"It was nothing like I imagined..."
But it's an experience nonetheless.
Oxford is the home of one of the oldest universities in the world AND various scenes from Harry Potter movies, so what could be more appealing?
The list of alumni from Oxford is impressive. It's EPIC for lack of a better word. Something like 47 Nobel peace prize winners, two kings, 12 monarchs of sovereign nations, 25 prime ministers, 35 presidents of 19 other countries, the list goes on and on. Julius Ceasar, Dr. Seuss, Hugh Grant and Bill Clinton all went to Oxford.
I had a "walking tour" sort of mapped out in my mind but that didn't match up at all with any lunch plans and it quickly went out the window. Miriam and Simon were feeling particularly restless so their attention spans were virtually non-existent. So I'll just post pictures of our patchwork visit to this great establishment of learning.
I also marveled at why they reduced such a remarkable place to the ranks of "hospital wing" for Harry Potter filming. It's majesty was apparently lost on Hollywood...
Alas- the picture on the left is my shot of the lampost you see in the picture on the right. Please don't ask me why it's cool to see places from movies because I could not muster a satisfactory response. The places we saw have sufficient merit on their own for architectural beauty and historic magnificence. And yet I keep going...
Once the kids were sufficiently bored we took the bus back to the park and ride. I had read in a guide book that Oxfordshire is one of the prettiest places in the countryside so we drove outside the town and took a walk along the river. The Thames. The same river that runs through London. You'd never know it...