I went to the Eagle & Child pub in Oxford for lunch. This pub was once a pretty cool hangout for the Inklings - two of its members have names that are still commonplace today. You might have heard of them: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. They would meet in this room of the pub, discuss ideas, and write. It was stimulating to know I was sitting in a pub where such fantastic authors once sat, eating foods that they probably ate (or near enough to it).
Following that, I wandered around the city with a walking tour toward the Christ Church College. Christ Church College is not like colleges in the US. Here, it is more of a dorm, a smaller part of the larger Oxford University. Aside from it's already rich history (Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland here, for example) and expansive publishing house, Oxford University is known for the locations where Harry Potter was filmed. I admit, I geeked out over walking up the stairs that led to the Great Hall, even if it was just a staircase in the school. And the dining hall there was too small to be the Hogwarts hall, so they used it for inspiration, but one can certainly tell. It's beautiful.
And, of course, no trip to Oxford would be complete without at visit to the magnificent Bodleian Library. The Restricted Section was filmed here, as well as the Hospital Wing scenes. I was not allowed to take pictures inside the library, but it was a very beautiful, magical, place.
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