Ah, I could not believe that I had been in Oxford for three days. Well, with most of the colleges were closed, the planned trip became more and more limited. As I set my foot off the house, I realized that the north western part of Oxford had not been explored yet, save for Green Templeton, where I had my lunch during the first day.
The first check in was Worcester College. Again, it was closed. I seriously thought that Christmas Break was not a perfect time for tour de college in Oxford. Having no other choices, I could only get two shots from the front. Well, it was better than nothing, wasn't it? I headed towards the direction of Ashmolean Museum. Right across Ashmolean was St. John College. A pretty big one, yet even all the gates were locked. Worse thing, the college was located near the big road. So, even my front shot was disturbed by parking and passing cars.
Following the Woodstock Road, I took a shot of The Eagle and The Child. Well, at least I wanted to have a memorial of that legendary pub. I was a big fan of Narnia and Lord of The Rings as well.
After that pub, I was tempted to enter St. Aloysius church. It was one of the surviving catholic church in Oxford. Well, the first reason was the three wishes that I told earlier in the previous post. BAM! I entered when they were still reciting rosary prayer. No other choice, I had to sit and join the prayer. Thankfully I still remember Hail Mary. Hehehe!
Right after the prayer was finished, I looked around and found a nice shrine for Mary, Our Lady of Oxford. There was also a place to kneel down. Without any hesitation, I grabbed a candle, lit it, put in on the chandelier, and started praying. Sounds crazy, eh? I am. Next to the Mary shrine, which was full of precious relics, I found a shrine dedicated to St. Philip Neri. Turned out he was the patron saint for the order of the parish. The main altar itself was decorated with many statues of the saints.
As I proceeded to the exit, the painting on the wall struck me. It was about St. Edmund Campion. He was once a fellow of St. John College, Oxford, but was hung till death for his faith. In short, he was pretty precious for Oxford people. The thing is, I sort of having a connection with him. When I received my sacrament of confirmation, I took his name as my patron saint, together with St. Chrysogonus. As I got the college of St. Edmund in Cambridge, I felt that it was also a divine intervention. The more impressive thing was the fact that most people used to mock me over my choice.
They knew nothing about this saint, and it was weird to put Campion on the name. “Why don't you just take Edmund instead of Edmund Campion?” But I insisted on choosing this specific Edmund Campion. The fact that I ended up in St. Edmund's College in Brittain was not a random thing for me.
In the exit door, I talked with a lady there about St. Edmund Campion and the status of the parish. I saw IHS as the emblem in the second shrine, and I thought that the church belonged to Jesuit. But it was not. It used to be, but not now. She wondered, how could I know about Edmund Campion and Jesuit? When I told her that I took his name and used to work in Jesuit university back home (added with the fact that I almost entered Jesuit novitiate), she immediately told me to go visit Campion Hall. Apparently, it was the only Jesuit college / hall in Oxford and dedicated completely to St. Edmund Campion. At that second, I knew that I was not far from home. My journey and study in UK had been laid down for me since long time ago. More about this later, guys.
Finishing my visit to the church, I decided to go to Museum of Natural History. The museum road was the shortest way to go, but my old syndrome came back again. Direction disorientation! So, I ended up walking down the Broad Street. To my surprise, Trinity college was opened! Without having any second thought, I directed myself to that place. In the porter's place, I secretly prayed that he would allow me to enter freely when finding out that I was a Cambridge student. “One pound please!” Duh! Bye bye my lovely coin!!!!!
Trinity was okay. The explored area was certainly bigger than Balliol, but something just did not carry the sense of antiquity. It felt cold. Even the chapel was very dark and not welcoming. But there was an interesting part, the back one. The one with student laundry and library. At least that part seemed alive and warm.In the end of Broad Street, I turned left to Parks Road, wanting to reach the museum. On my right hand side, I found another closed college. Well, sneaking a little bit to get two shots, I found the name interesting. Wadham college. Instantly, my brain went into Indonesian mode. It means transsexual in Indonesia, so I laughed spontaneously.
Well, after a long walk, I finally reached the Museum of Natural History. The exhibition was nice. At least I could finally see some dinosaur bones (yeah, I don't need to go to Smithsonian!!). But the silly side of me took place and the statues of prominent scholars around the arcade were far more interesting. Duh! At least I got my interest back when visiting Pitt River museum, just in the back of Museum of Natural History.
Pitt River hosted various idols all around the world. Quite nice to see how the statue of Virgin Mary was put side by side with Guan Yin. Both with the same pose, carrying a baby. I love that idea! But the shrunken heads were pretty creepy. They reminded me of jenglot, Indonesian traditional ghoul which haunted me during my childhood.
In the upper floor, Pitt River hosted an exhibition of weapon. There were various weapons all around the world. Being a fan of J-RPG with various weapon, I was excited for finally seeing the real claymore and rapier. More than that, they even had Bagh Nakh and Katar. Those were the weapons seen only in the game, but was presented right in front of my eyes.
The museums were done. Next thing on my list was going to New College to see the Old Wall of Oxford. Again, I passed Queen's College (which was still closed. Shame!) and tried to find St. Edmund Hall on my way. Found it, but closed. I could only stole some shots of the chapel and the graveyard through the bars. Trying to follow the Queen's Lane, I got lost again and could not find New College. So I decided to head down Longwall Street and ended up in Magdalen College.
Strange thing happened. As I passed the college, I sniffed familiar scents. Incense and menyan. All of a sudden, I got goosebump. Those were smells of creepy atmosphere back home. Why did I had it there? Quickly I hastened my walk and ended up in Blackwell bookstore (had a quick stop to take picture of imitated Bridge of Sigh. The original Cambridge counterpart was way more beautiful).Blackwell did ruin up my financial planning. I headed towards the Norrington room, the one having three miles of bookshelves and found MAAAANNNYY interesting books. Damn! Books are really my drugs! They are addictive!!!!
So, I ended up my day tour with several philosophers and lunch in McDonald. Done for the third day.
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