Springtime in Oxford

The House where Tolkien
wrote The Lord of the Rings

Yes, yet another post on Oxford!  But I promise this one won't be as long as the last few! :)  Today, I spent the day walking the streets of the old city with my "Worlds Beyond Oxford:  Lewis, Tolkien, and Pullman" class.  It was such a beautiful day - perfect for a walking tour!  The southern UK seems to have learned the meaning of spring since I got back from Spring Break.  It's been wonderfully warm (well comparatively! haha) and sunny, and the trees finally have leaves on them!

The Kilns

We started out our day at Oxford with a walking tour focusing on the locations of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Philip Pullman.  We got to see some very famous sites, like Exeter College (the undergraduate home of Tolkien and Pullman), Magdalen College (the undergraduate home of Lewis and Andrew Lloyd Webber!), the houses where Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, etc.  We also learned some "succulent bits of knowledge" along the way.  For example, apparently the poet Percy Byssche Shelley was notorious for swapping babies.  He would legitimately take babies out of their carriages and switch them!  And mothers knew it was him, and so would go to his college, Univ, and complain that they didn't have the right baby!

The Narnia Window at
The Holy Trinity Church

After our tour we went to the Eagle & Child (Lewis & Tolkien's favorite pub) for lunch, and then drove over to the Kilns, the home of C.S. Lewis!  We ended the day with a visit to Lewis's church and gravesite.
It's kind of sad to think that this was my last study trip of the semester.  I've had so much fun getting to explore various parts of England in connection to my studies!  However, the next few weekends are still very busy.  I'm SUPER EXCITED for my parents and grandparents to visit this upcoming week, and then we are all traveling up to St. Andrews to see Jessica for Easter weekend!