DON'T WEAR OXFORDS...

from wikipedia

An Oxford shoe is a style of leather shoe with enclosed lacing;

in other words,  dressy shoes in the US.

Heh!??!  JPE is more of a Merrell man or an ECCO kind of guy! Nevertheless, I don't see him getting a pair of "oxfords" any time soon...

BUT, we did see some "gray-haired" professor-type guys (riding rather rickety bikes) around OXFORD on our day-trip Saturday!!

Oxford ~ Keble College

OXFORD is located about an hour (by train) NW of London... Purchased a map from the TI  (tourist information) Center... the 11am tour was sold out, so we got our tickets for the 13:00 (1:00pm) tour - which was led by Danielle (a Belgian, with a thick accent, whose husband is a professor).

What we learned:

• the University of Oxford is comprised of 38 Colleges
• the teaching staff & students studying for a degree of the university are affliliated w/one college
• in general, students attend "tutorials" with professors from their college BUT lectures, examinations & labs are run by the University of Oxford. 

A bit confusing, huh?

Danielle took us through Keble College (a beautiful, Gothic design, known by architects for their college chapel)...

• each college has a chapel (chapel played a significant part of an Oxford education in the past, but is no longer required!)

Keble College, Oxford ~ Chapel

William Butterfield, (Keble's architect) refused to include any paintings inside the church, so a separate room was added for displaying a painting that was left by a patron of the college.

Keble Chapel is accented with mosaic tiled pictures & stained glass, not found in all college chapels.

• The colleges have interlinked courtyards, with several having beautiful garden-like courtyards or statues in the center of the quad. 

Keble College had a very ordinary courtyard ~ It appears they may have spent their money on the chapel!

• A professor has an office at their college & holds their tutorials on-site.
• Students live on-site (too expensive, otherwise), study (each college has a library), socialize, (some colleges have bars) & dine together. 

Keble College, Oxford ~ Dining Hall

Keble College, Oxford ~ Dining Hall windows

Keble College, Oxford ~ Library

Pretty impressive huh??? an this is just one of the colleges in the Oxford University system. Several colleges were holding "Graduation" which is hosted by the University of Oxford - and happens here....

Bodleian Library