Curls With Charisma: The Oxford Experience

The view from the top of the Oxford Castle

Oxford, The City of Dreaming Spires, is famous around the world for it's history and prestigious University. Oxford is rich with historical stories of royalty, wars, scholars, and much more. The city nowadays has a bustling cosmopolitan high tech community, but the ancient University is still a main tourist attraction.

Our group had the opportunity to visit Oxford for the weekend and it was an incredible experience. Walking around the city we were surrounded by extremely intelligent human beings. I like to think that I became increasingly more intelligent just by being surrounded by these individuals at Oxford University:)

Shortly after arriving in Oxford we joined a free walking tour. Our tour guide led us through some of the most historical and well-known areas around the Oxford campus including the Sheldonian Theatre, Radcliffe Camera, Divinity School, The Bear, The Turf Tavern, Bodleian Library, University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, the Carfax, the oldest building in Oxford, and the many colleges of Oxford. After the tour we were able to break off on our own to tour the Oxford Ashmolean Museum and The Museum of History of Science. At the Museum of History and Science we got to see a chalkboard that was from one of Albert Einstein's lectures at Oxford. After getting a quick bite to eat and warming up from the cold weather we decided to find our hostel to check in. That evening we found our way to The Eagle and The Child Pub. This was a very unique experience! This pub is where C. S. Lewis and The Inklings met for their creative writing society way back when. There were quotes and pictures around the bar, but it was not overdone. I had an amazing plate of fish & chips then our group though it was appropriate to play some scrabble:) After we ate and relaxed, we found our way to GandD's cafe that is famous for their ice cream. I ordered the Cookie Monster: a carmel cookie on bottom, a Bailey's Irish Cream ice cream in the middle, and a double chocolate cookie on top. WOW!! That night a few of us decided to roam the city.

Part of Harry Potter was filmed in this building!! The main floor was the hospital wing and the upper floor is where part of the library shots were taken including the restricted section

The Turf Tavern is one of the oldest pubs in Oxford and many celebrities have made their way here. Bill Clinton allegedly was caught here smoking illegal substances.

The Eagle and Child Pub

My incredible Monster Cookie and DandG's

Monday morning we awoke early to head to Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum. Unfortunately, the Natural History museum was closed and the Pitt River Museum wasn't open yet. Whoops. So we made our way to the University of Oxford Botanical Gardens. This was a very pretty area! Due to major flooding in the UK, we were not able to see everything because part of it was under water! We could see an entire football field nearby completely under water! If the water wasn't so high, it would have been really fun to rent a canoe thing to take throughout their rivers. After the gardens we made our way back to the Pitt Rivers Museum where we were able to see shrunken heads! We also got a little glimpse into the Natural History Museum to see a few dinosaur skeletons including the dodo bird! Next we made our way to Christ Church. Beautiful!! We then found our way to a covered market for lunch. In the afternoon we made our way to Oxford Castle for a cheesy tour. It was fun, a little creepy, and we got an amazing view of the entire city from the top of one of the tours. I'd say it was a successful few days!!!