Saturday was a very fun, busy day. Around 9:30 a big group of us left campus to go to the History of Science museum, which was pretty interesting, although it was all artifacts, with very little text. They had a lot of astrolabes and microscopes, but also had Einstein's blackboard (with some equations still on it) and the original penicillin cultures. Two of the exhibits that I thought were the most interesting were a collection of items from the Ashmolean museum/school of Natural History (which had been founded in the 1500s or 1600s) and that explained how the items were presented there. For example, there was a manatee bone that had been labeled as a mermaid's hand! Another interesting exhibit was on Islamic astronomical devices, which also showed the development of European technology and how they borrowed from each other.
We went to lunch at "The Oldest Coffee House in Europe" (1654) althogh the one across the street claimed to be the oldest in Europe (1650). Whether or not it was true, the food was good. Then we went to the botanic gardens, where a big band was playing. A lot of families were picnicking there. After the gardens, we tried our hand at punting. A punt is a long, thin box-looking boat that you manoeuvre with a great big metal pole. We had a guy boat with Ben, Ian, and Jordan, and a girl boat with Rachel, Emily, and Danielle. Danielle is from Canada and is in Emily's Jane Austen class. She is very nice and has been hanging out with us a bunch. The girls were very bad at punting, and Emily fell down a few times, but managed to avoid falling in the Thames. The girls also managed to lose (but eventually recover) Danielle's hat, the punting pole, and our paddle. Emily also ran them into thorn bushes twice. The guys had far greater control of their boat, and were able to do some "bridge-jumping." When approaching a low bridge, a person at the front of the boat grabs the bridge, pulls themselves up, crosses the bridge on top, and jumps back in the boat as it goes under. Ben and I had great success, but Jordan opted out, probably because of the large "no climbing" signs on the bridges... It was a lot of fun, though, and a popular way to spend the afternoon.
Yesterday was another fun day. A group of us went to Christ Church Cathedral for Eucharist. It is a High Anglican church. Jordan, our resident Catholic, said it was fairly similar to a Catholic service. They sung almost everything, including the prayer responses and the Nicene Creed. There was a visiting choir who was incredible. It was interesting though uncomfortable to kneel when praying, because the centuries-old hardwood floors are not great on the knees.
For lunch, Emily and I went to an Indian place (4500 Miles from Delhi) which was excellent. The buffet had small amounts of 9 main dishes (meat and vegetarian) and they had chapatis and naan. I had never heard of, and can't remember, most of the dishes, but one of my favorite was a little fried patty made of different types of vegeables. Besides leafy greens and potatoes, I'm not sure what was in it, but it was delicious. Om nom nom.
After lunch, we went to Oxford Castle, which is a big tourist exhibit that ended up being very interesting. Some of the site was pre-Norman Invasion, but most of the building had been added on to for years. It was actually a functioning jail until 1996! Apparently that's where they put the people who illegally climbed bridges! Just kidding...
Even in 1996, when the prison closed, none of the rooms had toilets, because they weren't built with plumbing. I am glad I was never in prison there! Or anywhere else, for that matter. The tour was very interesting and then we got some time to wander around. From the top of the tower you could see lots of Oxford, including Exeter's steeple.
After dinner we watched the World Cup. We Holland fans were severely out-numbered by the Spanish supporters, but avoided getting beat-up, probably because Spain won. Oh well.
Today classes have resumed after a really great weekend. I hope to get started on one of my papers tonight, having watched 4 different performances of Macbeth as research. My thoughts are starting to become iambic...
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