Oxford - Intimate views

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My recent visit with friends in Oxford included several pleasant outings.

One evening we went to the Oxford Playhouse to see Can Any Mother Help Me?, a play about a group of rual women in the pre-internet age who provided each other with mutual support using the mail.

On another evening we attended a concert by the City of Oxford Orchestra at the historic Sheldonian Theatre, which was designed by Christopher Wren and which is where Handel once performed. The orchestra's interpretation of Dvorak's New World Symphony was inspired and powerful.
I also visited the Botanic Garden, where flowers have been blooming for more than 350 years. On the day I went, the hellebore were luxuriant and the nearby forsythia were brilliant.

During my wanderings through the city center, I looked up at Antony Gormley's sculpture of himself atop Exeter College and I dropped into the Oxfam Bookstore on Turl Street, where one of my friends is a volunteer. I also passed by the Ashmolean Museum, which is currently under renovation, and I explored the grounds of stately Worcester College, including its hidden lake.