Our Day at David's Alma Mater...

June 23, 2012

Wow, what a breakfast this morning…  We were able to eat in the same dining hall that David ate in while he was at college.  The breakfast was amazing, starting with cereals and juices and chocolate croissants.

Then of course there was the typically English full cooked breakfast…

We were served at the table, but David wanted to show the kids how the students have to get trays and go through the lines… He said it hadn’t changed a bit since he was there…

Danika and Jason felt like they were at Hogwart’s with the candles and head table for the professors…

We walked around St. Edmund Hall taking pics.  The college was founded in 1221, and the well in the main courtyard dates back to then...

Then went up the stairs in Kelly Hall (where David dormed)

And took pictures of his view of Oxford…

This is his college’s crest…  The birds are Chuffs...

The library at St. Edmund Hall is housed in what once was the chapel with the graveyard right outside.

The inside is beautiful with arched ceilings and stained glass windows…

This was one of our favorite headstones… You can barely see it, but there is an acorn in one of the eye sockets of the skull…

We continued the day with a walk through other parts of the University…

This bridge was modeled after the bridge of sighs in Venice that we had seen not too long ago…

This is the Sheldonian Theatre.  David was conferred his degrees here, and for the MA, he had to kneel down while they recited something in latin and bonked him on the head with a bible.

Walking down the High Street…

This is the Divinity School where the Hospital Wing and the Dance Lesson in the Harry Potter movies was filmed…

Christchurch College…

The Isis River…

Walking back into St. Edmund Hall…

There was a Garden Party, a bit of a reunion, so David met up with some of his classmates, Mark and Julia Little and their son, Edward.

The Chaplain of St. Edmund Hall took us under the library into the Crypt.  It was great because it was from the 1100s.  The sign was funny because it says that the access to this ancient place is precarious…

Jason heading down in…

There is one window down there letting light in, but otherwise it was pretty dark…

These are the things on the window ledge…

This is the baptismal font.  Behind it you can see a dark opening.  That was once the “Relics Chamber”.  It held a piece of chain that supposedly once held St. Peter.  It also held the bones of various saints.  Apparently it was a place of pilgrimage.  There are stairways on either side of the chamber.  The pilgrims would descend down the right hand staircase and crawl on their knees while praying to the relics as they passed by, then they ascended the left hand staircase.  It was great hearing the stories from the Chaplain.

There were all sorts of drinks, sandwiches and desserts at the Garden Party, so we ended up having a long afternoon and evening of it.  We finished in what is called the Buttery, which is the college pub.  We sat and chatted until it was quite late.  Forgot to get pictures, but at one point I snapped this one of the kids.

The kids really enjoyed their first full day at college.  We are staying in the dorms again tonight.  Forgot how noisy they can be J

~Mary