Oxford

My great aunt Betty (her full name was Elizabeth, and one of the people who I was named after in reference to my middle name - the other person, my Grandma Irene, who's middle name was also Elizabeth) only went to school through the 8th grade. This was not that unusual in 1916 for women, for many reasons. But her reason was that her mother died, and she was needed at home at age 13 to care for her little sister, my Nana, who was 3. They did have a brother and sister who were older, but the older sister was married by then and an older brother would not have been an acceptable caregiver in that day and age. (I don't know if he was married yet - can't remember this part.) So she, with the help of a nursemaid, raised my grandmother in large part.

So, Aunt Betty, while a very wise woman as I remember her, only had a formal education to the 8th grade. And, later on in her life, she married a man that landed her in social circles where many of her fellow ladies were college graduates. At social events with these biddies, these women would talk about their time in university, sharing stories, etc. And, they would ask Aunt Betty, "Where did you go to college?" And, she would answer, "I went to Indiana University." And, she felt she was not telling a lie because she had been to IU - she had visited the campus. So, that was her answer.

Today, I can tell you that S and I, we both went to Oxford. How's that. We stopped by the hallowed town on our way to Birmingham, the first stop on my trip for work. It was about lunch time, and it seemed like a very good place to stop. Here are some highlights of the photos I snapped. The sun was straight above, so the light is not the best. And, I had some serious jet lag settling in. Just like to apologize for the photos before I post them. Ahem.

And, I really have no idea mostly of what I was shooting, except the buildings were interesting and I wanted to take their photo. Since I was on a business trip, we didn't really purchase vacation guidebooks for the UK. Had we done so, I might be able to tell you. I could have referenced the Oxford chapter. But, I didn't have such a guide. Oxford scholars, please identify my photos for me. I would be much obliged. Thank you.

This is where we found a place to park.
That's S over there putting the voucher on the dash of our car.
We sort of made a loop from here, ending back down there, in the distance in this photo, for some lunch.

This was near the car.

There's S walking on into some part of the campus.
Look how baggy his jeans are - he lost about 25 pounds during his illness.

I think I remember this was a library, but maybe not.
There was a round library in Manchester and I could be confusing them.
And, I was sleep deprived when I saw this one.

Don't know what it is, but I liked it.
Beautiful weather this date - generally, we had good weather in the UK.

They just don't mark buildings in the US this way.

There's S in the courtyard.

I liked this detail of the window.

I took this one because it references music.

Similarly, we don't have walkways like this one in the US.

This building was behind a big gate. So stately.

There's the gate.
It reminds me of that 80's sitcom Silver Spoons for some reason.
I was totally in love with Ricky Schroeder.
I was so excited when he joined the cast of NYPD Blue.

Another one of that building.

And, this one that just looks Oxford-esque to me.

I took a series of photos of a church we wandered upon as well. I will share those tomorrow. It'll be the first of many European church posts. Churches are sort of mandatory when you're in Europe. See you then.