We took a lovely walking tour of the University of Oklahoma

We took a lovely walking tour of the University of Oklahoma. It was founded in 1890, it existed in the Oklahoma Territory 17 years before the territory became a state. There are over 30,000 students enrolled. We got to meet a few new students that were a little lost on campus and helped them find their way. The Unipark/Campus is really nice with beautiful architecture, fountains, sculptures and gardens. While the gardens were not in bloom we still got to get a close look at the sculptures. The campus has distinctive architecture, with buildings designed in a unique Cherokee Gothic style. We learned that the style has many features of the Gothic era but has also mixed the designs of local Native American tribes from Oklahoma. This term was coined by the renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright when he visited the campus. The unipark tour was really nice. It was warm day and we even spent time with our littlest hosts. You can see from our photo that this was as close as we got to them. Paul was rightly afraid that they might try to eat us :)

On campus we notice all the large trees. The university's first president ordered the planting of numerous trees before the construction of the first campus building because he "could not visualize a treeless university seat." The oak trees are nice but be careful not to lose your hat in the acorn littered ground. Hans' hat fell off and we were a little nervous that we would not be able to find it.

We visited the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is one of America's most recognized college football "cathedrals". We thought calling it a cathedral was funny until we saw the the Sooner fans and football team in action during their recent championship game. Sooner fans take American football very seriously. The football stadium is the largest sports arena in the state and ranks among the 15 largest on-campus facilities in the nation with a capacity of 82,112