Today was a go-to-the-sites-you-still-want-to-see day. And actually, one, the Bodleian Library opens at 9:30, so it was first on my list, but still too late for doing nothing beforehand, so I went to see the Oxford synagogue. It was gated. As I was taking photos a woman emerged from a side entrance (she could see me from the security cameras) and even though shacharit had not quite concluded, she would not let me in. I don't blame her, but I felt a little bit bad. We chatted for a bit about the threats we face and then I left.
Buying tickets for university sites you want to visit is super annoying because none are sold at the place you want to see. They are sold at some other place which you have to seek out. I finally found the Bodleian Library ticket vending place, but eschewed a tour —choices are 30, 60, or 90 minutes because I feared it would be a deadly dull pouring forth of people's names and a list of dates. (The ticket seller said as much.) Instead I walked down Rose Lane and discovered a lovely canal path that encircles a huge meadow owned by one of the colleges, Christ Church, I believe:
It was heaven! There were women rowers:
and men:
You can see the landlord on the far side of the meadow:
When I emerged, I discovered that one could, for a way too hefty fee, tour the grounds of the college. They were quite grand...for a college:
Guards, appropriately dressed in keeping with the formality of the institution kept people off the grass...with vigour, may I add:
The only room that was open today was the dining hall. The walls are covered, and I mean covered, with portraits of men one is supposed to revere. I am not so sure I harbor that regard:
Then off to the Museum of Natural History, an absolutely knockout museum, not only in terms of the collections, but architecturally, and the way everything is displayed.
If this sperm whale, whose jaw you see here—although it looks like the Tour Eiffel before it was finished—had a toothache, it would be a disaster:
There was a display on forensic entomology; you definitely want to read about it here. It is interesting to the max!
This tiny Fairy Lantern has only been seen twice by scientists deep in the rain forests of Malaysia:
Well, not this very one; it is a model!
As you know, the Dodo is extinct, but what you may not know is that this museum has the only soft tissue remains in the world:
Why did the dodo disappear? Some were killed by sailors looking for a change in diet, others by the rats, cats, pigs and monkeys the sailors brought with them. Or dodos may have gone hungry as the invaders cleared forests rich in fruits. Their extinction is likely due to complex phenomena of changing ecosystem and human behavior. If you are more curious, there is a super-site called Everything you want to know about the Dodo
An impressive aspect of the displays is the way you can see a specimen, like this red crab, and all its relatives together. That may not be unique, but it is well done:
To mix things up a bit, I then went to the Museum of Modern Art, but that was a dead end given that they were between exhibits. So then it was off to the Museum of the History of Science, 95% of which was way over my head or way out my league or both. And besides, it is a somewhat physically dreary palace. But down in the basement there was a detailed exhibit on typhoid fever and vaccines. It was not easy back in the day to distinguish typhoid fever from other fevers, to discover its causes, and to do something about them. Then, when there was a vaccine, not everyone was running to get it:
The people who volunteered to be test subjects were very brave:
There is much allure in the shop windows here in Oxford. I went into a bakery to buy a loaf of seeded sourdough and two fruit scones. As I was paying, I said the the storekeeper, "There are so many lovely things to choose from." He replied, "Yes. I have to bring summ'it home everyday else the missus will yell at me."
And what is England without a little Shakespeare?
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