Out of the metropolis of London and into the world-famous university city of Oxford. We take a look at the city on foot, as the distances are very short here. The furthest college on our list from the center is Christ Church College, as it is quite large and has a lot of surrounding parks, sports facilities and outbuildings.

Christ Church College, Oxford University

Equipped with an audio guide, we go on a campus exploration tour. Many areas of the college are now open to visitors. This doesn’t always have to be the case, as the old buildings are often used as film sets. Thanks to the explanations, we can empathize with student life on the one hand and the history of how this college came to be on the other. Of course, there are also big names who studied here in the past. We are not so name-fixated, so no list of personalities follows here. The buildings are well maintained and the whole atmosphere makes us travel back in time 200 years – impressive!

PS: For all Harry Potter fans a must! This is where the scenes of the entrance hall of Hogwarts were filmed and the great hall of Christ Church College served as inspiration for the great hall of Hogwarts.

Oxford Covered Market

We make a stop at the covered market in Oxford. The market is a large indoor market with many small stalls. From clothes to food stores to cafes and small arts and crafts businesses, the mix is motley. Originally, in the 18th century, it was intended to solve the problem of market stalls in the alleys. Today it’s a nice change from oversized shopping centers.

Library tour – Bodleian Old Library, Divinity School

One of the oldest libraries is located in Oxford. The Bodleian Old Library is now part of the Bodleian Library complex which includes several buildings. It is still used as a library today and offers work and reading places for students to read the treasures stored here. As tourists, however, we can only visit these rooms with a guided tour since the work would probably be disturbed too much without guiding tourists in an orderly manner. Quite fittingly, an older, humorous lady leads us through the rooms and tells one or the other funny story. The tour starts in the Divinity School, an old classroom which today is also often used as a movie set. The lady for example tells how she smoked a cigarette with the actor of Dumbledore in front of the building.

To Mimi’s slight disappointment, the tour is more about many personalities than architectural information. So it is in the Old Library, where there are squiggly carvings everywhere and books so old that restorers bring them to the reading table. Allegedly, the restorers also turn the pages for the reader so that the old books are preserved with as little damage as possible. There are also special royal reading places as members of the royal family also come here. These are additionally grated with wooden grates – to protect the royals or the library – we really don’t know.

Radcliffe Camera

The Radcliffe Camera is also part of the Bodleian Library and it’s also used as such. Unfortunately, the building is only open to students and readers- so we view the domed building from the outside. It is fascinating when such historical buildings can be viewed today still 1:1 standing as long ago and well preserved.

The Bridge of Sighs, Oxford

Since everything is close together in Oxford, we also look at the Bridge of Sighs. It is said to be modeled like a similar bridge in Venice. However, the architectural findings are not so clear and the history of its origin is not well documented, so that it is superficially a very elaborate and thus imposing appearance for visitors and students alike.

All in all, the Heart of Oxford is an exciting, thought-provoking journey through time. However, we already notice that the somewhat snobbish, academic aspect also resonates here. Oxford is the best, most cosmopolitan student city with the longest history – roughly summarized. We will soon visit Cambridge and then be able to compare Oxford with another world-renowned student city to see if there are any student cities with a more down-to-earth view of themselves.