Hall Dinner, York, Durham
So a lot has happened over the past weekend-and-a-bit. So forgive the long post.
To start, Thursday night the house attended a "Formal Hall Dinner" at Corpus Christi College. Everyone was asked to dress "smart," which basically means there were a lot of girls stumbling around in high heels along the cobblestone streets (I wouldn't reccommend it). It was a dinner for just the Stanford students, although formal dinners in the future will be with Oxford kids. We started out mingling in one room, then moved into the gigantic Harry-Potter like dining hall, complete with long benches, four tables, and place cards.
Friday morning, around 8am, we began our "Bing Trip" (a traditional first weekend trip sponsered by the Bing family at Stanford) to northern England, starting with the town of York. When we arrived we were immediately taken on a walking tour of the city. I opted to follow the lead of Geoffery Tyack, the extremely quirky director of our program here since he was going to focus on the architectural aspects of the city more than the other tour guides. He ended up being a rather horrible guide, since he could barely put two words together without saying "um" thirteen times, would constantly cross the street without even hesitating for traffic and walked as fast as he possibly could the entire time. But he's English, so we give him wiggle room to be odd and love him anyways. My favorite part of the tour by far was walking along the ancient city-wall, which is open to the public, becuase we got a phenomenal view of the city. This wall basically cut across town and was a good 20 or 30 feet above the busy streets. I've never seen anything like it.
The city (town?) of York is best known for its cathedral, as well as its timber buildings from medieval times. The upper floors of these timber buildings kept getting pushed out further and further from the buildings original foundation, so much so that one top appartment nearly touches another from a building across the street. Apparently you can stick your hand out the window and shake hands with your neighbor.
The Cathedral of York was really neat too. I've never been to a building of this magnitude that is smack in the middle of the city, not more than 20 feet from a very urban shopping district. The stained glass inside was beautiful, the ceiling was really interested becuase it was made of timber, and had a pattern of "Keys" which look like gold baubles all over the place. Apparently half of the original stained glass in all of England can be found in the town of York. It was inspiring and interesting and definitely my favorite of the two cathedrals we saw on this trip.
That evening, I went out to dinner with an ecclectic bunch of residents at a pizza place, and spent the evening wandering around York, in the rain, exploring (aka getting lost) then went back to our hotel with very fluffy beds and gossiped and bonded with my roommate until we fell asleep.
The next day, we made an early start towards Durham, starting with a stop by one of the most spectacular and lovely houses I've ever seen, called "Castle Howard." It was early morning when we arrived, so there was a mysterious mist around all the gardens. The basic layout of the property reminded me of Versailles--complete with beautiful views of lakes, fountains, rose gardens, and a few masoleums and small buildings. The gardens were great, quiet and gave everyone a much-appreciated sense of calm. The interior of the house was spectacular as well.
This castle was one of the first to have a dome placed on top, since it was compelted in the 18th century. It took over 100 years to build, and the dome wasn't even in the original plans! The full height of the room with the dome was somewhere near 70 feet. Apparently this castle was the place where they filmed the movie "Brideshead," which I've never seen--a film about Oxford, apparently. Oh the logic of movie making....
After the castle, we went to Durham and did another walking tour of the city, then visited the Cathedral there, which boasted the first "ribbed vaulting" ever. I actually didn't enjoy Durham as much, just becuase our activities were very touristy. We didn't really have a moment to enjoy the city on our own. That's ok though, becuase sometimes you have to endure the crowds to say that you've done or seen something historical. The castle in Durham (right next to the Cathedral) was actually turned into a college waaaaay back in the day, and students of "Durham University" actually live in the castle now. It was really interesting to walk by these ruins and see signs saying "Welcome Home" pasted all along the walls. Only in Britain....
By the end of the weekend, we were exhausted and ready to come "home" to Oxford. What was great about the trip was the fact that I now have a substantial basis of comparison between other cities the size of Oxford, and I'm definitely glad that I'm here.
To start, Thursday night the house attended a "Formal Hall Dinner" at Corpus Christi College. Everyone was asked to dress "smart," which basically means there were a lot of girls stumbling around in high heels along the cobblestone streets (I wouldn't reccommend it). It was a dinner for just the Stanford students, although formal dinners in the future will be with Oxford kids. We started out mingling in one room, then moved into the gigantic Harry-Potter like dining hall, complete with long benches, four tables, and place cards.
Friday morning, around 8am, we began our "Bing Trip" (a traditional first weekend trip sponsered by the Bing family at Stanford) to northern England, starting with the town of York. When we arrived we were immediately taken on a walking tour of the city. I opted to follow the lead of Geoffery Tyack, the extremely quirky director of our program here since he was going to focus on the architectural aspects of the city more than the other tour guides. He ended up being a rather horrible guide, since he could barely put two words together without saying "um" thirteen times, would constantly cross the street without even hesitating for traffic and walked as fast as he possibly could the entire time. But he's English, so we give him wiggle room to be odd and love him anyways. My favorite part of the tour by far was walking along the ancient city-wall, which is open to the public, becuase we got a phenomenal view of the city. This wall basically cut across town and was a good 20 or 30 feet above the busy streets. I've never seen anything like it.
The city (town?) of York is best known for its cathedral, as well as its timber buildings from medieval times. The upper floors of these timber buildings kept getting pushed out further and further from the buildings original foundation, so much so that one top appartment nearly touches another from a building across the street. Apparently you can stick your hand out the window and shake hands with your neighbor.
The Cathedral of York was really neat too. I've never been to a building of this magnitude that is smack in the middle of the city, not more than 20 feet from a very urban shopping district. The stained glass inside was beautiful, the ceiling was really interested becuase it was made of timber, and had a pattern of "Keys" which look like gold baubles all over the place. Apparently half of the original stained glass in all of England can be found in the town of York. It was inspiring and interesting and definitely my favorite of the two cathedrals we saw on this trip.
That evening, I went out to dinner with an ecclectic bunch of residents at a pizza place, and spent the evening wandering around York, in the rain, exploring (aka getting lost) then went back to our hotel with very fluffy beds and gossiped and bonded with my roommate until we fell asleep.
The next day, we made an early start towards Durham, starting with a stop by one of the most spectacular and lovely houses I've ever seen, called "Castle Howard." It was early morning when we arrived, so there was a mysterious mist around all the gardens. The basic layout of the property reminded me of Versailles--complete with beautiful views of lakes, fountains, rose gardens, and a few masoleums and small buildings. The gardens were great, quiet and gave everyone a much-appreciated sense of calm. The interior of the house was spectacular as well.
This castle was one of the first to have a dome placed on top, since it was compelted in the 18th century. It took over 100 years to build, and the dome wasn't even in the original plans! The full height of the room with the dome was somewhere near 70 feet. Apparently this castle was the place where they filmed the movie "Brideshead," which I've never seen--a film about Oxford, apparently. Oh the logic of movie making....
After the castle, we went to Durham and did another walking tour of the city, then visited the Cathedral there, which boasted the first "ribbed vaulting" ever. I actually didn't enjoy Durham as much, just becuase our activities were very touristy. We didn't really have a moment to enjoy the city on our own. That's ok though, becuase sometimes you have to endure the crowds to say that you've done or seen something historical. The castle in Durham (right next to the Cathedral) was actually turned into a college waaaaay back in the day, and students of "Durham University" actually live in the castle now. It was really interesting to walk by these ruins and see signs saying "Welcome Home" pasted all along the walls. Only in Britain....
By the end of the weekend, we were exhausted and ready to come "home" to Oxford. What was great about the trip was the fact that I now have a substantial basis of comparison between other cities the size of Oxford, and I'm definitely glad that I'm here.
posted by Jess at 10:52 AM
2 Comments:
Beautiful!! Love your posting...I feel as if I am right with you. Was that Bolton Cathedral in York? It is clear when your are "there" that the "New Continent" is...oh! so new...no?
Cheerio!!
Maria
Loved the mini tour..
Much, Much Love,
Auntie Brenda
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