A Harry Potter Fan's Guide to Oxford

I often feel like I'm walking around Hogwarts when I'm in Oxford. That's because not only are some of the scenes in Harry Potter inspired by the city, they've also been filmed here. My friends Laura and Molly came to visit last weekend, and we tailored a chunk of our famous Pennell-guided walking tour to Laura's love for HP. For those of you who are fans and are planning a trip to Oxford, be sure to add these sights to your list, too!

Christ Church College
The famous Hogwarts main staircase and landing used in The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets:

And the Dining Hall was the inspiration for Hogwarts' Great Hall. Fun fact: they couldn't film the scenes in here because it could only fit three rows of tables, but they needed four because of the number of houses in the story:

The Divinity School
This intricate room built in 1448 was used as the Hogwarts infirmary in four films. It's also the place Professor McGonnagal taught students to dance in The Goblet of Fire:

An A-Z Guide to Oxford

I feel like we have a thousand people coming to visit from now until we move home at the end of June, and we're so excited to play host and show those of you who are coming a fun time in our temporary town. For those of you who can't make it to see us before we leave, I HIGHLY suggest making a trip here one day, especially if you're going to be in London at any point. It's about an hour and a half bus ride at the most... and well worth it.

Since we've been in planning mode for all of our upcoming guests, I figured I'd just put all of my favorite places and things to do in a post in case you want to plan your own trip one day. I used the A-Z guide template as a way of not getting too carried away. It helped me edit my suggestions down--but of course, if you want more, email me!

Ashmolean - This museum of art and archeology has collections acquired since 1683. It's got some pretty great things including the world's largest collection of Raphael drawings. Best of all? Admission is free!

Bury Knowle Park - This beautiful park was developed in 1930. The playground would make any American kid green with envy: it's got a zipline and a swing that gives even me butterflies when I'm on it.

Colleges - Oxford University isn't like a university as we would know it. It's made up of 38 colleges. Students can live at their colleges, and they'll study and take classes there, but they'll take their exams through the university. Each college is beautiful in its own way, and visitors are permitted to stroll around some of them. Many Harry Potter scenes were inspired by or filmed at New College and Christ Church (definitely worth a visit if you're into HP!)

Christ Church College

Double-Decker Buses - Most of the city buses feature the traditional UK style of two floors. The best seat/view in my opinion is in the very front on the 2nd floor.

English Breakfast - Baked beans for breakfast sounded kind of weird when I first moved here, but I'm obsessed with it now. It also typically comes with sausage, bacon, toast, grilled tomato, and a mushroom. My personal favorite is at Jacobs and Fields in Headington.

A Trip Down Cuckoo Lane...

You know that scene in Forrest Gump where he decides to go for a run and just keeps going? That kind of happened to us this weekend (except instead of a jog, it was more like a stroll). We woke up, rolled out of bed, and grabbed coffee from a local cafe. But it was such a pretty day--something we haven't had in a while--so we decided to take our lattes to go and explore the neighbourhood (<-- see what I did there?). We ended up venturing down this adorable path called Cuckoo Lane.

Selfie at the start of our journey. We had no idea how far we were about to go.

Once we came to the end of that path, we just kept going and found another one that lead us to a river full of mallards and swans--SWANS! What kind of magical place did we stumble across?

No ugly ducklings in this water. They were all so pretty.

We then went through a gate and entered what I pretended was a secret garden. For some reason this tree reminded me of Hogwarts:

Doesn't the tree look like it might grab Christopher and take him away?

I then got caught up in a forest of branches.

It's okay, I managed to get untangled.

Before we knew it, we were facing off with monsters...

My new dinosaur friend at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History