The past two weeks have flown by. I have done and seen so much and am so beyond blessed to be in this place that ignites creativity and inspiration at every turn. The first place I am featuring is Christ Church. If you really know me you know that I am literally obsessed with Harry Potter. this church is where the film producers not only were inspired for the set but also did a lot of filming on the campus. So here are some pics from my adventure.
After Seeing this ceiling full of beautiful crests I am going to hunt down my family crest and turn it into some super rad giant ring and plaster all over the walls/ceilings of my future home. Try not to be to jealous of my idea.
If this area doesn't look slightly familiar to you then you are clearly not a Harry Potter fan.
These two pictures are of Tom's Tower and Toms gate. I do not remember why they are called that but, hey, at least I remembered their name. History is hard.
They had these big huge awkward fish in the pond that apparently never get fed because they kept pulling this manuever. Poor little babies.
"I am my Beloveds and my beloved is mine, he grazes among the lilies" Song of Solomon 6:3
The two pictures above feature the ceiling of Christ Church. Our tour guide was so amazing and I found this piece of information truly fascinating. From far away the ceiling appears to be arched but when you get right underneath it you see that it is actually flat and the arch is an allusion they created to make the church look bigger. Would I have noticed this on my own? Probably not.
I have a new obsession with stained glass. New item recently added to my bucket list is to make a stained glass window. On the real though, I learned that this isn't actually stained glass, but instead it is painted glass.
Mary and Jesus. I learned so much stuff about this awesome window but I didn't retain much. I can't help it, I can only hold a certain amount of history until my brain gets all confused. BUT what I do recall is that once when this window was being transferred, Baby Jesus broke. the people who restored him did a horrible job. You can clearly see that his rear end and face were reconstructed and failed to match up with the quality of the rest of the window. I also remember that, Mary is holding a thorn berry and Jesus is holding a picture of the city. This was a play on words the artist created to show where the window was created. I hope I got my facts right.
This window is actually pretty fascinating. It has naughty pictures up at the very top where the common viewer cannot quite make them out. The artist did this knowing that no one would ever be able to look at it up close. Well that was before they had cameras with zoom lenses. I wont share the secret, you will have to go to Canterbury to find out.
Hanging at the steps where they filmed HP.
Oh Em Gee. This is the Great Hall. They didn't film any Harry Potter here but it was the inspiration for the bigger great hall seen in all of the movies. The students of the college eat in here everyday. I am so jealous.
More supa exciting Harry Potter stuff. This is where they shot several scenes from Harry Potter.
Our tour guide was so awesome, she took us to see the colleges private gardens.
Now while this place is full of Harry Potter stuff, it actually has a lot to do with Alice and Wonderlands inspiration. This is the door that inspired Lewis and Carroll. The garden also home to the cheshire cat's tree. Our tour guide said that Lewis Carroll was a student at Christ Church and later a teacher. His office was in the library and his window held a view of this door and garden. I've found that here in Oxford as I'm writing papers and doing homework in my room, I constantly catch myself daydreaming out the window. So, it makes sense that he would be inspired by this. Christ church is also where Lewis Carroll, or Charles Dodgson, met Alice and her two sisters. They were little girls and he would always have them in his office and play with them and take pictures of them. The girls were daughters of the dean. After being here and learning about Lewis Carroll I am really starting to believe he was a weirdo pedophile but I cant be certain.
On a completely different day, I traveled to the city of Bath it was a small group consisting of the teachers, myself, and two other students. It was a great trip. I didn't learn as much here as I did in Christ Church Oops. Here is what I saw.
As much as I would like to say that I am an awesome photographer and planned this picture, I really didn't. It was a total accident. I was trying to take a picture of the giant set of chess because it reminded me off Harry Potter and I ended up getting a picture that I love. The faces of the kids are so priceless.
The guy in the two pictures above was legit insane. In both of these pictures he is riding those stupid unicycles with one foot. The first one he is holding some rando kid while in the second one he is ten feet high and juggling flaming torches. This show was seriously so entertaining. He was so funny and really good at what he did.
My trip to Bath was truly wonderful. The Baths were incredibly beautiful and truly fascinating. I cant believe I only have three days left in this magical place. Coming up in my future posts will be several really exciting things: my pictures from Rome, an Olympic game, Harry Potter filming studio, and more. So stay tuned.
Lots of Love
Katy
