OXFORD

OXFORD – CITY OF DREAMING SPIRES

My first ever visit to Oxford was on August 10, 2007.

It was a family trip – my mother, brother Chong, sister in law Joyce and myself.

I called Oxford a city of education due to the presence of its numerous college and university. Recommended a one-day tour is sufficient – as one can see the historical and mysterious town, followed the colleges and universities, museum and town itself.

OXFORDSHIRE'S CHRIST CHURCH

Oxford's beginnings is a mysterious tangle of legend and fact. A Saxon princess and nun called Frideswide established a monastery om 700 AD century on the present site of Christ Church. Finding herself courted by a lecherous king, she fled into the woods at Binsey where she hid. Her pursuer was struck blind by a lightning bolt but Frideswide's prayers healed him, and he left her alone. A small community grew up outside the gates of her monastery, beside the oxen ford over the Thames after which the city is named. During the 12^th century a university gradually evolved within the defensive walls of the market town of Oxford, filling its streets with rowdy scholars, putting a strain on the resources of the community and causing frequent clashes. Serious hostility has become a thing of the past, it is the romantic notions of Oxford that prevail – the punts, picnics and poetry and visitors are lured by an almost tangible atmosphere of learning in a compact city of superb golden-stone buildings and dreaming spires.

NEW COLLEGE

Attractions include – Christ Church Meadow, Sheldonian Theatre, Queen's College, Martyr's Memorial, Railway Station, Oxford Castle, Oxford Canal, Folly Bridge, River Thames, Cathedral, Museum of Oxford, Garfax Tower, Covered Market, Bridge of Sighs, Magdalen Bridge, Botanic Garden, Radcliffe Camera, University Parks, University and Pitt Rivers, Rhodes House, Playhouse Theatre, Ashmolean Museum, West Gate Shopping Centre (St Ebbe's & Oxford Unlocked), New Bodleian Library and Oxford Story Exhibition.

This is also a town of colleges – Said Business School, Trinity College, Keble College, St Hugh's College, St Anthony College, St Anne's college, Somerville College, Balliol College, St John's College, Worcester College, Nuffield College, St Peter's College, Christ Church College, Pembroke College, All Souls College, Queen's College, Brasenose College, Oriel College, Merton College, Linacre College, New College, St Hilda's College, Exeter College, St Catherine's College, Magdalen College & Tower, William Morris' Original Workshop, Wadham College and Oxford University.

BRIDGE OF SIGHS

Oxford is a university city in south central of England and the county of Oxfordshire, is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom, with one of the fastest growing population in UK, and it remains the most ethnically diverse area in Oxfordshire county. 

The city is known world wide, as the home of the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period  since the late Saxon period.

Oxford is known as the "City of Dreaming Spires"  - a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold.

Oxford has a broad economic base - include motor manufacturing, education, publishing, information technology and science-based businesses.

AUGUST 10, 2007