Finding Lewis

I've been looking forward to our group trip to Oxford practically since it was announced on our group itinerary. Since I've never ridden a real train—by real I mean a train that isn't a slow scenic one just for tourists—it was exciting to go to Paddington Station and ride a real train, By far, the train is my favorite transportation method now, although I'm not sure how that might be affected by taking actual luggage along with me besides just a purse. Nonetheless, we had a fascinating tour of the Bodleian Library in the morning, which was cool because I heard about that library all through undergrad from my various English professors who would visit there while on sabbatical. It was neat, then, to see the stacks and the reading rooms and even a small part of that massive collection personally since I've heard their stories before and now know a little more of the history too. Cool Bodleian aside, though, my anticipation of going to Oxford centered on one goal: finding Lewis Carroll...

Visiting Christ Church wasn't scheduled, but since we had a lot of free time after our Bodleian Library tour to eat lunch and explore the city, I got to go. I think I was probably the only one who was interested in the Lewis Carroll aspect of going to Christ Church—after all, scenes from the Harry Potter movies were also filmed there—but it was still fun. We got a student rate on our tickets and had the chance to wander on a self-guided tour (with pamphlets) that took us to the famous dining hall, familiar to Carroll and Harry Potter fans alike for different reasons. Since I'm not a super huge fan of the Alice books, it might seem strange that I would be excited to see Christ Church at all, but it all stems from undergrad, rather like my interest in the Bodleian Library.

The summer between my junior and senior years of college, I researched and wrote a SURE grant paper about Carroll, his symbollic logic and mathematics, and the Alice books. While it was tedious sometimes to read his journals, I learned quite a bit about Dodgson (Carroll) that summer and always wanted to see where he lived and worked. Our student tour didn't take us to his cottage, but seeing the famous dining hall, Christ Church cathedral, and the grounds was more than enough to make me feel like I'd found Lewis. The city is even hosting a special "Alice's Day" this Saturday, when it appears they will be celebrating all things Alice and Carroll. I might just have to check that out too since the events include visits to the cottage and perhaps more about the Liddell family too. I was surprised but glad to still be able to recognize his picture when I spotted it across the dining hall. :) Their little gift shop was fun, as was seeing oodles of Alice stuff (I was expecting a lot around Oxford, so it was nice to see at Christ Church), but I tried to limit myself. :) It was also cool to see that John and Charles Wesley were actually ordained in Christ Church cathedral, so I took lots of pictures of their memorials as well.

It's Lewis! This was the picture I spotted across the dining hall while following the walking tour through. I had to circle round and cut through to get close enough for a picture.

The famous dining hall...Harry Potter fans (on the tour) were excited to see this too

A shot of the beautiful grounds at Christ Church College