Tag 14 - Oxford -> London

8:00

For the first time in many days, we've set an alarm. At 2 PM, we will continue on to London, where we will drop off the car, but until then, Oxford belongs to us, and we belong to Oxford.

First, we wander through the Covered Market, an old market hall as the name suggests, before we stand again in front of the university grounds. For 2.50 pounds, we can view the Divinity Academy, which is the theology lecture room. It's better known to us as the 'hospital wing of Hogwarts.' Again, we strain our necks as we try to discover and appreciate all the carefully carved stone elements. The hall is not large but enormous in its detail.

Afterwards, we visit a free exhibition recommended to us when purchasing the tickets - unfortunately, we cannot visit the libraries (hopefully next time ;) ), but the exhibition contains true book art treasures, illuminations like I've never seen in real life. Pages decorated with gold shine in the light, patterns of fine lines adorn others, and people, animals, letters, and everything in between crawl across the old papers.

Afterwards, I turn towards the Botanic Garden, and as soon as I step through the entrance onto the grounds, the sun comes out as if on cue.

The season is almost over; most of the flowers have wilted (which gives me the chance to pluck a seed capsule or two while strolling), but even without flower fireworks, the garden is beautifully arranged - the right mix of a tidy English garden, with straight gravel paths, bubbling fountains, and angular beds... versus sprawling plants that ignored the boundaries of their beds many years ago and lean over the paths. Trees with thick, scabby trunks that have grown in this direction or that stand in stark contrast to young, one-year-old violets that swarm at their feet.

But I prefer to spend my time in the greenhouses. Even from the outside, you can sense the abundance of plants inside; they press against the insides of the glasshouses and jostle for a good window seat. Inside, it’s the same picture - neatly labeled plants, which were once planted with careful spacing, have long been growing hand in hand with their neighbors. Every surface, whether horizontal or vertical, is utilized for plants. And where there is no more space, plants are placed on plants, hung from the ceiling or supports. Sometimes, moving forward through this dense jungle is only possible sideways.

Tropics, swamps, deserts, I explore all of this within a few hours, and as my seed bag gets fuller, my ever-emptying stomach calls, prompting me to return to the group. Soon after, we all sit together on the bus one last time and buzz towards London again.