Thached Roofs, Bleating Sheep, Harry Potter and the Worlds Best Minds

In planning our time in the area surrounding London, we had to choose wisely.
There is so much to do and of course we couldn't fit it all in. A day spent in the
Cotswolds and at Oxford was recommended, which turned out to be a perfect day
trip. We first arrived at the prestigious Oxford campus and immediately fell in love.
The buildings are as quaint as can be and the air is thick with academia. It was so
fun to photograph intricate stone facades, roof lines with bell towers, steeples and
English chimneys, bridges linking one ancient center of learning to another and
hidden English gardens tucked between.  Teaching began here in 1096, creating
the second oldest university in the world and the oldest in the English speaking
world. (The oldest in the world is in Bologna, which we were going to see, but
at the last minute we decided to spend another day in Tuscany.) We wandered
this old campus trying to soak in a little intellectualism. By the way, did you
know that at Oxford students still wear their academic gowns, like what we see
at graduation here but with more color, when taking tests, interacting with university
officials and while eating in the dining hall? We thought that was pretty cool.

(I think that I would be so happy studying in this library. Unfortunately outsiders are not permitted in, so I will never know what it must be like sit within the walls that house the world's greatest books, read by a thousand years of the worlds most prominent thinkers.)

One of my very favorite parts of traveling is happening upon some little place or experience that is not expected but turns out to be most memorable. While perusing the travel book on our way to Oxford, Jenny pointed out that the dining room that was used in the filming of the Harry Potter movies is in the university's Christ Church College. By searching for this spot that is so familiar to my children, we were exposed to the inside of the University as well as more beautiful grounds and buildings. When we finally ducked into the right dining hall, my kids almost expected to see candles floating in the air or a sorting ceremony taking place.

The staircase that was in the movie was located just outside of the great hall. Although Oxford will be remembered by all of us as a great place of thinking, it was fun to add a little Harry Potter connection for the children.

We left Oxford and headed further north to the Cotswolds. This region was high on my list and I couldn't wait to explore villages with names like Bourton-on-the-Water and Stow-on-the-Wold. I imagined whimsical cottages with thatched roofs and sheep grazing on green rolling hills, enclosed by stone walls. Unfortunately it was pouring rain when we arrived, but we still found the charming villages that we were in search of.

Of course I loved the cottages and sheep, but my favorite part of our exploration were the little paths that linked the villages together because in my mind, any hiking or walking makes for a perfect day. Despite the rain, we found a path that took us behind cottages, along a stone wall covered with ivy, through a sunny field of flowers and past the freshest lambs that were bleating for their mothers milk. (Annelise wondered aloud how the mother sheep could tell which ones were their babies. I wondered aloud back if the sheep were looking at us wondering how I knew that my six children, hovering around my feet and hanging off my hip, belonged to me rather than to the English women tending their gardens nearby. Could we mix up our children and would be care if we did, we wondered if the sheep were wondering, just like we were wondering about them?)

 

We have become playground connoisseurs during our three months in Europe. The kids can spot a good time from great distances, especially if it involves a swing, zip line or climbing structure. For me, it is so fun to photograph such happy faces.

We finished our walk sad to leave the area, especially since our walk and other activities were somewhat limited due to the rain, but content only because I had already started mentally planning a trip back to this region for a longer stay in the future.