Luton Airport greeted us with a beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise at Luton Airport

Way to start a day, huh?

A friend picked us up in his car and even though we were aware that driving in UK is done on the left side of the road, which is the opposite of here, it was still a little weird when he climbed in what would be the passenger seat, if it was my car, to drive.

If you don't have such a friend, there should be a bus to Oxford. There's also one to London, which would take you to Victoria Station.

After getting settled, we headed out for a walk around town. What we noticed first is that the architecture is very old and classic. There wasn't a single modern-looking building, unless you consider a hundred and fifty years old ones modern.

Oxford

The houses looked pretty much like these ones. Also see those trash bins there? One's for recyclable materials - weirdly enough it's the blue one - and the other one is for everything else, and if you don't separate your trash correctly and put it in black bags, in the morning, you'll find it where you left it.

But enough about trash. The Oxfordshire County Council is situated in Oxford.

Oxfordshire County Council

That's the place where the most strategic local government decisions are made for the whole county.

There's also quite the number of churches in the city.

The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Well, former churches, now used as parts of the university. As you probably know, the city is home of the University of Oxford and pretty much everything is centered around it.

The University of Oxford Shop

Oxford University is the oldest in the English-speaking world and the second oldest still functioning, in the whole world and is made up from a number of different colleges and academic departments.

Which is one of the reasons that as old and traditional as the town looks, it's full of young people from every part of the world. Aside from Oxford University, there's also Oxford Brookes University, which is fairly new - since 1865.

The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It's the second-largest in Britain.

Tower of the Five Orders - main entrance to the Bodleian Library

 

We may have gone in to warm ourselves up a little, since there was this biting wind that day. But hey, at least we learned a bunch of facts. Like the one that during World War II, a great deal of doctors and scientists in Oxford used Alexander Fleming's observations on penicillin and turned them into a drug that would save lots of lives.

Excuse my randomness.

Carfax is where the city center is considered to be, which is a cross-roads, connecting four streets, two of which are pedestrian (one semi-pedestrian) - St Aldate's (south), Cornmarket Street (north), Queen Street (west) and the High Street (east). It's relatively small.

Carfax Tower

In one of its corner is the Carfax Tower, which is what remains of St Martin's Church. It used to be the official City Church of Oxford - now moved to St Michael at the North Gate.

The city doesn't lack theatres and cinemas.

New Theatre, Oxford

Sheldonian Theatre

That Sheldonian Theatre up there has three levels for its audience to sit and the higher you go, the cheaper the tickets. Once upon a time, there was straw for seats on the third level for the lowest class of viewers.

Moving on. Oxford has its own Bridge of Sighs - like the one in Venice.

Hertford Bridge, popularly known as the Bridge of Sighs

It joins two parts of Hertford College over New College Lane. It doesn't really resemble the one in Venice though that supposed similarity is the reason they call it the Bridge of Sighs.

I'm probably not supposed to tell you this but see that passage way between the college and the red bulding? There's a pub on its other end, which is pretty much hidden from tourists so that locals have the place to themselves.

We decided not to disturb them so we went on with our walk to the best part of it. For me at least. Christ Church.

Christ Church

It's part of Oxford University and also a cathedral church, but that's not why I loved visiting it most. You see that long part of the building there, the one with the pointy thingies on top? That's the dining hall of the college.

The Great Hall, Hogwarts (Christ Church College Dining Hall)

Seems familiar? That's right, Harry Potter fans! That's where the scenes in Hogwarts' Great Hall were filmed. You can't see the ceiling but it reflects the weather outside. (Not really, but it's a great illusion).

It's indeed used as a dining hall, not sure if the students are divided in four groups depending on the tower they belong to, though. 

Once done with my fangirling, we ended the day with a warm cup of tea. You can't go to the UK and not have one.

English Tea

You know how British drink their tea with milk? It's not bad, actually. Speaking of food and drinks, the salmon costed less than the chicken. Unusual, huh? Also, when the waitress comes and asks how's everything's use 'all right' rather than 'okay'. She would appreciate the first and possibly give you the stinky eye for the second. As for tipping, it's not always expected, but if you're sitting in a restaurant, where you're being waited at, it's probably a good idea to leave a few extra pounds. 

That's about how our day in Oxford went by. On the next one, we headed to London.