So, today we had another big walking day.
As I type this I am sitting with my tired feet up while the rice for dinner cooks ๐.
10:30 tour at the Bodleian Library, then we were off to the Natural History Museum & the Pitt Rivers Museum.โ
First the tou......
We visited the Divinity School (the original lecture hall completed in the 1480's).
It was used in the Harry Potter movies in as the Infirmary.
We got in just in time, as from next week they will be filming the new film 'Mary Queen of Scots'.
The Duke Humfrey's library on the floor above was used as the library at Hogwarts. We weren't allowed to take photos in the library. Here are a couple from the library website.
Sir Thomas Bodley retired from working for Queen Elizabeth 1 as an ambassador & decided he wanted to rebuild the library after it had been decimated during the Reformation.
It has since become a storage space for every book that has been published in the U.K. since Bodley made a deal with the Guild of Stationers to supply a free copy of every book published in the UK.
We walked around a bit after the tour, & had a cup of coffee at the Weston library.
Here is NCH standing in front of the 'Bridge of Sighs'.
โVery close to the Weston Library is Trinity College. So we popped in there for ยฃ2. each. Beautiful grounds & Chapel as you can see here.
Then we were off to the Natural History museum & the Pitt Rivers Museum.
It is VAST!
It was also quite hot because of the glass ceiling. Literally a hot house.ย
Since it is still school holidays - it was full of 'dino' crazed children.ย
This is what you see first as you come in the front door.
There is a comprehensiveโ collection of fossils in order of development.
My favourite fossils are this kind - they look as if you could just add water & they would start to move.โ
I also enjoy looking at insects in all their variations.
After exploring this section we went next door to the Pitt Rivers Museum. This is also a huge collection. A anthropological study of all different cultures & their decorative arts. It seems to be dominated by nations that are in or on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
Here are some images to whet your appetite.
There are drawers under many of the cabinets that you can pull open & look at the contents.
The arrangement seems to be in order of object rather than age or culture.ย
For example, these carved spoons are different ages & from different cultures.
I have to admit I hit information overload pretty quickly.โ
I am very interested in textiles - so I have many pictures that reflect that interest.โ
We were pretty tired so we left the museum in search of a drink & something to eat.
The 'Eagle & Child' pub was our new destination. This pub is famous for it's patrons.
C.S.Lewis & J.R.R.Tolkien used to go to that pub with the other 'Inklings' & discuss the books they were working on.
After this we grabbed some shopping to take with us tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning we are off to Shrewsbury.
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