Discovering Shakespeare’s Country
The title of this blog post was the name of the Grayline tour I took on Tuesday. It was amazing. As for filling an entire day with entertaining and enlightening activities, it succeeded. I finally got to see more of the British countryside and it was beautiful. I loved driving through the German countryside earlier this summer, but I loved this country better. No offense, but there are even more shades of green. It feels old and idyllic from every point of view. This part of my trip more than any other part transported me back to another century.
We started off with a drive to … Oxford. I felt odd visiting the school as a tourist, especially since I knew I’d be returning as a proper student in just a week. In the end, I’m glad I went. It made me even more excited to live there! I couldn’t believe the gorgeous architecture. It felt like Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, which made perfect sense since they filmed many portions of it on campus. We visited Christchurch College in the guided tour and they filmed scenes for the first movie and the second movie in one of the stairwells there. I could almost hear the main theme as I walked up the stairs … and asked some of the other tourists to take my picture. Christchurch also boasts two important literary graduates/past tutors: Lewis Carroll and C. S. Lewis. I was so happy just to snap a few pictures of their office windows from the main quad. But I got the most excited when we walked past Hertford!!! I didn’t expect to see it, but I turned around there was the Bridge of Sighs replica. The guide only pointed it out briefly and didn’t even say it was part of Hertford College. I got a little angry. I guess I already have some college pride. But I forgave him when he told me he had been an extra in the Harry Potter movies. He went in for four days, they dressed him up in a bunch of costumes, he nodded and pointed in front of a green screen, and now you can find him in as the moving portraits in Hogwarts in three of the movies! So I forgave him.
