From London to Oxford and the Covered Market

21 December 2012

It was an easy drive from Heathrow Airport to the city of Oxford. I had been here before and I had done some research before my trip. So it was easy for me to find a car park space near the Museum of Natural History, within walking distance to the town centre. The only thing on our mind was to find a good place for lunch. There was plenty of eateries at the town centre. We chose to eat at an English pub. Fish and Chips!

The town centre area was busy and crowded with Christmas shoppers and young people.  After lunch, we went into the Covered Market, located at the junction of High Street and Cornmarket Street.

It was fascinating to see the gruesome carcasses of animals and turkeys hung outside a butcher shop inside the Covered Market. Back home, we only see butchered meat packed in Styrofoam trays.

Turkeys hung on top of a butcher shop in the Oxford Covered Market.

Carcasses of deer outside the store. Santa and Rudolph won’t be happy to see this.

Mistletoe for Christmas.

Watching a baker at work.

Preparing the icing and Xmas decor on a cake.

Oxford is a university town. The many colleges are spread around town. The buildings are old but beautifully done.

Radcliffe Camera.

We went into the courtyard of one of the college to explore. It was not uncommon to see ex-student, students and their families going round taking photos of their school or alma mater.

Christmas tree at courtyard of one of the college.

After touring the town centre, we proceed to the Red Mullion B&B to check-in before heading back to town again for dinner at Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant located along George Street.

This restaurant was quite popular in Oxford as this was Jamie’s first restaurant. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes the previous time that we ate here. This time, I had made a reservation via their online reservation website, so there was no need to wait in line for a table.

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Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History

22 December 2012

The plan for the day is to spend some time at the Pitt Rivers Museum and University Museum of Natural History in Oxford before taking the car to explore the eastern part of the Cotswold and ending the day at Stratford Upon Avon.

If you want to see exotic and amazing stuff like shrunken human heads from Amazon or dried fish skins used as body armour, then Pitt Rivers Museum would be the place to visit.

The two museums are free of charge to visit and are practically linked. We entered via the University of Natural History. There were stuffed animals and fossils of dinosaurs. This museum is smaller than the Natural History Museum in London but Interesting nevertheless.

Dodo bird – hunted to extinction because it cannot fly and is practically defenceless.

T-rex skull and head.

Exhibit in the geology section – meteorites.

We entered the Pitt Rivers Museum from the Natural History Museum. This museum which focused on anthropology and world archaeology is unlike any museum I have been before. The items on displayed came from all over the world and is a massive collection displayed on showcases on 3 levels.

Overview of Pitt River museum. Giant totem pole at the back.

The objects displayed are grouped accordingly to how they were made or used. We just combed through the rows and rows of shelves to view the items on display.

Some of the more fascinating objects displayed on the ground floor were the shrunken heads under the “Treatment of the Dead” display.

Skulls or heads kept as war trophies – reminded me of the movie Predators where the alien kept human skulls as trophies.

Real shrunken heads or Tsantsas from the Amazon region.

This ivory ball(s) looks like one I saw at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Each ball is a detached layer carved within another. Extreme and amazing craftsmanship.

The upper gallery has an interesting collection of shields, armour, spears, swords and also firearms. Some exhibits were simply amazing and have to be seen to be believed.

Spiky war helmet made from a spiny fish. Dried dish skin used as armour.

We spent about 1 hour and a half at the two museums before leaving Oxford to explore the Cotswold. Overall, I enjoyed my visit to the Pitts River Museum, a place not to be missed while visiting Oxford.

Our next stop would be Bourton-on-the-Water.

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