Everything is magical in Oxford.
Obviously I think our hotel is magical, but so is the entire city and all the contents therein. These photos are from my iPhone but Haley just posted photos from the good camera on her blog. You should go immediately to look at them. They’re so great.
Today we walked around the city for a few hours, soaking in the stunning scenery, leisurely exploring as much as possible and taking approximately 9,873 photos.
We saw the Bridge of Sighs, went through the Oxford Covered Market, went through Christ Church (from which the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland came, where certain parts of Harry Potter were filmed and where John and Charles Wesley were ordained) and were dazzled by the general splendor of it all.
Pretty sure the church brings out the gold in Haley’s eyes.
#goals
Oxford
By C. S. Lewis
It is well that there are palaces of peace
And discipline and dreaming and desire,
Lest we forget our heritage and cease
The Spirit’s work—to hunger and aspire:
Lest we forget that we were born divine,
Now tangled in red battle’s animal net,
Murder the work and lust the anodyne,
Pains of the beast ‘gainst bestial solace set.
But this shall never be: to us remains
One city that has nothing of the beast,
That was not built for gross, material gains,
Sharp, wolfish power or empire’s glutted feast.
We are not wholly brute. To us remains
A clean, sweet city lulled by ancient streams,
A place of visions and of loosening chains,
A refuge of the elect, a tower of dreams.
She was not builded out of common stone
But out of all men’s yearning and all prayer
That she might live, eternally our own,
The Spirit’s stronghold—barred against despair.
She’s so cute.
Tomorrow we go to Magdalen College and The Eagle and Child and Addison’s Walk and the botanic gardens and I’m so excited I just started crying (no joke. I grabbed Haley’s hand and started crying). I’m ready to be home but I also never want to leave this place.
Oxford truly looks amazing, a little bit like a city out of another time 🙂
Amazing !
Thank you for the post. For a beautiful treatment of Oxford, you need to see the book, The Inklings of Oxford: by Harry Lee Poe. The book has numerous pictures of Oxford. Thank you for your pictures.
Thank you for your comment and the book suggestion! I’ll definitely add that to my list. I’m currently reading The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings (http://www.amazon.com/The-Fellowship-Literary-Inklings-Barfield/dp/0374154090) and it’s so good! I’m not even halfway through but I definitely recommend it!