The Bystander Blog

The Ashmolean Museum…nearing the end of the journey December 7, 2010

Hello all.  This is going to be my last post in Oxford.  It’s the final week of our term here.  I’m pretty much done with everything; just one more paper to turn in and a final seminar meeting in a couple days.

This trip has been great, beyond what I could have expected or imagined, and I probably won’t even be able to appreciate it completely until I get back into the States.  I’m determined that this won’t be the last time I’m in the city of Oxford.  I know it’s a completely different country, but it seems like I’ve been living here all along.  It feels just like driving from home to Morningside.

Anyway, I won’t waste your time getting all poetic.  My flight leaves on Saturday.  On Friday, some friends and I are going to spend a day in London, one last time.  We don’t have the schedule down yet, but the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey are high on my list.  This’ll be my fourth time being in London, but somehow I’ve managed to miss all the important stuff until now.  Look for photos early next week.

Last week, I checked out the Ashmolean Museum, a big museum right here in Oxford.  Considering it’s in England, and England has well over 1000 years worth of history on its own, I was kind of surprised that so much stuff in the Ashmolean came from outside Great Britain.  Here’s some of the photos I took.

The Entrance to the Ashmolean

Clothes that belonged to Lawrence of Arabia (yeah, the guy from the movie. He studied at Oxford).

Plaque talking about Lawrence of Arabia

Money on display from various countries (like Cuba, hence the photo of Che)

Greek statue--Athena if I remember right

Another statue

Discus thrower

Room full of more and more statues

Statue of Ceasar Augustus

An ivory box--it's really small, but someone obviously put a lot of time into this.

Wall of busts

Room of musical instruments

Room full of decorated pottery and such

My trip to Oxford is almost over.  And what a long, strange trip it’s been.

Okay, that was cliche.  But the song is worth it.