Day Trip to Oxford

Today 13 kids from my group took a day trip to Oxford.  It started off as quite the adventure.  Our normal tube station ended up being closed so we had to detour to the next closest station.  It was a big delay and we ended up running to our train.  Right when we got on it started moving.  It actually was more fun having to run to the train.  Oxford is such a beautiful city.  Even on the train looking out the window I was amazed at how green the grass was.  Immediately when we got off the train we went to the Carfax tower.  We were told to climb to the top of the tower while it is sunny because all the roofs in Oxford are made of limestone and glow in the sun.  We wanted to get there asap because sun in UK is rare.

Carfax Tower

Some pretty views from the top of the tower:

                               

 For lunch we ate at an Irish pub.  It was the best food I have had here but also the only food I've eaten out haha.  I ordered a simple grilled chicken with bbq sauce and chips (aka french fries).  It was just the food I needed and I was very satisfied for my long day ahead of walking.  We scheduled a private walking tour for our group to see the City and University.  The architecture was so cool!  We paid extra to be able to go into Christ Church and the entrance of Bodleian Library.  At Christ Church we saw the Great Hall that inspired the Great Hall of Harry Potter.  The stairs from Harry Potter are the stairs at Christ Church and some of the walkways are also included in the movies.  Bodleian library is the library in the Harry Potter movies.  It was very exciting seeing some of the areas that the Harry Potter movies were shot.

 Hermes God of Messenger.  All the heads have their mouths open because they are speaking to each other except for one with its mouth shut.

 Significant gargoyles go across the entire top of this tower.  This section has an ox for oxford, lion from narnia, and a boat with three boys.

 Inside Bodleian Library.  This is also the nursery from Harry Potter.

After our 2 hour walking tour we were pooped.  We went to a famous pub called Turf's Tavern to have dinner.  We headed back on the train to London afterwards.  It was a very fun and successful day trip.

Unfortunately my camera died halfway through the tour.  I am lucky to have such a great camera on my phone so please sit still as it takes me some time to transfer pictures from my camera to computer.  More to come. Chao!