Apr 28th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
The famous Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford, England, reopened in 2009 after a £61 million ($101 million) makeover. The redesigned space is more open and airy, with more natural light and windows between exhibitions. Floorspace was doubled in size and the exhibits were made more informative and user firendly. A museum worker explained to me that part of the plan was to ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
oxford posts
Oxford's Ashmolean museum improving its world-class Egyptian galleries
Apr 28th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
The famous Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford, England, reopened in 2009 after a £61 million ($101 million) makeover. The redesigned space is more open and airy, with more natural light and windows between exhibitions. Floorspace was doubled in size and the exhibits were made more informative and user firendly. A museum worker explained to me that part of the plan was to ...London 2012 Olympics schedule and ticket prices released
Feb 15th, 2011 at 7:30AM: If you're thinking of going to the London 2012 Olympics, now is the time to start planning.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games has just released the competition schedule and ticket prices. The race is on for tickets, hotel reservations, and flights. Personally I'm avoiding the whole thing. London's transport system is chaotic at the best of times, and an ...The burqa and niqab: can travelers get used to anything? Should they?
Jan 31st, 2011 at 11:00AM:
Travel broadens the mind, at least for most people. As we explore different cultures and beliefs we see that for the most part they're OK. While there are always local customs we just can't follow, in general the more we travel, the more accepting we become.
But how accepting should we get? I've traveled extensively in the Muslim world and I've yet to figure out exactly how I feel about the ...Two sublime day trips from London
Dec 25th, 2010 at 11:00AM:
A few days into a recent 8-day trip to London I was spent. This followed Portobello Road and Covent Garden shopping sprees, a delicious Guinness-oyster pie at Borough Market, a night of clubbing in Shoreditch (the masterful DJ Carl Craig spun at Plastic People), and a day of intensive art immersion (including Christian Marclay's excellent film "The Time" at the White Cube gallery). The ...A Single Square of Christmas
Dec 23rd, 2010 at 10:00AM:
"Here," she gestured. "Try this," and I opened my mouth. The chocolate landed on my tongue and began to melt. It was unlike anything I'd ever tasted. It reminded me of the carob chips foisted upon me during my mother's hippy stage. It was also a bit like the Hershey's Special Dark miniatures I always traded for my sister's Mr. Goodbars at Halloween. But this chocolate was definitely a ...Ghost Forest brings attention to rainforest threat
Jul 12th, 2010 at 4:30PM:
A Ghost Forest is stalking Europe.
Giant trees from Ghana have appeared in Copenhagen, Trafalgar Square in London, and now Oxford. It's called the Ghost Forest Art Project, and it's an innovative way to bring the plight of the world's rainforests to public attention.
Artist Angela Palmer wanted to share her concern with the public about tropical rainforests, which are disappearing fast. An ...Abercrombie & Kent: Five cinema-cations around the world
May 22nd, 2010 at 8:00AM: You may not have that look that Hollywood craves, but you still want to get close to the action, right? You want to touch the greatness that comes with being splashed across screens from coast to coast. Thanks to the latest concept from luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent, you don't need talent. The latest "cinema-cation" packages send you to the locations where some of the hottest movies ...The Sunday roast: British cooking at its best
Apr 4th, 2010 at 3:00PM: Who says the British can't cook?
Every Sunday all across this green and pleasant land pubs serve up a fine roast. The Sunday roast is an old tradition here. It generally includes chicken, beef, pork, or lamb, along with vegetables, potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding, all washed down with a pint or two of real ale. Some pubs even serve vegetarian roasts.
The quality of the pub roast varies ...Museum Junkie: Oxford's Ashmolean reopens today
Nov 7th, 2009 at 9:00AM: The long wait is finally over for the grand reopening of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. After being partially or completely closed for the past three years, the museum's vast collection is finally open to the public again, with twice the exhibition space it once had. The Ashmolean is the oldest public museum in the world, having opened in 1683, and while there have been a lot of ...Pub Etiquette: This ain't no American bar
Oct 30th, 2009 at 4:30PM:
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Pubs are a cornerstone of English life. Most English people go to them and many are regulars at their "local." Because of this, pubs are a great way to meet and learn about the English. Even if you don't drink, go ahead and order a juice and soak up the atmosphere. I've ...Holidays to make you feel smart: summer courses at Oxford
Aug 12th, 2009 at 11:30AM: If you're like me, you went to a state university. The education may have been good, but your student union looked like a shopping mall and your dorm resembled a Soviet prison. Here's a chance to relive the youth you never had by studying at one of the world's greatest and most beautiful universities.
Recently I checked out out two summer school options at two historic colleges at Oxford ...A medieval church, a lost village, and river walk in England
Aug 9th, 2009 at 2:30PM: I've written about the Thames Path in an earlier post, but I recently discovered an even better stretch of that river trail that starts at a beautiful medieval abbey. So of course you folks get to enjoy the view without having to do the footwork. Aren't I nice to you? Like all my hikes so far, this is an easy day trip from Oxford or London.
Dorchester Abbey is in the little village of ...A legendary stone circle in England
Jul 14th, 2009 at 2:00PM: Everyone knows about Stonehenge, England's most famous ancient monument, but did you know that there are nearly a thousand similar stone circles in the United Kingdom? Some are almost as big as Stonehenge, and all are steeped in folklore and legend.
A favorite of mine are the Rollright Stones, which you can get to as an easy day trip from Oxford or London. They're near Chipping Norton, a ...A hidden church near Oxford
Jun 17th, 2009 at 11:00AM: Yesterday I reviewed Michael McCay's Hidden Treasures of England, a book filled with wonderful places that most people miss. Here's one McCay missed.
Not far from the popular destination of Oxford is the little hamlet of Binsey and its historic St. Margaret's Church.
St. Margaret's is reputedly founded on the spot where St. Frideswide (pictured here) built an oratory in the seventh century. The ...English Country Walks: Hiking along the Thames near Oxford
Jun 5th, 2009 at 2:00PM: Spring has sprung, and while I have a reputation as a museum junkie, I love to be outside too. Over the next few months I'll be bringing you lots of guides to hiking in England, which in good weather has the most beautiful countryside in the world.
Today I'll tell you about an easy, scenic, seven-mile hike from historic Oxford along the Thames to the little town of Abingdon. It forms part of the ...Museum Junkie: England's most unique museum reopens
May 21st, 2009 at 4:30PM:
Oxford's famous Pitt Rivers Museum has reopened this month after more than a year of remodeling.
The famous Victorian displays, a massive collection of diverse anthropological objects in a large gallery and two upper floors, have remained untouched, preserving an almost unique set of displays dating back more than a century.
One of the most popular cases is the one involving death rituals, ...Travel Bookshelf: Cheeky Guides
May 15th, 2009 at 11:30AM: Let's face it--most guidebooks are boring. Sure, they're informative, but they either read like a postgraduate thesis (Blue Guides) or are filled with snotty, uninformed opinions (take your pick)
The Cheeky Guides come as a breath of fresh air, or rather a gust of lager-laden belches from some local lush leaning against the bar at a seedy pub. These guides to Oxford and Brighton, two of England's ...Flood Update From the UK
Jul 25th, 2007 at 7:10PM:
It appears that the flood is spreading closer to London. Here is a map of the currently affected areas. Today, some 250 people were evacuated from Oxford.
Friends in the UK tell me that the weather in London has been better in the last few days, so hopefully the Thames will remain tame. Although London has some of the most sophisticated flood wall system in the world, let's hope they don't have ...The Bad House?
Jan 18th, 2007 at 8:22AM: Feeling trapped in your day-to-day life? How about a visit to the house of pain? The big house? The Malmaison Oxford is a former prison which has been converted into a luxury hotel.
This building served as a prison for 125 years before being shuttered in 1996 and converted into a boutique hotel by the London-based chain, Malmaison (which takes its name--literally, "bad house"--from Napoleon's ...
