Harry Was Here

Download this: “Hedwig’s Theme” by John Williams
Why: because harry potter rocks (not in the musical sense) and because that’s the soundtrack that was playing in my head for much of the day. Scary what goes on in there sometimes…

Fact: The Great Hall at Christ Church College was used as inspiration for the Hogwarts dining hall in the Harry Potter films. The staircase leading up to the hall was actually used in several scenes in the films.

So today was my first day around oxford entertaining myself and I had decided on a plan for either a rainy day or a sunny day depending upon which I got. THANK GOD I finally had a sunny day, but that’s probably because I brought the umbrella and had to drag it around all day with me for no reason. But I totally would rather take the sunny day than the rainy day any day. Wow that was a funny sentence. Back to the main point here…

So my plan for the sunny day was to spend as much time outside as possible without needing an umbrella which I did. The walk into oxford from erin and drews place is not bad at all. At the snails pace that I tend to walk at (since I have the tendency to look at everything as I walk) it took me about 25 minutes to walk to the city center. i had printed off a map before I left, but it was a really easy walk anyway. Just walk to the end of their street, turn left and keep walking until you hit the center. they are right off of one of the main roads into the city so its pretty simple for me.

So here is the scoop: basically, oxford university is made up of a bunch of variously named colleges (Christchurch, Magdalene, st. johns etc) and the most famous of those is Christ church that had the big cathedral and has been used for a lot of movie sets (including for the filming of some of the harry potter movies). Magdalene college is where cs lewis was the chair of the medieval literature department before he became the dean of Cambridge university. Christchurch is not only the most famous of the colleges, but its also one of the prettiest supposedly so I decided to check it out. It was also conveniently located on the main road into town so it really only took me about 15 or so minutes to walk there.

Outside of the college there is the war memorial gardens that are very pretty and then there is the meadow that surrounds it where you can take a “meadow walk.” The meadow walk is absolutely beautiful and I had a fantastic day for it so I definitely took advantage. After enjoying the walk around the meadow I decided to go in and explore the college itself.

The funny thing about it is that certain parts of the college are closed off to tourists at certain times (and most of it outside of the famous parts is closed to tourists all the time) and depending on the closures at the time, you pay different prices. When I happened to go up to pay, the great hall was closed (although the sign said until 2pm so I figured I would take a chance) and I had my student id so it only cost me 2 pounds 90 which is not bad at all.

Basically, it’s a self guided tour and you have a little brochure that gives you all the information. One of the first things I saw when I went in was the door that said “no peel” that you may remember from the random fact of the day previously. The brochure that came with the walk actually had a different account of the “no peel” protest which was about some guy named Robert peel I think who was persecuting catholics at the college and it was burned into the door in protest of this guy. Personally, I like the potato story I found online better. Eh, semantics.

So, sadly, the great hall was indeed closed at that point and all I was able to see was the big stair case. I was wondering if the sign saying that it would open again at 2 was right and if I would have to pay more to go in since I got a discount initially. I figured that I could kill some time in the cathedral and give it a shot which is exactly what I did.

I spent about an hour wandering around the cathedral checking things out. They have some really gorgeous stained glass windows in the place (one by William morris and one by Edward burnes-jones) and one of them (cant remember which) is the biggest stained glass window in England. It was honestly a beautiful cathedral so it wasn’t too hard to kill time just exploring and appreciating it. I also explored and appreciated the gift shop as well as I have been known to do by the time I was finished with this activity, it was after 2, so I went to see if I could get into the great hall.

And I could. I just walked right up the staircase and into the hall without even paying for it. Sneaky like ninja. Lol. And when I walked in, I felt like I was walking into a scene out of harry potter minus the enchanted ceiling which for those of you non harry potter readers (and shame that you aren’t!) is a ceiling that mimics the real sky so if its sunny out, the ceiling is sunny. If its cloudy or stormy, the ceiling is cloudy or stormy. Makes sense right. Sadly, no enchanted ceiling here L. It was still super cool to walk around and look at all the tables and such and I didn’t know this, but apparently, its still used 3 times a day as a dining hall for students. I don’t think I could pull off sneaking into there though. Im not that kind of ninja.

After exploring the hall I was pretty much done with Christchurch since I didn’t really want to see the portrait gallery. You already know how I feel about portraits based on my opinion of Windsor so you can understand why I skipped it.

The weather was still holding out so I walked back through the meadow and across to the high street where the royal botanical gardens are. It was pretty ridiculously cheap for a student to get in there so I went to wander around and look at the pretty flowers and trees too. I found a bench near where the stream was so I could watch the punters (basically like the English version of a gondola for the most part – anton offered to take me sometime but unfortunately we never made it because the weather was never good enough) go by and write my post cards. I was also accosted by a fearless squirrel. Apparently the thing has been fed so much that when it hears paper crinkle it things it will be food and it all but jumped into my bag while I wasn’t looking. At first it was kinda cute sitting on the bench next to me but when it started getting closer I started getting nervous. Just want I need to get bit by a rabid squirrel and then have to deal with the HNS (british socialized healthcare system) which would have likely led to me dying before they could treat me. apparently my fears of the rabid squirrel biting were unfounded because erin said and anton confirmed that there is no rabies in England much the same as there are no snakes in Ireland. Who knew. The botanical gardens also had a gorgeous rose garden out front with some of the most wonderful smelling roses ever in it and it was dedicated to the people who discovered penicillin. I feel like I should have known that penicillin was discovered at oxford, but until I encountered that rose garden, I had no idea. Learn something every day.

Since the botanical gardens are on the high street, I decided to walk back past some of the shops erin and I had been to the day before to see if I wanted to buy anything else. On the way I passed this cute little coffee shop called the coffee shop on queens lane and it looked like they had really yummy food so I stopped in. I don’t know what their secret is, but the brits make the flippin best tuna melt I have ever had. Coincidentally, right was I was savoring my sandwich, erin called to see how I felt about going out for curry for dinner on her and drew to celebrate my graduation and new job (essentially my escape from bases) which I was totally up for.

After snacking, I spent some time looking around in the oxford university book shop and I picked out a ridiculously expensive replica rugby jersey that I bought in place of another hoodie (it was soooooo expensive but I love it) and went to the post office to mail my post cards. Apparently, no one who worked in that post office was in any hurry to go home because I stood in line to buy two frickin stamps for half an hour. By that time I had been annoyed into a mood and needed to be placated. Luckily, I was passing this little shop called george and danver that sold home made ice cream which met the requirements. I got a scoop of oxford blue which is blueberry ice cream and it was so good. I reasoned with myself by saying that I would walk it off on the way home. Not likely, but I can delude myself into believing things at a pretty good level.

I got to the house just before erin and drew did and we took alittle bit of time to just chill before cabbing it back into town for dinner. According to drew, England is supposed to have the best most authentic Indian food outside of India itself. They have this favorite little place called chutneys that we headed for. I had no idea what to get so erin and drew gave some options and I cant even remember what I settled on but it was good. I think I liked erins chicken tikka masala a little bit better though. It was great though because we all just shared with one another and had three different types of nan (garlic, cheese and plain – flat bread essentially) to share and a nice drink with the meal. It was so nice of erin and drew to treat me and I told them that letting me stay with them was nice enough but they insisted on it so thanks to them for being the most wonderful hosts and great friends that they are!

Naturally, after dinner, we couldn’t just head straight home so we went to another favorite pub of erin and drew called grapes (I think) for a drink. At this point, erin noticed that she had a text from anton asking what we were up to for the evening and if we were interested in meeting up. This prompted even drew to remark that he thought anton has a crush on me (so now both of them were harassing me about it lol). Must be something though for drew to even comment on it. So now I have an aussie and a brit in my collection LOL!!! Anton did come out to meet us at the pub not too long before last call (which is at a ridiculous 11pm in some pubs). After we got kicked out of the first pub, it was on to another one right around the corner for another round and some shots of sambuca (bleck. Dude, I haven’t don’t a shot of sambuca in a long time for a good reason) to celebrate antons birthday. At exactly the stroke of midnight, erin and I warmed up our voices and burst into song, serenading anton with our best version (which was still pretty pitiful) of happy birthday which we ended up getting the whole bar to join in on it (and by that I mean the other 7 people besides ourselves) and make him a nice glowing cherry red. It was so much fun. For us at least.

After getting kicked out of yet another bar with a ridiculous closing time (1230) anton had forgiven our embarrassment and was kind enough to give us a lift back to the flat so we didn’t have to flag down a cab.

Yet another day with the parkers come and gone…