Oxford, England

I have the good fortune of having a friend living and studying in Oxford, so I went to visit her for a few days! Lucky for me, Ryanair had a super cheap flight out of Reus Airport (tiny airport on the outskirts of Tarragona) and that was it!

Oxford is beautiful! It is absolutely a university town, with cafes everywhere, and gorgeous, centuries-old colleges all around the town. Also, since many scenes of Harry Potter were filmed among some of the colleges, that is their "claim to fame" and they definitely benefit from the association, aka create tourist traps. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

This is the courtyard of Merton College, where Arthi goes to school. It is one of the three oldest colleges, which all dispute among themselves to determine which was actually established first.

The gardens of Merton College

 

View of Christ Church Chapel from the Merton College gardens

The courtyard of Christ Church

Christ Church dining hall-where the dining scenes in Harry Potter are filmed!

The Isis River, the portion of the Thames that flows through Oxford

 

 

Two of Oxford University's boathouses. Merton College's crest is on the left, where Arthi rowed!

 

Apparently I love purple and color-coordinating my whole outfit in different shades of it. I think most of you (girls) knew that!

 

Radcliffe Camera, one of Oxford University's many libraries. I had the opportunity to go in and it's beautiful! You can't check books out of this library though, so they have a strict check-your-bag-when-you-exit policy.

Another view of Radcliffe Camera with what I believe is All Souls college to the right. Athi--correct me if I'm wrong!

Bodleian Library Courtyard--love the subjects people studied in the olden days! 

 

Brasenose Lane--I just loved this narrow little pedestrian/bike street

 These next pictures are all different views of Balliol College and its gardens. The college was established in 1263. Some famous alums include three British prime ministers, Adam Smith and Christopher Hitchens.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I bought the new J.K. Rowling book, The Casual Vacancy, while I was in England. I just started reading it...let's see how she writes outside the magical and mystical world of Harry Potter!

Featured in the LA Times...

My town was featured in the LA Times as a "bizarre and unusual destination." So cool! The article talks about the annual castell or human towers competition that Tarragona hosts. As talk of the independence of Catalunya has been increasing, so has the emphasis on purely "Catalonian things," for example castells. I think this is in great part to differentiate Catalunya from the rest of Spain, and as a result castells have become much more common and many new groups have recently sprung up.The pictures in the article are really impressive! Here is the link:

Tarragona, Spain human tower competition.

My cousin's group, called Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona, did really well in the competition, getting 4th place. They are the group of people in light purple shirts, in the top right corner in the picture above. Also fun fact I just remembered: I actually wrote one of my college essays about castells! Have a great day, and happy traveling to "bizarre and unusual destinations!"