Day Trip 5! Today we went to Blenheim and Oxford. Such an exciting day!!! :) Loved it! Blenheim was very pretty. Blenheim Palace is the home of the 11th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. While the Palace was beautiful and full of history, its extensive grounds were my favorite. It was a little drizzly today, but I really liked the fields, fountains, gardens, and lake that surrounded the Palace. I would love to see it in the Spring, when all of the flowers bloom. There was a large rose garden that would be beautiful then.
After Blenheim, we boarded our coach for a quick ride to Oxford. I find the English school system difficult to understand. Apparently Oxford is a university consisting of multiple colleges, and there are a bunch of terms they use that I don’t understand. We walked around the city of Oxford for a couple of hours, before we met the group back at Christ Church (a college that is also a Cathedral). While we were on our own, we went to Covered Market, which is a marketplace selling fresh produce, meats, clothing, etc. We bought milkshakes from Moo Moo’s, a highly recommended and even coveted milkshake shop there. It was overwhelming picking a flavor, as they had over a hundred to choose from. I got a Crunchie milkshake. Crunchie is my favorite candy bar here. It is honeycomb covered in chocolate. It is amazing!
We walked around some more, and found the Bodleian Library. We couldn’t go in it, and at the time I was not quite sure why it was significant. All I knew is that a few scenes from Harry Potter and been filmed in it. After checking online, I have learned that the first two films filmed the hospital wing and library scenes there.
I really like Oxford. It is a very pretty college town. I bought myself an Oxford sweatshirt, so now I feel super smart.
We met back with the rest of the London group at Christ Church. A Mr. Philip Tootill, the House Manager, led us on a tour of the grounds and some of the buildings. I was surprised to learn how much Christ Church has been in popular culture. It is the setting for Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, it is in the film “The Golden Compass”, and it is in the “Harry Potter” films!
Lewis Carroll attended Christ Church Oxford, and gained much of his inspiration for his book from his time there. Alice is said to be based off of Alice Liddell, the daughter of the dean of Christ Church. There is a green door leading into a small garden that Carroll often saw the young Alice peaking through the key hole of, because she was not aloud through the door. This was Alice looking into her wonderland, the garden she was not allowed to enter. Her cat often hopped the wall and would sit in the tree that was in the garden, giving him his inspiration for the Cheshire cat. The Jabberwocky tree is also found at Christ Church. Very cool!
Prepare to be very jealous… We got to have tea in the Great Hall from the Harry Potter films! It was so exciting. First we walked up the staircase that the first years stand on before they are sorted in the first film! Then, we entered the Great Hall and got to sit at the House Tables, just like they do in Harry Potter!!! We had hot chocolate, finger sandwiches, and Victorian cake. The best part was remembering all of the scenes from Harry Potter that took place in the very room we were sitting in! The sorting took place in that hall, as well as owl post, meals, “Troll in the dungeon!”, and when all of the students had to gather there when Sirius Black broke into the castle. My favorite scene to remember, the one that made me the most excited about being in the room, was the scene in the most recent film (6th) when Bellatrix Lestrange strides down the center table shrieking, and destroys all of the glass windows in the Great Hall. So exciting!
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