Oxford: Christ Church College

Christ Church College is the grandest among all the colleges in Oxford University, as King's College is to Cambridge University. These university colleges were the only colleges that I had to pay to get in. The university that I work for is free of charge to enter. However, tourists won't visit my university anyway, even though it is free. They will still flock to Cambridge and Oxford.

Tom Tower is the most visible of all buildings in Christ Church College, where it is also the college main entrance.

After paying the £6 entrance fee, I was giving a small guide book to navigate around the college. I didn't enter from below Tom Tower, as it is only for the staff and student of the college. Tourist access is through the Meadow Building.

To get to the main attractions of the college, I had to walk through the cloister. Does the cloister look familiar to you? If you are a Harry Potter fan, then you must have seen Harry Potter and his peers walking along similar cloister in the movie series. Do you get it now? Yes! Christ Church College is one of the filming locations of the Harry Potter movie series.

Christ Church College is part of Hogwarts School to the Harry Potter fans now! I actually saw them overjoyed for having the chance to see 'Hogwarts School' with their own eyes.

After walking through the cloister, I came to the entrance to the main attraction of this college.

Do you still remember the scenes in the Harry Potter movies with the moving staircases and beautiful fan-vaulted ceiling? Well, now you remember!

This fan-vaulted ceiling was built in the 1640s, but is is very well maintained until today. That justifies the entrance fee that we have to pay.

After hanging around at the staircases for a while, I finally reached the final flight of staircase that took all the students into Hogwarts School. Erm... am I too carried away?

At the end of the staircase is the Great Hall or Dining Hall.

There was an upcoming dinner function during the time of my visit. That explains the properly set dining tables.

The Great Hall is also the dining hall that appeared in the Harry Potter movie series. Some tourists did the act there and then.

Besides the Great Hall, the college chapel, or the Christ Church Cathedral, is also worth a visit.

There are many stained glass windows here for you to appreciate.

The Memorial Gardens and Broadwalk are also nice places to be for a lazy afternoon. However, I did not have that luxury as I was only in Oxford for a day trip. So, I had to move on.