A day in Oxford

Today we had a late start around 10 am and caught a train to Oxford. We literally caught a train, minutes before it was about to leave the station. We were somewhere in the middle of confirming that it was the train when we were rushed onto it, soon discovering that it was very full! I ended up standing for most of the hour-long ride, but Ellie and I would get seats when they were available, only to realize soon after that they were reserved for someone else. It could have been much worse though… we could have had all our luggage too, like before!!

Once arrived, we hopped onto a double-decker bus tour of Oxford. We listened to head-sets of information, but I must say I prefer the in-person format of London and Edinburgh. No broken windows, crazy drivers, or police today… although our bus did clog up the road at one point, which provoked several horns behind us. The trip around town was a blur, and I’m not sure I’ve correctly sorted my photos. I think my favorite part of the tour was spotting the occasional student walking or biking to class in their dress robes, which is a very formal and traditional dress for a student. In sum, I did learn about how Oxford works and got a good perspective of the quaint, picturesque, old city that it is. Basically, Oxford is the University and there are several colleges that are under that umbrella, all taking the same exams. After the tour, we broke for lunch and stopped at a shop where a few girls purchased Oxford t-shirts.

Next we visited one of the Oxford colleges; we went to Christ Church. We had a private tour of the grounds, as this was significant to our trip in a few ways. It was the setting of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, as he was a student there. Our tour guide showed and told us about the things and people around Christ Church that inspired the book. Take note of the little green door out of the garden in my pictures! Remind you of anything?? The location was also used during the filming of the first two Harry Potters, as well as the Golden Compass. The dining room is the largest of the different colleges and was the inspiration for the H.P. movie dining room scenes. There were three regular tables and one high table where the dean and other faculty sit. The dining room also had many significances to Alice in Wonderland; the white rabbit was based on Alice’s father, the dean of the college, and he would always exit the High table through a door that led to a spiral stair case (see picture!)... the inspiration for the rabbit hole in the book. Another odd fact is that Christ Church is 5 minutes behind the rest of the town because the heads of the college didn’t want to adjust with the rest of the town. So, perhaps that’s why the rabbit is always late! ;o) To say the least, the tour was really interesting and our tour guide, Stuart, was wonderful. Most of my pictures are from that tour, but I’ve included a few from the bus tour around town.

We walked to the train station and hopped on a train to Paddington Station in London, but we accidentally didn’t catch the express, so it took us twice as long. Fortunately, we had seats this time, so it wasn’t too big of a deal. We went back to Covent Gardens and had some delicious Italian food. I’m back at the hotel trying to rest up and maybe gain some of my voice back. It is very strained and my throat is awful sore. I’m trying to drink and eat things to help it ebb naturally, but to no avail as of yet.

Hope you are all having a lovely Memorial Day weekend!

With Joy,

Bethany