felt as if we belonged here, like we were standing in a house of our relatives. Like were connected to the people that lived here, like we were connected more than our fellow English tour-mates. And yet we don't have a lick of English blood in us.

And it made us  reflect on what it means to be an American.

Isn't is an amazing thing that a national superpower grew, and stood, out of the ideas of a few? And that people who have ancestors from all over the world, claim it as home. And therefore, can claim, in some small way, this English Manor as the home of one of their own. This may sound like drivel. But it was kind of amazing.

Adam & Jaclyn & George

THE MANOR
Sulgrave Manor is owned and maintained by all American and British citizens (so they say) and is a symbol of the many years (centuries) of peace that have existed between the two nations. It is a museum depicting relics from the Washington family as well as the Tudor Era, preserving the social history of the time.

Washington Family Coat of Arms. Stars & Stripes?

The right portion of Sulgrave Manor is part of the original longhouse. The house would have been about twice as long as it is currently. The building in the left of the picture is the brew house were (alcoholic, but without hops) ale was made-- by the women in the house.



The Grounds

The Gardens

INSIDE THE MANOR
The first room you enter in the Manor is the dining room. And it was colder inside the room than it was outside on the grounds. The floor was made of stone and would have been covered in thresh. All of the doors have raised jams, to hold the thresh acting as the Threshold. The word "table" refers to the legs of the table that hold up the board, or the modern day tabletop, that could be turned over and used as a place to play games. All business that was conducted "above board" was considered to be ethical The room had windows which had ornate stained glass coats of arms in them to symbolize the family and the families the children (there were 11) married.

The Dining Room

 Beyond the dining room was the ladies' parlor, where they spent their time kibitzing, doing embroidery, and playing this Tudor era harpsichord.

Tudor Era Harpsichord

 The kitchen had a huge cooking area (over open fire, of course) and with a bread oven (built into the side of the chimney). The culdrons are huge and everything is placed on a crane to control the distance of the pots from the fire. They say that a child would be in charge of rotating the spit. A job that was so dangerous that the life expectancy of that child was 8 years old.

The Kitchen

 Cooking utensils and other tools (including shot guns) were displayed above the cooking area.

Tudor Era Tools

The house had so many George and Martha Washgington artifacts on display (the most we have ever een in one place), including this work of embroidery done by George Washington's Great Grandmother, John Washington's mother.


GW's Great Grandmother's Embroidery

 The windows of the house seemed to be clearer in person, but here you have it. A view of George Washington's bust from the upper window of the Manor.

George Washington Bust through window of the Manor

 TUDOR HOVEL
As a way of providing English school children who come to tour the house with perspective, a typically English Hovel has been constructed on the land. It depicts how the majority of people in England would have lived during the Tudor Era-- in a hut, without windows, with a fireplace, and likely without an oven. The hovel at the Manor is depicted as a Blacksmith's Workshop as a way of displaying blacksmith tools that were typical of the time. Just think, no windows.... Ick.

Typical Tudor Hovel

Interior of Typical Tudor Hovel





Oxford!

We had the best time in Oxford. Seriously. It's amazing, and I can't wait to share every single bit of it with you! Where to start, where to start... First, it took us about 2.5 hours of driving to get there (all in all, not bad) and we stayed in Abingdon, a town about a 15 minute drive south of Oxford (see post on Abingdon). We took the bus into Oxford and met up with one of Adam's friends from Hillsdale College, Dave DeMarco, who (very impressively) was presenting a paper at a conference held at Oxford the previous week. With Dave (and his friend Miriam from Germany) we took an official walking tour of the University, and then proceeded to do our own walking tour-- which turned into a bit of a pub crawl.

Adam & Dave in front of Deer Park Gate inside Magdalin College (pronounced Maudlin)

ABOUT OXFORD UNIVERSITY
The University is comprised of many different colleges (as is Cambridge). When you apply to the University, you actually apply to an individual college. Every college teaches for every subject, they do not specialize, although applying students should be sure the college they are choosing has the preferred faculty associated with it. All classes are taught in the tutorial style, meaning they are one on one or one on three with the professor. Lectures are held for the entire university, but students are not required (just encouraged) to attend. We were told a student chooses a college by which is most appealing socially, or for which may have the best bar.

Each college has its own buildings and grounds, so each college looks different and the grounds vary in size. The grounds include dorm rooms, dining halls (think Harry Potter), tutorial rooms and (from I can tell) a pub. The buildings are centered around quads and the grounds may extend to include many acres of park/greenspace.

Trinitiy College. A wedding was taking place inside, so it was closed to visitors.

Inside Wadham College. Standing in the quad.

Our (French) Tour Guide in Wadham Chapel

In addition to seeing Wadham College, we were able to see Magdalin College (pronounced Maudlin) because we were with VIP Dave (who had been staying there during the conference).

Magdalin College Chapel

Stained Glass-- all greys and browns-- in Magdalin College Chapel

Magdalin College

Dave & Jaclyn at Magdalin College

Magdalin College has extensive grounds, including a Deer Park and access to the Thames.

Garden at the Deer Park Gate

My favorite shot of the day

Punting Boats on the Thames

The Deer Park Walking Lane

The Deer.

Oxford Univeristy Continued:

A bridge to connect an old (and un-toileted building) to a new addition

These are the heads of "nobody special."

The Medieval City Wall

All ceremonies take place here. The ceiling is painted as if you are looking into the sky (so we were told )

PUB CRAWL

We started our day at the Kings Arms. Although it claims itself to be famous, our tour guide assured us there was nothing famous about it. The food and drinks were good, however.

The sign to the allweyway that leads to the Turn Tavern. The alleyway was once known as Hells Avenue (to later be changed to St. Helena's) due to the characters that would travel it on their way to the tavern where fights of all sorts took place.

Many famous people love (or loved) this place, including Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton... We ended our night  here

Adam in front of the Eagle & Child, the favorite tavern of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.

Cheers!

Walker Nation

It may not come as a surprise, but we are not the only Walkers living in England. In fact, there is evidence of the Walker clan all over this great nation. The purpose of this post is to, over our time here, continually add images of the presence of the Walker name throughout Europe.
Enjoy!

A clothing store in Norwich.

A snack stand located at the Five Ways, a roundabout with five exists located just near the base.

Jamie Oliver (& Cambridge)

We went to Cambridge to celebrate the birthday of Adam's right hand man in the operating room, and had dinner at Jamie Oliver's restaurant aptly named "Jamie's."

Jaclyn & Adam

Friends

Friends

The food at Jamie's was delicious. All of the pasta is hand rolled and the risotto was great. For those of you who have not traveled to England, make a mental note: when you have a chance to have authentic Italian, take it. It doesn't come along very often. And, before we leave the brief discussion of this lovely dinner, I have to tell you about dessert (of which we sadly don't have pictures). All of the desserts were delectable here, including the ice cream options. We sampled the cherry (with real bits of cherry in it), honeycomb (vanilla ice cream with actual honeycomb in it) and caramel (made with real caramel). I am still dreaming about it. Can you tell?

After dinner we took our first brief walking tour of Cambridge. Cambridge, like Oxford, is a University comprised of many different colleges. Each college has it's own "complex" (usually gorgeous complex built a few centuries ago). Although we didn't get to see much (nor do we know much about what we did see), here is what we saw. it probably doesn't have to be said, but we can't wait to get back and spend more quality time-- This should be easy as it is only a 30-40 minute drive from us).

One of the Colleges at Cambridge (not yet sure which one)

Again, one of the Colleges at Cambridge (not yet sure which one)

The most interesting clock I have ever seen. It is a grasshopper on top and is constantly in motion. We'll have to get the history on this the next time we go. I'll report back once we know more.

A common scene in English cities-- unsuspecting alleyways lead to charming courtyards.

More to come at a later date! Hopefully we'll have some pics from a punting (or boat) tour throughout the town as well!