I thought it might be worthwhile to update everyone on my musical life, which has kept me rather busy over the past few months. With the arrival of my French horn with Kyle’s dad last October (thanks again so much, Craig!!), I eagerly emailed as many amateur orchestras in the area as I could. I think I did so too late in the season, as most orchestras had seemed to have already full horn sections. But, with my contact details floating around the Oxford horn world, I have since found many opportunities to play. I have filled in for missing players at rehearsals with several orchestras, and I have played concerts with the Oxford University Sinfonietta, the Oxford Millenium Orchestra, the Oxford Sinfonia, the Hertford College Bruckner Orchestra, and the Radcliffe Orchestra. Two of those concerts were in the Sheldonian Theatre, which was a pretty spectacular place in which to play.

I think the biggest payoff from spreading my name around as a horn player has been that I was reccommended by another horn player for an orchestra/choir trip to Grenoble (one of Oxford’s sister cities). Better yet, Kyle gets to come too! We are going for six days next month, and we are looking forward to enjoying some French culture and alpine scenery.

We have also been enjoying some fine concerts here in Oxford and further afield in London. In November, we heard Emma Kirkby and the London Handel Players at the Sheldonian Theatre, and last week we went to see the London Symphony Orchestra play at the Barbican in London. The LSO program consisted of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances (Kyle’s favourite piece of classical music), Bernstein’s West Side Story Symphonic Dances, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Unfortunately, the horrible traffic had us getting into London later than expected, and we missed the Bernstein (well, we could hear it, but not see it). But the rest of the concert was phenomenal. And, to my delight, they played the Mambo from the Bernstein as an encore to the program. We definitely want to go back and hear them again soon!

A long time ago, I posted a map showing the location of public drinking fountains in Venice. I was busy at the time and didn’t have any time to take it further.

But now I’ve found a few minutes and have, as I promised I might, created a set of points for use in Google Earth or, optionally, on a portable GPS unit. They’re the locations of 73 functional (last time I checked) drinking fountains in Venice. You can download them by clicking on the following links:

KMZ     KML     GPX
If you have Google Earth installed, the KMZ/KML files should open in it automatically. The GPX file is for use with Garmin MapSource, a piece of software that accompanies many Garmin map products. If you don’t have it, you can get it for free, although Garmin would have you believe otherwise.

Once you install and run MapSource, it’s a simple matter of opening the GPX file, then using the “Send To Device” menu option to transmit the fountain locations to your Garmin unit (attached by USB to your computer, of course). They’ll appear in your “Favorites” list on your GPS device.

I’m sure there are other ways to use this dataset. I envision myself wandering around Venice, GPS in hand, and using it to find the nearest fountain whenever I get thirsty. Users of smartphones, especially those with GPS or other location-aware capabilities, will probably be able to use the points in a similar way.

One other fun thing I noticed in Google Earth recently: they’ve added a significant proportion of Venice in the form of photorealistically textured 3D buildings. I have no idea who (or, probably more accurately, what company) has collected this data and assembled it for use in Google Earth. After all, it was hard enough to get Venice mapped for Street View, and I imagine that the usual 3D laser scanners and things don’t really work so well in a pedestrian-only environment. Regardless, it has been done. Not every building has been modeled, and there are textural glitches and other problems, but on the whole it looks really good. I highly recommend downloading Google Earth, turning on the “3D Buildings” layer and trying it for yourself. The images accompanying this post, by the way, are screenshots demonstrating the Venetian 3D models available in Google Earth at the time of writing.

As promised, I’m devoting this post to a very pleasant experience we had recently: a trip to the city of Bristol, 80 or so miles to the southeast of Oxford. We went there to visit some friends of Ori’s, who had lived in Halifax for a few years before returning to their native UK. Knowing that we were in Oxford, they invited us over for a weekend, and we pounced on the opportunity to see a bit more of the UK.

Although the weather wasn’t cooperative (it was cold, windy and rainy the whole time), we still enjoyed ourselves. Bristol is near the southeast coast of Britain, and very close to Cardiff and the Welsh border. (We didn’t hear any funny accents, though.) We took the train, which was very fast and quiet and full of businessmen. We were impressed with the Bristol (Temple Meads) train station, and from there we hiked into town. We made a stop at the church of St Mary Redcliffe, which seemed to be a vibrant, prosperous church with an active congregation. This was evidenced by the ongoing renovation of the organ, which had the transept filled with tin pipes, many of them more than 20 feet long.

Our next stops were the Red Lodge and the Georgian House, two historic Bristol houses now operated as free museums by the city. They were very nice, and the latter in particular showed one of the ways in which Bristol became a city of note: slavery. Being near the coast, Bristol also has a strong nautical heritage, and many an expedition set off from there. Of special interest to us was the connection to explorer John Cabot, who, though a Venetian (we walked past his house on the Riva dei Sette Martiri every day in Venice), sailed to the New World from Bristol under the English flag.

After a lunch at the Llandoger Trow, we explored the city a bit more, spending some time on Park St., which had a distinct studenty feel. On the whole, Bristol seemed to me like it would be a much better place to be a student than Oxford. Oxford, though nice and historic, is undeniably dominated by the University, and it sometimes feels like there’s no room for anything else. Bristol, on the other hand, has a lot to offer in other areas, while keeping the livable student atmosphere in many parts of the city. Its university is also one of high repute in the UK. If I had to pick somewhere else to settle in England, I think right now it would probably be Bristol!

We met up with Ori’s friends that evening, and spent several hours catching up and trading stories of our respective cross-cultural experiences.

The next day, we visited the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge, which, when I told them I was going to Bristol, was the only thing my friends at work asked if I was going to see. It lived up to expectations, especially given its age (almost 150 years) and the depth of the (Avon) gorge it crosses. Following that, we all went to the Bristol City Museum and enjoyed the Egypt, geology and animal kingdom (i.e., taxidermy) exhibits.

Our final stop, and probably my favourite of the trip, was the Bristol Cathedral on College Green. We happened to arrive in the middle of an excellent free solo piano recital being given by Yukino Kano. Her beautiful renditions of pieces by Chopin and Debussy made me wish I had kept up with my classical studies. After the recital, we explored the cathedral, which again gave the impression of being a true center of community life. For example, the church was hosting a display of artwork by the best local student artists. I couldn’t believe that some of the artists were as young as 13, and the degree of talent, technique and emotional awareness on display was astonishing.

Ori’s favourite parts of the cathedral were the medieval chapter house (where monks would have convened and discussed the operation of their monastery) and the adjacent cloister. It seems that churches always play a major role in our sightseeing wherever we go, and there’s always something different and interesting to see at each one.

We caught our train back to Oxford with no problems, and we’re still remembering our time in Bristol fondly. We’ve heard about the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, which takes place every August, and I think we’ll be heading back to see it this summer. In the meantime, we’re hoping to repay the favour by having our friends over to Oxford. By the way, photos of the trip are posted in the gallery here. Please take a look!

Following up on my last post, I witnessed another evening of Oxford students in action last Saturday, at Cardinals Cocktails. “Cardinals” is a recurring, well-known event on the Oxford University student social calendar, and is, according to this article, hosted by a drinking society called The Cardinals. As far as I know, they’re based at Christ Church (the “cardinal” referring to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey).

Held at the Oxford Union, a venerable debating institution whose hallowed halls have hosted an incomparable series of speakers over the years, the Hilary 2010 Cardinals Cocktails was a disgusting display of student behaviour the likes of which I’ve never seen (not even at at the few WPI fraternity parties I attended).

The main draw of the event is the unlimited alcohol on offer. Before the doors even opened, there were hundreds of tuxedoed students lined up on St Michael’s Street, all trying to get past the bouncers and into the Union’s debating chamber where drinks were being served. The night started well enough, with people generally behaving themselves and in a manner suitable to the surroundings. But by night’s end, it was an absolute mess. I witnessed people decorating the busts in the room with their sunglasses and cups of alcohol (and posing with them in pictures that undoubtedly have ended up on Facebook); a girl bawling on a bench with a huge blue bruise on her forehead, no doubt from falling down in a drunken stupor; and a male student actually vomiting his evening’s liquor consumption onto the floor of the debating chamber.

There were even students urinating in the sinks in the bathrooms (thanks, I think, to a combination of alcohol-impaired judgment and very long queues) – remember that if you ever have to wash your hands at the Oxford Union! In short, it was an awful mess and something that Oxford University, Christ Church, and all of the students and organizers involved should be deeply ashamed of. (The Oxford Union isn’t to blame – they had nothing to do with the event other than to act as its hosts, their bill, which was left on the piano, coming to something in the vicinity of £1,100 for the evening).

Unfortunately, I suspect nobody is ashamed. This being Oxford University, there is a sense of privilege and unaccountability, and with the event taking place in a private setting, there wasn’t much outward evidence of the aforementioned behaviour. It sometimes seems like Oxford and its students are so proud and full of themselves that they forget their place as members and stakeholders in the greater city community. Oxford University being what it is, there is an endless stream of good press and praise being sent in its general direction, and inflated egos inevitably result.

In writing this, I hope to bring attention to another side of Oxford University. Thinking it through, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn of the above – after all, Oxford students are just like students anywhere else, with the same vices and, in particular, the same propensity to imbibe. I’ve even heard it said that the stress of studying at Oxford can make liquor and drugs an all the more popular way to relieve the pressure.

Regardless, and in much the same way I concluded my last post, I’m seeing a miniature UK being acted out in the Oxford microcosm. This time, it’s evidence of what Ori and I perceive to be a widespread drinking problem in this country. We see it in the news, in the beer bellies of other regular Oxonians, and in the entire go-to-the-pub-every-night-and-have-four-pints culture that is common across the country. Not everybody is here is a drunk – not by any means – but alcohol certainly seems to preoccupy the British more than we think is healthy.

I’ve said enough bad things about the UK for the time being. After all, they were kind enough to let us come and stay for two years, so I should be nice. In our next post, we’ll tell you about something we really like about England: the city of Bristol, which we had the pleasure of visiting just recently. I’ll be editing my photos and posting them soon, and when I do, we’ll tell you all about it.

I may not have mentioned it on the blog so far, so I’ll do it now: back in September, I was lucky enough to find a place playing keyboards in one of Oxford University’s three main student-run jazz bands, the Donut Kings. Despite the somewhat silly name, I’m very happy to be one of the “Donuts” – the band meets on Tuesday evenings at Christ Church, and the gigs we play, which have mostly consisted of Oxford University student drinking parties and formal events so far, make me feel like I’m taking part in the social life of Oxford University.

We don’t do many public gigs, unfortunately, so Ori hasn’t had a chance to hear us play yet. Last night, we played a very private gig, in fact – the Christ Church & Farley Hill Beagles’ Hunt Ball, which was held at the Oxford Town Hall. My understanding of the whole thing is still quite sketchy, but as far as I can tell, the CCFHB consists mostly of Oxford students from old, aristocratic English families. When I remarked to a fellow bandmember that the whole “hunt” thing didn’t mean much to me, the reply was that “it probably means something to the people who own half of England.” So there you go.

You could certainly tell – the attendees, all no older than I, were all dressed in white tie, or mess dress (the military equivalent), or full Scottish regalia, and, for the girls, ball gowns and the like. The event consisted of a three-course sit-down meal, followed by entertainment by the Donut Kings and other diversions (a hunting horn-blowing competition and reel dancing). When the reels started, it looked from the stage like everybody was just galloping around in circles, but when they all stamped their feet and clapped at the same time, I realized that they all actually knew the steps. I guess this is what you learn when you grow up as an aristocrat.

It was all a bit much. It would appear as if these kids had, for the most part, lived lives of extreme privilege since day one, and an air of superiority certainly came across in some of their interactions with the more “ordinary” people in the room. From the entries in the program (e.g., “Hounds will meet as follows”, “Carriages 12.00″, and “we’re the Christ Church Beaglers and we’re above the law!”) to various boastful claims I overheard throughout the evening (“I’m going to be a politician someday, so I should really get over my fear of public speaking”), it all began to grate on my nerves. Even the whole reason for the group’s existence, beagling (see also here), seems cruel, elitist and wasteful. Strangely enough, I can’t find any references anywhere to beagling actually involving the killing of hares or other animals, and Wikipedia says that hunting with dogs is now illegal in England. So maybe it’s an entirely social organization nowadays.

At any rate, it’s symptomatic of the larger classist society we find ourselves a part of here in the UK. Whether or not one is a member of the aristocracy, one is certainly conscious of one’s standing in society’s hierarchy. We’ve even had our house’s kitchen described as “middle class” (what on earth does that even mean?). Of course, not everybody who attends Oxford University is of aristocratic descent, but I’m sure those who are feel right at home in the closed collegiate system that keeps the riffraff outside where they don’t ever have to be seen or dealt with.

I won’t miss it. We come from a country where anybody can – theoretically, at least – achieve any office or position within society. As in Venice, where no amount of wealth will buy you a position in a Venetian noble family, there are many parts of English society that are entirely closed to outsiders, no matter what. We’ve gotten a heavy dose of it here in Oxford, and that will be enough to last us for, oh, I don’t know, forever.

A few weekends ago, to the scandal of several of our Oxonian friends, we took a trip to that unmentionable rival university town, Cambridge. We had high hopes – we had heard that it was even more beautiful than Oxford, and certainly those glamorous shots of punters on the river Cam with King’s College and its perfect green lawn made Cambridge seem like a lovely place to visit. I must say, however, that we were a bit disappointed…

I suppose that living in Oxford has turned us a little bit into Oxford snobs, but even with open minds, we were not as impressed with the city as we had hoped to be. We had a full day to spend there, and it was spent walking through the city centre streets, seeing the main University buildings and other landmarks that Kyle had researched. Early on, we made several observations, all favouring Oxford over Cambridge. First, Cambridge didn’t have the same feeling of a city centre, or medieval town, that Oxford does. True, the main colleges and churches are all on the same main street, but as a city, it felt much more spread out. The one benefit of this was there is space for some nice green parks, but at the same time, we prefer the dense buildings of the Oxford city centre (and being able to see the countryside from many spots in Oxford).

Surprisingly, Cambridge was also a lot more touristy than Oxford (at least, at this time of year). For example, while punting in Oxford finished at the end of autumn, Cambridge still had large tourist-geared punts in action on the River Cam. And it seemed that the city was more oriented to this industry than Oxford – Cambridge’s city centre seemed way more densely populated with boutique stores and big shopping malls. We visited several of the colleges (the ones that didn’t charge admission), and although they were very nice, they were exactly like those in Oxford. The Fitzwilliam Museum (which, as the University museum, I consider to be the rival of the Ashmolean!) was a beautiful building, but its collections and especially displays left something to be desired.

I realize this sounds horribly snobby! But I think what we realized is that once you have seen one of either Oxford or Cambridge, there is not much new to see in the other. And we do think Oxford is the nicer town of the two.

One special highlight of Cambridge, however, was our time in the King’s College. We attended an Evensong service (the clever way to see the college and chapel for free!), and it was quite incredible. The chapel is all the more magnificent from the inside, with beautiful stained glass that spanned all the walls. The choir was magnificent as well – and the reverb in that church!! Wow! I was especially glad when they sang my favourite setting of In Dulci Jubilo by Michael Praetorius. We were also lucky to be in Cambridge that day as it was the grand finale of the 800th anniversary celebrations of the University. There was an interesting light show of projections on various University buildings, including King’s College (see the pictures for an idea).

After spending a day in Cambridge, we took a small regional train to Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. I had wanted to visit this town because it was the site of one of the most powerful Benedictine monasteries of medieval England, and it often came up in my studies in Toronto. Although the train let us off in a dodgy part of the town, we were delighted to eventually find a quaint little old town centre, with many neat things to see. We visited Moyse’s Hall, a medieval merchant’s house on the market square, now turned into a local history museum. There we saw many neat pieces of stonework and artifacts from the now ruined monastery.

Kyle was sad when the Greene King Brewery (which now owns many pubs all over the country) was closed for renovation. However, the situation redeemed itself somewhat when we were able to have a pint at Britain’s smallest pub, the Nutshell (also owned by Greene King), which had seating for just five people on benches around a tiny bar. Of course, my favourite part of the trip was visiting the abbey ruins, which were really neat. It is quite amazing to see just how much area the monastery’s grounds covered. The gardens surrounding the ruins had beautiful walking paths, and I could have spent many more hours than we had simply trying to imagine what the buildings would have looked like in their prime. I love being in England, where I can actually see these things!!

You can see all of the photos from the trip here. All in all, it was a fun weekend, and we hope to take more little trips around England when our schedules allow. The next trip will be to Bristol to visit friends from St Paul’s back in Halifax.

The subject line for this post is the entirety of the first text message Ori ever sent, when, after arriving in Oxford in September, she got her first cell phone and wanted to tell me she was on her way home from work. I still chuckle when I picture her labouriously trying to type it out.

Anyway, I’m just posting something quick to say that we are currently “on bus,” on our way to Cambridge for a little vacation, and that I think being able to get internet on buses is pretty neat. In fact, on seemingly all of the coach services from Oxford to London/airports/Cambridge (and probably elsewhere), you can take free wifi for granted.

I also want to mention that, in addition to the Germany photos, I’ve posted and captioned some recent images of the big snowstorm (now completely melted and gone), my belated birthday celebrations (a day of events around Oxford with Ori), Christ Church’s dining hall, and Balliol College.

I also came up with the following image of the Radcliffe Camera (“Rad Cam” in Oxford-speak), which I think is pretty cool:

A few weeks ago, I said Ori and I were going to be spending Christmas in Germany. Well, we’re back in Oxford now, and I’ve finally finished editing and captioning the photos from the trip. So here’s a little post to sum up our very nice Christmas abroad.

After a very early start (4am – all of our best trips so far seem to have involved early departures), we made our way from Oxford to Heathrow to Frankfurt with no problems. Ori’s aunt Angie and cousin Emily were waiting for us at the airport, and they took us back to Deutschhof, a small farming village in the Rheinland-Pfalz area of Germany.


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We didn’t have much to do, which was the perfect way to really have a vacation, spending time around family and helping around the house and thinking Christmassy thoughts. We did discover, though, that the Heidelberg Christmas market was going on for one more day, so on day 2 we hopped on a train to Heidelberg and enjoyed the day there with Emily, who was the perfect bilingual guide. I enjoyed several bratwursts, and we had a nice hike up to the ruined Schloss Heidelberg, which provided lovely views of the town.

The next day, we went with Angie to Klingenmünster and, while she had her hair done, climbed a big hill to see the local castle, Burg Landeck. It was closed and locked, but after walking around its circumference to enjoy the panoramic views its hilltop position afforded, we found ourselves inside the castle, having stumbled across an open service entrance around the back. We took a quick look around before departing, not wanting to have to explain ourselves to any kind of German authorities.

That evening, we went with the family to the giant Metro in Karlsruhe, where 6 weeks’ worth of shopping were done in one fell swoop. Ori and I bought ourselves (in addition to lots of Haribo gummies and Pocket Coffees) a Ravensburger puzzle depicting the route and scenes from the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which Ori prompty assembled when we got back to Oxford.

When we arrived in Germany, there was enough snow on the ground to cause delays at the Frankfurt airport and necessitated the use of a mobile staircase to unload the plane. By the end of our trip, however, the snow had entirely melted, revealing the countless fields in the surrounding countryside and making it possible for us to bike to Bad Bergzabern, the nearest city of note.

On our final night, we went to go hear Angie sing in a concert at a medieval church in a nearby town. The concert was a fundraiser to help restore wall paintings in the church, and Ori and I spent some time in the reception afterwards examining the paintings and trying to guess which Bible stories they illustrated.

The trip was just a really nice break from life in Oxford, and while we weren’t home for Christmas with our immediate families, it was wonderful to be able to spend the holidays with relatives who made us feel right at home. We were especially astonished by how well all of Ori’s cousins spoke English. And although we might have been back in Canada, for all of the things that weren’t unfamiliar to us, we still managed to have a few cross-cultural experiences. For instance, we celebrated Christmas with a service at the Deutschhof Mennonite church, we purchased a bottle of “secret recipe” monastic liqueur, and we even drove 170 km/h on the autobahn to Frankfurt!

I had a wonderful time, and I’m very thankful to Angie and her family for having me as their guest this Christmas. If you’d like help visualizing the things we saw on our trip to Germany, you can see photos here

Starting yesterday afternoon, Oxford was hit by a large snowstorm that has deposited more than ten inches of snow all over the city. As Canadians, we’re not too impressed, and we’re used to snow storms like this. Oxford, however, is not. Back home, there exists the infrastructure to clear snow – from shovels and sand to salt and snowplows. Of course, it snows enough that things like that are a worthwhile investment. But here in the UK, it only snows once or twice a winter (and hasn’t snowed like this in anyone’s recent memory, apparently), and the snow goes away on its own within a day or two.

This storm, which the media have named “Whiteout Wednesday,” seems like it will be a bit more problematic. For one, it’s going to stay cold for the next few days, and is supposed to go down to -10°C tonight, which is almost unheard of. According to this Daily Info page, the coldest it has ever been in Oxford is -16.6°C (in 1982). If the cold keeps the snow from melting, I think it will be many days before things go back to normal in Oxford. Of course, the rest of the country has been hit by the same storm, so the few snowplows that must exist somewhere in the UK are probably either stranded or already spoken for.

We awoke this morning to a very quiet city, with few people bothering to get up to go into work (and probably not being able to, even if they wanted to). In fact, we’ve heard it said several times that snow in any amount is a perfectly acceptable reason to not go into work in the UK. Most buses weren’t running, especially not on hilly routes. In the middle of the street in front of a house, pranksters had left a giant snowball, probably rolled all the way down the hill from central Headington.

In the end, we both went to work. I took the long way in, stopping through Headington and South Park to get some nice photos of the snow. I went downtown (to the “city centre,” as they say) to take some more photos during my lunch hour, and will be posting them soon. South Park was full of kids who had the day off from school, and there were easily 40 or 50 more giant snowballs scattered around the park’s hillside, too.

Everybody at ecoVeritas made it into work today, which, we agreed, was quite an achievement. At the Ashmolean, they were severely short-staffed, and had to keep parts of the museum closed.

During my photo expedition at lunch, I noticed that almost everybody had a camera and was taking photos of the snow. Unlike most days, when the camera-toters one sees around town are tourists, these were all Oxonians, who will be talking about this storm for many years, I’m sure. As I crossed Magdalen Bridge, I had to dodge snowballs being thrown, during the breaks in traffic, by impromptu teams on either side of the road.

While the snow is indisputably inconvenient, spirits were certainly high in Oxford today! I think it’s partially a sense of helplessness (“well, we might as well make the most of this”), but also because it provides a chance for people to act like kids again. Ori and I saw so many snowmen all over town today. When it snows in the UK, they enjoy it as much as they can!

I’ll post photos of the snow as soon as I finish editing the ones I took in Germany over Christmas.

This message may be a day late, but Kyle and I want to wish all of our family and friends (and especially our faithful readers!) a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

As most of you know, we are spending Christmas in Germany, with my Aunt Angie and her family. This is our first Christmas away from home, but we have felt so wonderfully at home here that it has made the separation from our families back in Halifax quite bearable.

Being in a rural community has also let us escape the hectic and unnatural consumer atmosphere that surrounds Christmas in most cities, including Oxford. Here, we have spent most of our time enjoying the company of family, delicious home-cooked meals, intimate church services, and wonderful views of the countryside. It has certainly been a Christmas that we will remember fondly.

Merry Christmas once again, and best wishes for the New Year! Look for Kyle’s photos and thoughts on Germany in a week or so.