Pottering Around Oxford

I love England :). Yesterday, Jason and I decided to take our first weekend trip to Oxford. We figured it would be the ideal first trip since Oxford is only a hour and a half away via coach (bus) and because the city of London has coaches that run every 20 minutes to Oxford high street. We ended up getting into Oxford around 1:15, and promptly made our way to the tourist information center to figure out what we wanted to do in the city.

Upon arrival in the info center, we discovered that there was a 2:15 two hour official guided walking tour of both the city and the universities. With just enough time to grab a panini next door, we waited for the rest of the tourists to arrive. Fortunately, the 2:15 tour had been added at the last minute, and since it wasn't widely published, only two other students also went on the tour. Since there were so few of us, our tour guide let us tailor the tour a little more to our likeing. This meant that we were able to combine the themed "Pottering in Harry's Footsteps Tour" with the "University and City Tour." Since the first "Pottering in Harry's Footsteps Tour" is not set to run until late February, I felt extremely lucky...and Jason felt a little annoyed (he didn't realize my intentions with visiting the city :-P). However, since Jason is a bit of a fan, he wasn't going to complain.

The tour mainly consisted of visiting three of Oxford's colleges and seeing some major city sites along the way. The highlights of the tour definitely included seeing the Bodleian Library (used in the Harry Potter films as both the Infirmary and for the dancing lessons before the Yule Ball), New College (used in the Harry Potter films both as the corridors and as the place where Malfoy got transformed into a ferret), and Christ Church (used in the Harry Potter films for both the original entrance scene into Hogwarts and as an inspiration for the Great Hall). We also saw other important buildings regarding literary history, such as the school J.R.R. Tolkien taught at along with the locations for the inspirations behind the Golden Compass and Alice in Wonderland. I absolutely loved the city, which was definitely more relaxed and much more green than London.

After the tour, Jason and I headed to the Covered Market, which in all reality is a combination of London's Camden Market and Borough Market. I had an tasty, warm, double chocolate cookie from Ben's Cookies and Jason explore a few of the men's shops. We then figured we should go grab dinner and ended up eating at Las Iguanas, a Latin American Restaurant. We had the most amazing tapas since we got there during their happy hour, and ordered Rioja Chorizo, Gambas, Lamb Empanada, Calamares, and Albondigas. I would certainly go back, and am quickly realizing that I love trying new foods.

All in all, I cannot wait to do more weekend trips. Since I don't have classes on Mondays or Tuesdays, I know I can enjoy them without having to worry too much about missing out on homework time :). I'm sending lots of love across the pond!