Since we couldn’t venture too far away from internet with Andy being on call for work, we decided to explore close to London and take a day trip to Oxford, England. With little research, I placed points of interest on Google My Maps, which I’ve been using to plan our travel lately. It makes it easy if we’re walking around and don’t know what to do.

I’m a big Harry Potter fan. What better way to learn more about England and Scotland than to try to see as many Harry Potter sights as possible? I had marked the places I wanted to go based on the scenes and inspirations for the books and movies. I found a helpful blog with points of interest and was excited to explore.

I’ll be honest and say we aren’t history buffs, Andy is more than I. I thought Oxford University was one college, but in fact it consists of roughly 38 colleges! Some of the buildings date back to the 12th century (older than the discovery of America) and Oxford boasts of having one of the oldest consecutive running universities in the world.

We opted not to pay the £1 to £4 entrance fees to some of the colleges and decided to just walk around and enjoy the buildings. Below are a few pictures from our visit.

Oxford in Photos

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Departing London’s Paddington Station for Oxford.

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Walking around in Oxford. 

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The Bodleian Libraries building is decorated with comical head statues. Look close at the picture and see the one with the huge smile?

Bodleian Libraries

I couldn’t stop looking at the the Bodleian Libraries building.

The Bridge of Sigh

The Bridge of Sighs is one of the most photographed sights in Oxford.

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The Oxford University Press: I took this one because I wanted to look up more information. Are there any other Oxford comma fans out there?

Oxford National History Museum

Oxford’s National History Museum has animal artifacts. Continue through the museum and see the Pitt Rivers Museum that houses archaeological and ethnographic objects from all parts of the world.

The trip to Oxford has me excited to explore more of England’s cities on weekends we are in the country.

Do you have a favorite place in England? Please share in the comments and let me know why I should visit.