ENGLAND’S OLDEST UNIVERSITY TOWN IS A MASH OF EXPERIENCES

I really only knew of Oxford as the site of England’s oldest university (and the second oldest in Europe): Oxford University. Well, I also knew that it was the site of some of the Harry Potter filming . . . so, reason enough to go.

What I didn’t realize was that Oxford is also England’s Detroit. During the 19th century and early 20th century, Oxford became a center of auto-manufacturing in England. When that local industry died, it left behind a stumbling economy in a city too large for the university alone to sustain.

The result is a strange amalgamation of old-world Oxford and the new-world economy that has come to fill the void left by manufacturing. When you step into Oxford University or its meadows, you step back in time: you’ll see medieval architecture, huge meadows, and will stumble into wildlife. When you step out of Oxford University, you’ll smack right into the modern corporate hellscape: a giant mall and all the big-name businesses you could imagine, lined up one after the other. There is no seamless integration between the two: it’s pure, sudden juxtaposition between where we’ve been and where we are now.

The city can be charming, inspiring, or downright soulless - depending on where you happen to be standing and what mood you’re in.

RELAX IN THE MEADOWS

By far, my favorite thing to do in Oxford was to walk through and sit in the meadows. If you walk up from Oxford along the canal (parallel to Castle Mill Stream), you’ll eventually get to Port Meadow. While the landscape might be otherwise unremarkable, the meadow is FULL of cows and horses (with nothing dividing them from the people). It’s like a farm escape - except it’s just a public park.

My second favorite was Christ Church Meadow - which boasts stunning views of the Christ Church college architecture on the North side, a stunning walk along the River Cherwell along its border, and oxen to the south (though these are behind a fence). If you’re not as into cows and horses as I am, Christ Church Meadow is admittedly the prettier of the two.

While not named a meadow, South Park is essentially one, and boasts some beautiful sunset views.

STROLL THROUGH THE COLLEGES

Oxford’s many colleges are really why people come to visit. To be honest, though, I was a little underwhelmed. In part, it was expensive to enter the colleges and my budget is already stretched thin in the UK, so I only enjoyed their architecture; maybe I missed out on something not paying to enter. I think the bigger thing, though, is that many American colleges go out of their way to try to achieve the “Oxbridge” (Oxford / Cambridge) look and feel, particularly Yale. So, to some extent, once you’ve seen one, the rest seem less special. Nonetheless, the colleges are beautiful.

The most famous pay-to-enter spots are Christ’s Church College, the Bodleian Library, Magdalen College (which boasts a cute deer park), and Keeble College. The most famous architectural sites as you wander around are the Radcliffe Camera (part of the library), the Bridge of Sighs (to be honest, I’m not really sure why it’s famous), and the Sheldonian Theatre. My best advice is to temper your expectations. You will get magical old-world charm that extends throughout the campus; you won’t get architectural feats of grandeur that individually leave you in awe.

OTHER THINGS TO DO

I think Oxford has more than enough to fill a two or three day trip, particularly if you like to stop and savor things as you go. Here are some of the most common to-dos:

• Go to the Museums: The Ashmolean, The Natural History Museum, and The Pitt Rivers Museums are all free and have enormous architectural and heritage collections. If you like to learn about ancient history in a guided, structured way, The Ashmolean will walk you through the histories of many empires past. If you prefer the kind of museum that is really a dump of magnificent artifacts, The Pitt Rivers Museum is more up your alley. Casting aside any ethical issues around how the artifacts were acquired, each of the museums boasts stunning exhibits.

• Eat at the Covered Market: In the middle of downtown Oxford is an historical covered market full of food stalls. It’s a great place to stop and eat.

• Go Punting: The single most common recommendation I got from friends who had lived in Oxford was to go punting (boating where you move it along with a pole) along one of the rivers (particularly the Cherwell). Unfortunately, I rolled my ankle pretty bad on my first day in Oxford, so I decided against punting for fear of falling. I saw a lot of groups punting along the rivers, though, and it did look like a delight.

Also remember that Oxford is a short day trip by train out of London, so if you want to bump in for a few hours, you can easily knock out a lot of Oxford University within a day.