We started out at Christ Church College. Our bishop is the head Porter of the college, so basically he helps make sure everything runs smoothly and functions at the college (Like Mr. Filch in Harry Potter, but 10 times nicer :). Bishop Tootill gave us an amazing tour of the College.
He first took us up to a section of the library that is reserved for students doing research. Some of the oldest books in Oxford are inside of this library, dating back to even earlier than the 1200's. Because of the age of these books, the majority are in Latin. Christ Church college was originally founded by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525. A red hat thought to have originally belonged to Cardinal Wolsey is in a glass display.
Attention Harry Potter Nerds**** The next few pictures may be of interest to you. The picture on the left shows the balcony that leads into the dining hall. The same image is shown at the end of the first film, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" right after Harry gets out of the hospital and sees Ron and Hermione.
Harry Potter Reference #2: A lot of the inspiration for the Great Hall came from the dining hall. The students eat in the dining hall every single day. And it looks this fancy for every meal. At the front of the room, there is a table where only professors are allowed to sit. The person of highest authority at each meal is assigned to sit in the direct center of the table, facing the students. Right behind where the professors sit are portraits of the old deans of the college. After a lot of speculation, we decided the food probably doesn't magically appear in front of the students each day, but, you never know.
Christ Church is also very famous because of Alice In Wonderland. Henry George Liddell (a picture of his grave at the college is to the right) was the Dean of Christ Church College from 1855-1891, and his daughter was Alice Liddell, the "Alice" from Lewis Carroll's books.
Lewis Carroll first moved to Christ Church college in 1850 as a student. He became friends with the Liddell family when the family moved in because Henry Liddell became the dean. Much of Carroll's inspiration for "Alice In Wonderland" came from Christ Church College.
This tree is inspiration for where the
Cheshire Cat would sit. The picture on the right is the door leading to "Wonderland". Behind the door, there is a green lawn where students can play croquet throughout the year, which also inspired the scene of the Queen of Hearts playing croquet.
After Visiting Christ Church College, we attended a lecture on Medicine and the Human Body. A physician from Scotland talked about different areas of the human body, giving examples from art and history. This was one of my favorite lectures we've attended because it was all about healthcare :)
We finished off the night at a local pub, "Kings Arms", eating fish and chips and burgers.
Day #2 in the UK:
We rented a car and drove through the countryside to various touristy spots.
First stop, Stonehenge:
I don't know what the big deal is... It's just a pile of rocks ;)
Stop #2: Salisbury Cathedral
Known for two main reasons
1. It (supposedly) has the largest freestanding tower in England
2. There are only four surviving originals of the Magna Carta, and one of them is housed at Salisbury Cathedral. The Magna Carta here is in the best condition. Here's a picture of Joe at the sign-in book. This is probably his happiest moment from the trip. He get's emotional over government and history and freedom... It's kind of cute.
Stop #3: Bath
Jane Austen lived in Bath for much of her life, so many of her books were written here. Bath is also famous for the Roman Baths, a place that was used for public bathing almost 2000 years ago.
While we were in Bath, Joe took us to the oldest Bun house for lunch (built in 1482), and our sweet & savory lunch buns were to DIE FOR.
As we were on our way to the Cotswolds, we passed this very old looking building on our left and thought, "Hey, we're on a road-tripping adventure, so let's stop in and see what we find." We made it just before the Lodge keeper locked the gate. She let us up the stairs into a room where that was set up just like all of the Jane Austen films, when women would "take a turn around the room"
The building is called Worcester Lodge, built by William Kent in the 1850's. This lodge is the far end of the hunting grounds for the Badminton House. Joe is walking towards the miles of land between the lodge and the house. It was beautiful. I love England.
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