Day 2: Have you read the Harry Potter books?

John D. was on fire today... He started his morning a little mixed up with cereal on his plate and a bowl of toast for breakfast.  Even Tom struggled down the stairs this morning declaring that he thought he was late, was going to take a shower, and then forgot to put shoes on as he left his room for class. Our first class began promptly at 9:15 AM when our lecturer arrived at the front door on his motorbike. We all took an informal quick quiz on Oxford and learned the Mini-Cooper is made here and the Thames is known as the Isis up in these parts. Some interesting answers were given to some of the questions (London to Oxford is only supposedly a "river's length away") and we learned that John D. has too much on his plate to read the Harry Potter series.  This proved that we still had a lot to learn about the town so we took to the streets to explore.

Wandering the meandering streets of Oxford we saw college chapels and in one particular chapel we were all a little tempted to pull on the dangling unguarded rope which would ring the tower bell.  All of our walking made us weary and thirsty so the Turf Tavern, a tiny basement pub, was our next stop for some much needed refreshment (coke and "lemonade" aka sprite for most of us, and the day's 3rd cup of tea for Kieran).  This pub was so tiny in fact that "Big John" cleaned the cobwebs from the ceiling with his hair.  On this impromptu tour our best view of the day was seen from the top of the Sheldonian Theatre where we climbed to the cupola and met a soon to be published author who also happened to be an expert on the inner details of the building (and on multiple occasions corrected our "tour guide" on his falsification of the facts).  

After the theatre we parted ways with the lecturer and made a b-line for FANCY lunch at St. Hilda's College.  The fancy-factor didn't stick around for long as John D. once again stole the show having a solid rant about Pixar vs Dreamworks, The Land Before Time dynasty, and Disney's lack of love for their own movie, Hercules.  In keeping with the theme for the day we once again questioned all the things he must "have on his plate" that would allow him to watch and memorize countless (useless) facts about all of these movies.

Following lunch was a brisk walk back to the center of town where we met our second tour-guide for the day.  He was very informative and brought us to see the Harry Potter filming sights and were all impressed at Rob's Harry Potter expertise.  He is a true HP aficionado.

Our afternoon break hosted yet another badminton battle, Mike and Tom vs Rob.  Mike and Tom took the early lead and became overly confident.  Rob made a quick response and it became a close game but in the end, victory was not meant to be for him.

Dinner at the Bird and the Baby (Eagle and Child) pub next door to our hall was a cultural experience with fish 'n chips and meat pies on the menu.  Alice and Ben, our Oxford friends, met up with us hear and took us to a windy and rainy rooftop presentation of Romeo and Juliet.  Luckily, blankets were offered for rent - 50p a piece - because the final scene culminated in a full rain shower, befitting of the mood.

Once again, everyone retired to bed early tonight, ready for another history seminar in the morning and a trip to Blenheim Palace tomorrow afternoon.

Quotes of the day will be posted tomorrow as John D. dominated the quote board for the day...
New photos have been posted in the ACUK Adventures Picasa web album, go check them out!