"Ye spires of Oxford! (Wordsworth, ..." a Oxford Travel Page by leics

Well........what can one say? Oxford seems to be on the general 'to see' list of many visitors to the UK. There's certainly a huge amount of history, the river is lovely and it has wonderful museums. Trouble is, it does get very crowded at times (there are, after all, some 16000 students as well as the local peopleand all the visitors). I don't think I'd want to stay for more than a day or so if I were visiting.

The university was established some 800 years ago, and is made up of several independent colleges. Most of these are closed to visitors for much of the year, which is a pity in some ways as the architecture and quadrangles are fascinating. This picture shows St John's College quadrangle (the college dates from 1537).

Many famous Oxford buildings, such as the Radcliffe Camera, are linked with the university (more pictures in the travelogue)

Oxford is also good for shopping, so I'm told (I'm not an expert shopper myself) and there are lots of places to eat, drink and generally be merry.

There are two excellent museums, either of which would entirely justify a visit. The Ashmolean Museum is supposedly the oldest in Britain, (established in 1683) and contains a wealth of objects, including the curiosities collected by John Tradescant during his travels in the 17th century. He's the man who brought both horse chestnut trees and tradescantia to Britain, amongst many other plants (he was a court gardener).

The Pitt-Rivers Museum (established 1885, now behind the University Museum, which has an excellent fossil display) houses the random (and massive) anthropological collection of Lieutenant-General A Pitt-Rivers. Everything from stone axes and shrunken heads to totem poles and kimonos is crammed into a mind-blowing display. Your head will spin!