favorite places #10 oxford, england

Oh come with me, it's time to go to Oxford...the "city of dreaming spires", ...home of Alice in Wonderland, Daniel Faraday, Harry Potter...

Oxford is a place where magic exists around every corner, it's where Lewis Carroll befriended Alice Liddell and Alice in Wonderland was born, where Daniel Faraday became immersed in time travel and parallel universes and skipping through realities, where Harry Potter and magicians of all shapes and sizes slink past the  muggles and enter the great hall of Hogwarts...a place where you might swear that you've stepped into another dimension and you may not ever want to leave...

Alice Liddell was the fourth child of Henry Liddell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and his wife Lorina Hanna Liddell.

The story is that on a summer day in 1862 , in a rowing boat travelling on the Isis from Folly Bridge, Oxford to Godstow for a picnic outing, 10-year-old Alice asked Charles Dodgson (who wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll) to entertain her and her sisters, Edith  and Lorina  with a story. As the Reverend Robinson Duckworth rowed the boat, Dodgson regaled the girls with fantastic stories of a girl, named Alice, and her adventures after she fell into a rabbit-hole.  He promised this time to write the story down for Alice and when he did he presented her with the manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground in the fall of  1864. There is much speculation whether the character of Alice is actually based on Alice Liddell herself but it does seems clear that the story was written for her. As was the following poem...

"A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky"....

(reading downward, taking the first letter of each line, spells out Alice's  full name)

A boat beneath a sunny sky,

Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July--

Children three that nestle near,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased a simple tale to hear--

Long has paled that sunny sky:

Echoes fade and memories die.

Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,

Dreaming as the days go by,

Dreaming as the summers die:

Ever drifting down the stream--

Lingering in the golden gleam--

Life, what is it but a dream?

The Great Hall  of Christ Church College, Oxford was replicated in a film studio to create Hogwart's Hall.

The good news is that Hogwarts’ Great Hall is very real, and even better you can visit it - and possibly even eat there if you can get accepted to attend Christ Church College, part of Oxford University.  You can  have a wander through and enjoy the majesty of the place which the film captures and only exaggerates slightly with the floating candles. The filming wasn’t actually done in the Great Hall at Christ Church, the hall was copied and rebuilt as a set, but it looks nearly identical.  Although alas, in real life, the ceiling is not enchanted to look like the weather outside, nor are you likely to meet a lot of wizards and witches here - but the atmosphere is nonetheless quite magical.

The rules, rules don't apply to you. You're special. You're uniquely and miraculously special.

...so says Daniel Faraday of LOST.

If you're a LOST fan then you will understand my affection for the character of Faraday. If you've never seen LOST then sorry, this will all be senseless dribble to you. And if you've never seen LOST then I strongly suggest that you watch it very soon if not now!

"I can make time.” So said the pint-sized piano prodigy version of LOST‘s quirky quantum physicist Daniel Faraday in The Variable. Four short words with multiple meanings. It is his desire to balance scientific achievement with artistic pursuits and, later, romance, and  his experiments with temporal displacement and his efforts to change the course of time in order to alter the fate of someone he loves that makes Daniel Faraday so special. And he is an Oxford graduate to boot ;-)

And now, my all too brief visit to Oxford, the town and the university, with Moses back at Christmastime 2008...travel with us...

Oxford University is actually made up of many different colleges. There are thirty-eight colleges of the University of Oxford and six Permanent Private Halls As a whole it is  the second oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world.  

Oxford has so many little windy streets, old buildings and cobblestones paths it is like stepping back in time. Every little passage is an adventure into the unknown...

We were in Oxford during the week before Christmas and got to enjoy the Christmas decorations and the craft and food fairs. Magic on top of magic!

When visiting anywhere it is always the walking around and seeing and experiencing the day to day life that is one of my favorite things to do. Shopping (of course!), riding the city bus, eating at little local spots...

Imagine if you will Harry Potter and his fellow Gryffndors having their Christmas feast here...

House elves creeping up the stairs...

Students racing up to the Great Hall...

Rowing on the river (well maybe there's not much rowing at Hogwarts but still...)

Learning Herbology with Professor Sprout...

Owls disguised as pigeons to the muggle eye...