A Stroll Around the City

Thursday, 16 August

For the first part of the day, we had a splendid three-hour tour (a three-hour tour...hehe) of Oxford, focusing on the Catholic heritage and tradition in the city. Mr. John Whitehead, an Oxford Oratory parishioner, was our gallant tour guide. He began with a brief historical overview, with the beginnings of Oxford in the 12th century through to the present day. Here is a list of our stops:
- Eagle and Child and Lamb and Flag - pubs of the Inklings
- Blackfriars - Dominican hall of study

Entrance to Blackfriars

- St. John's College - place of study of St. Edmund Campion

View of St. John's Quad

- Protestant Martyrs Memorial
- Balliol College - home to Gerard Manley Hopkins, Ronald Knox, and Hilaire Belloc; claims to be first college of Oxford

A peek inside of Balliol

Trinity College Chapel

- Trinity College - place of study of Newman

Bust of Newman in the Trinity Gardens

- Exeter College - where Tolkien completed his undergraduate

Ivy-covered Exeter College

- Radcliffe Camera and Bodleian Library - somewhere around 10 million books

Side view of Rad Cam on the right; view of All Souls to the left

- University Church of St. Mary's - where Newman was rector

Inside the University Church

- Oriel College - where Newman was a tutor

Oriel College Quad

- Christ Church College

Entrance to Christ Church

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- Corpus Christi College
- Merton College - where Tolkien was a Fellow

Merton College

After the tour, we checked out St. Philip's bookstore, home to a nice collection of theological and philosophical books. In the afternoon we had two lectures. The first was given by Fr. Jerome Bertram on Newman and the Second Spring (see Newman's Second Spring sermon), and the second was given by Russell Sparkes on Cardinal Manning, a contemporary of Newman that concentrated on social justice.

St. Philip's Bookstore, next to the Alice shop.

For dinner, our group tried out Fire & Stone, an innovative pizza parlor that has a fantastic any pizza for 5 quid deal on Thursdays. The pizzas at Fire & Stone are inspired by countries around the world, grouped by continent. We shared pies that had the flavors of Africa, the Mediterranean, and Bombay. Following dinner, we popped around the corner to Shoe Lane off of New Inn Hall Street, where the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies is located. And so I found the place that I would call home and school for the next two semesters: CMRS at St. Michael's Hall.