One of the first outings I went on for class was one that for one of my classes; The Arts of Oxford. Since we were discussing Alice in Wonderland in class and all of its ties to Oxford I was excited to get to experience some of the physical places that inspired the book. Lewis Carroll wrote down Alice after one of the many boating outings he took with the Liddell sisters. He would make up stories as he went and the one that he told one day was so good that Alice Liddell begged him to write it down. As we walked along the edge of the river we began to see rabbit holes popping up along the bank (we spotted 3 rabbits). It was easy to see why Alice in Wonderland has so many animals in it just because of how many we saw. There was never a moment where I couldn’t at least see a swan, goose, cow, or even a horse.
Later on down the trail we found a small church that was the location of a mythical well from the 11th century, another place that makes a symbolic appearance in the book. The penultimate destination on our walk was an abbey from a thousand years ago. The ruins show traces of an enormous building that used to be the center of a bustling village. Now all that remains is are a couple of crumbling walls and a singular window frame.
We visited two pubs on our stroll, both of which were great places to rest our feet and try a new drink. One of my favorites was an orange hot chocolate that I can only describe as perfection. As we made our way backwards along the path we noticed horses on the opposite bank, and as we got further along there was a whole herd of them standing in the road. They were very friendly and let us pet them.
Even though I walked 7 miles, time flew by and I had a really nice time. Shout out to Mrs. Jones for introducing us to the story behind the story.