Oxford! It was rainy and COLD hence how terrible I look in most of these. Keep that in mind. It took us 2 hours to get to the Cotswolds where it was raining and icky. Not worth the time that could have been spent in Oxford, in my opinion. Anyway, I managed to get a few photos.

Bourton-on-the-Water, nicknamed the “Venice of the Cotswolds”.

Finally, we headed to Oxford. Melissa and I escaped the group and headed straight for The Eagle and Child, as frequented by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.Tolkien ❤ Their discussions about literature and life there contributed to the final forms of the Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. Umm, a perfect Lindsey place to be.

See?!

Then we headed to Christ’s Church College, as made famous by the Harry Potter films which were filmed there. ❤ again.

A ledge used in HP1, when Harry comes out of the infirmary and sees Hermione and Ron waiting for him.

The staircase the first years used to enter the Great Hall.

The Great Hall. Love love love.

The enchanted ceiling.

Inside Christ’s Church Cathedral.

In the gift shop, I finally bought the English version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and got it stamped with the Christ’s Church College crest. So, so special. Then we walked around a bit while the skies held out a bit with the rain.

We also did some good shopping and did a quick Starbucks run (Tried the Gingerbread latte. Verdict: nay. Will order vanilla chais from now on and forever). The sun went down at 4:30 and it was pitch black by five! So we headed home. Oxford was a lot less magical than I expected it to be, but one cannot expect a miracle through wind and rain and semi-darkness. Maybe someday I will return.