Oxford and Wantage

My flatmate has recently just purchased a car and we thought that we would take it for a spin. We decided to head out to Oxford to have a look around.

Oxford is a city, in the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. It has a population of 151,000. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre. For a distance of some 10 miles (16 km) along the river, in the vicinity of Oxford, the Thames is known as The Isis. Oxford is home to the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Me and Amanda by the bridge

My friend Amanda lives in Oxford so we meet up with her so she could take us for a look around.

The bridge is often referred to as the Bridge of Sighs because of its supposed similarity to the famous Bridge of Sighs in Venice. However, Hertford Bridge was never intended to be a replica of the Venetian bridge, and indeed it bears a closer resemblance to the Rialto Bridge in the same city.

There is a false legend saying that many decades ago, a survey of the health of students was taken, and as Hertford College's students were the heaviest, the college closed off the bridge to force them to take the stairs, giving them extra exercise. However, if the bridge is not used, the students actually climb fewer stairs than if they do use the bridge

This is a picture of the University of Oxford - Christ Church, I believe. We had a stroll around the university gardens. I decided not to go in, as had been to lots of churches, etc. But Zac did and there are some pictures here . They filmed the Great Hall scene from Harry Potter here.

After our stroll around the gardens we headed to the Oldest Pub in Oxford for some drinks and some lunch.

Me and my flatmate, Melanie.






After Oxford we decided there was still enough light in the day for us to head to Wantage.

Wantage is a town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, near the Thames Valley, in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically in Berkshire), and approximately 17 miles (27 km) south-southwest of Oxford. It is famous for being the birthplace of King Alfred the Great.

Wantage is also famous for the White Horse.

The Uffington White Horse is a highly stylised prehistoric hill figure, 374 feet (110 m) long, cut into the turf to reveal the underlying white chalk. The figure occurs on the upper slopes of White Horse Hill. The figure has been shown to date back some 3,000 years, to the Bronze Age. It has long been debated whether the chalk figure is intended to represent a horse or some other animal. However, it has been called a horse since the eleventh century at least.

My picture of the White Horse

Picture of the horse taken from above. We had a lovely hot air balloon ride and I took this picture ... :)