The first place I visited in England was Oxford. This was a kind of pilgrimage to the place where some of my favorite authors were educated. As soon as I got settled in my small hotel I went looking for the cathedral. It is the only cathedral in the world that is also a college chapel. Henry VIII, a law unto himself, made it so.
This is the gorgeous view that greeted me as I walked through Christ Church College gate. The garden is a memorial to those who died in war. In the opposite direction was a quiet meadow with a stream and some cattle grazing. The dining hall was as grand as a cathedral. It looked very familiar. A copy of it was used as the dining hall of Hoggwarts in the Harry Potter movies.
The cathedral is handsome, with a very intricate ceiling. The present building was constructed by Augustinian monks between 1150-1210. So on my first day in England I am already experiencing awe at the age of buildings.
William Penn (Pennsylvania,) John Wesley (Methodism,) and Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll. Alice in Wonderland) went to Christ Church College. The day I was there the small museum had a display of Salvador Dali's extraordinary illustrations for an edition of "Alice in Wonderland."
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