Oxford (the 100 mile journey, part 1)

While visiting Oxford, London and Paris a few weeks ago, I wore my pedometer and managed to cover 100 miles on foot! Walking is my favorite mode of transportation, particularly in cities, so it wasn't that difficult to do. You see things on foot that you don't get to see from a car window or even a bicycle, which seemed to be the preferred method of transportation in Oxford.

I was warned to watch out for aggressive bicylists by the tour guide from Footprints, a company that provides a free walking tour of Oxford. You ‘pay’ a tip at the end if you enjoyed it. The tour provided a great orientation to Oxford.

The university doesn’t have a central ‘campus’ but is made up of 38 different colleges.
Each college is self governing and financially independent. Most of the grounds were closed to visitors or charged admission so I just peeked in at several.

Christ Church Meadow is a large area of tranquil pasture in the heart of the city, owned and maintained by Christ Church and bordering the rivers Cherwell and Isis.

Christ Church College was used in the filming of Harry Potter movies, as was the Bodleian Library.

The Botanic Gardens provided a beautiful escape from the hustle and bustle of Oxford.

Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires, for obvious reasons.

Our hotel, The Cotswold Lodge Hotel, suggested dinner in a nearby neighborhood known as Jericho and we had three great meals. Indian food at The Standard, fresh fish at Loch Fyne and Italian food at BRANCA.
Between the Footprints tour, the Bodleian Library tour, walking to dinner each night and just general exploring, we left Oxford for London with 36 miles logged on the pedometer!