After grabbing lunch, we headed for Christ Church Library in Oxford.
The head librarian, Stephen, gave us an amazing tour of the archives at Christ Church Library. We were in awe of the material he presented to our group. A number of the highlights included the original bible used by Queen Elizabeth I. The photo of my wet shoes was to remind myself that I was standing on original flooring of the library. We exited the room, closed the door, and made our way down the spiral staircase.
Our next stop was a quick tour of the dining room being explored by Harry Potter fans. My enthusiasm moved way past the movie set and my eyes locked onto the paintings on the walls. They were fabulous. I had to ask Stephen if the paintings were copies of the originals. He smiled and said "those are the originals". My jaw dropped.
We made our way to the "new" library. There were so many things to see. At the end of our visit, Stephen casually mentioned that the office we were sitting in, was the office used by Lewis Carroll, the author of "Alice's Adventure in Wonderland". There was a gasp in the room. Then Stephen stands up, to reveal the original artwork done by Lewis Carroll sitting on the table we were gathered around. It just came back with him from an exhibition in Japan. And the beautiful view of the courtyard I was admiring from his office? The big tree outside his office is where Carroll met Alice.
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