Today we leave our Surrey abode and head for Oxford. Another easy walk to the station, purchase our tickets and we board the first of 2 trains for our 70 min train rides. Weather in Oxford is not great with 70% chance of rain - how highest thus far.
We want to arrive around 12pm to give us time to leave our suitcases to their Nanny minder and grab some lunch before heading off to our 90 min Harry Potter Walking Tour! Unfortunately our Nanny minder was on the 2nd floor but helped with carrying up Sue's heavy case & then Sue helped me. Once we caught our breath 😬 we headed off to a pub to have some lunch - steak sandwich with hot english mustard. I may have thrown in a glass of red cos they didn't know what lemon, lime & bitters was!!
Rain started coming down quite heavily, so we stayed as long as we could in the warmth and dry before heading off to the starting point of the tour, which was within a 5 min walk. Our guide (an Oxford student of Politics, Economics & Philosophy) was fantastic. Very animated, funny and he intermingled HP stories and film locations with some history of Oxford - which was a lovely touch.
JK Rowling spent time wandering Oxford's buildings and streets as inspiration for her books. For example, the scar on Harry's forehead came from a stone mason's mark outside the National History Museum:
The Great Hall where they ate meals is actually a larger version of the student and faculty great dining hall in New College:
The New College (founded in the 14th century!) courtyard quadrangle and cloisters were in quite a few scenes. The tree in the courtyard is where Malfoy was turned into a ferret and the where I am standing is near where Harry pushed through a group of students wearing 'Potter stinks' badges.
The infirmary or hospital wing was filmed at the Divinity School (which is now part of the Bodleian Library):
The cloisters of Christ Church were also used as the school hallways and where Hermione told Harry quidditch was in his blood.
Here's the statute JK Rowling used to develop her Nearly Headless Nick character:
Here's the phone box used for muggles to enter the Ministry of Magic:
I noticed throughout our tour that our guides fly appeared to be opening more and more. At the end as I went to give him a tip, I mentioned his fly was undone and without any blushing at all he responded "thanks, I've done it up at least 3 times since our tour began!" And with that, I thanked him again, he told me the pub where Bob Hawke has the record for downing a pint, and we both went our separate ways.
Picked up our suitcases from our Nanny, grabbed a cab and arrived at our airbnb about 10 mins later. Sadly it didn't appear to be the correct address, so as Sue was checking for me, a lady across the road poked her head out the window and called my name. The correct place was directly across the road. Sadly it also was on the 2nd floor, so Sue and I continued our now well rehearsed suitcase carrying exercise and within a few mins entered our very eclectic, colourful home for the next 4 nights.
They are animal lovers, so we have plastic animal handles on cupboards, cheetah wallpaper, possum wallpaper, a rubber ducky toilet seat and Sue has added her gift of a Koala in the most logical place:
Hoping to sleep well tonight - runny nose still happening, but other than that I feel fine.
Easy day tomorrow, 90 min Oxford Walking Tour and the weather from here on in is all sunshine.
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