Oxford

Two weekends ago I got the chance to go Oxford for the day with my friend Lauren, her sister Heather and her friend. It was nice as Heather's friend had a car as he was from the London area so he drove us there. Just like Bath and the other parts of England I've visited, Oxford was equally as beautiful. I really would encourage anyone who is coming to the London to take a day trip to a nearby city (such as Bath, Oxford, etc.) as it really shows what I believe to be the true English countryside. We were a bit disappointed as we thought the Oxford Christmas market was open but unfortunately it wasn't opening for another two weekends. Regardless, we had a wonderful day exploring Oxford.

Radcliffe Camera - Library for Oxford University.
Later on we saw a protest around this area over the ruling of Darren Wilson from the Michael Brown shooting.

We found this cute (tiny) store which sold beautiful leather bound notebooks, calligraphy sets and books with really cool covers.

Oxford Castle 

We paid £1.00 to go up a hill beside the castle and had a great view of Oxford just before sunset

Cat on the way up the hill

Lauren and I are huge Harry Potter fans, and we knew that quite a bit of Harry Potter was actually filmed around Oxford so were excited to try and see some of those spots. We tried to go to Dining Hall at Christ Church College which was the inspiration for the Hogwarts Dining Hall but sadly it was closed.

Instead we went to New College (another one of the schools in Oxford) just as the sun was setting and got a few pictures before it was dark. After it was dark we snuck in the courtyard and snapped some pictures and just took it all in. Lauren and I were in our glory because we were exact spot where HP was filmed (in the Goblet of Fire.) It was a really cool moment and we just sat on the pillars in complete bliss. It was really neat because we were the only ones around yet we could hear a choir practicing inside the school behind us. I have felt really exhausted, stressed and burnt out lately from teaching and everything else but experiences like this make it all completely worth it. I am really felt so lucky that I can have this opportunity.

New College

A bit of a blurry picture I took on my phone of the gorgeous building 

IN THE COURTYARD WHERE HARRY POTTER WAS FILMED!

Taking it all in

After we were done sneaking around the college we walked to Oxford's oldest pub and had a pint, then we were walking back to the car and came across snow! Someone had a fake snow machine (it was actually just bubbles) and was doing it out their window. A great end to a great day!