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Published: February 13th 2012
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My first actual train ride ever took me to the oldest university town in the world today. I actually missed my train because the bus got stuck in traffic, but luckily was able to get on the next one.
I just wandered around for a bit at first, getting my bearings. It was amazing how well the old and new buildings went together. There were several buildings that were covered in these vine/tree things. They were just a dull winter brown, but they were still beautiful. I bet in spring they're even more so.
My first stop was the St. Mary the Virgin Church. It wasn't that large, but the stained glass windows were beautiful. Then I went to the Christ Church College. It's one of the major colleges and had several areas that were definitely used in the Harry Potter films. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get in the dining hall that inspired Hogwart's Great Hall, but oh well. The Cathedral was very impressive and its windows were exquisite.
After that I went to the Ashmolean Museum for my class’s field trip. It was a cool museum with a wide spectrum of collections. Apparently the creator liked
to collect anything "different". There was a sword that was over four feet long and some jewelry that I really wanted to come back into style.
Once the field trip was over, I went and toured the Bodleian Library's Divinity School and Duke Humfrey's Library. The Divinity School (where oral exams, not fortune telling took place) was where the Hogwart's hospital wing was filmed. It had some interesting architecture, especially the ceiling. At first I thought they were just cool designs, but then I was told that the patterns were initials from the financial sponsors. Duke Humfrey's Library was the original library that was later expanded. This section has the old books and was very restricted (good reasons for this to be the filming spot for Hogwart's Library's Restricted Section). Even with my horrible sense of smell, I was able to smell the books. Shelves and shelves of old books with ancient wooden shelves. There were beautiful windows with light streaming in. The beams had breathtaking paintings and designs all over them. I couldn't stop looking all over the place. It was definitely one of my favorite spots.
My other favorite spot was the Eagle and Child Pub
where I had dinner, my first fish and chips. It was a good meal, nothing special. I mean it's only fried fish and French fries. The pub was small, very narrow and stretching way back into the building. Like the fish and chips, it wasn't anything impressive until you look at the cultural significance. This was the pub where the Inklings met. The Inklings was a group started by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. They sat in this very pub and discussed things like the books they were writing. Seeing how much I love both of their works (Narnia was a childhood defining series and don't even get me started on the LotR obsession), the pub was obviously a major stop.
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