2011 travels begin with Oxford

In discussing English universities, many people seem to be in one of two camps: Oxford and Cambridge. Which one is better? Which one is prettier? As I visited Cambridge (albeit spending most of it after dark), I decided I had to stop into Oxford as well.

I was partial to Oxford because of its filming locations for the Harry Potter movies. The Bodleian Library was used for the Hogwarts library scenes, and Church Christ College's dining hall was the inspiration for the movies' Great Hall. Additionally, many of Hogwarts' corridors were filmed inside this college.

We took the Oxford Express coach into the town. Definitely a great, cheaper alternative to the train, and it didn't take much longer to arrive.

We began with a walking tour, which took us through a few of the older colleges and their cathedrals. Our guide, Stuart, explained the collegiate system used at both Oxford and Cambridge. From my understanding, it works like this: Students decide they want to go to the university. Then, when they apply, they consider the different colleges. Some of them have some sort of distinguishing characteristic, for example, sports or music, or they might be for mature students or have some sort of religious affiliation. A student would live in their college and eat there, but their classes would be spent with people from all over the university. Although the guide said Oxford and Cambridge are the only universities with this kind of system, there are some more around the world, including many in Canada, such as the University of Toronto.

Some of the colleges even have pets, such as this beautiful cat.

I thought our tour was quite informative, although the guide was a bit pretentious. He was an Oxford graduate, having studied metallurgy. When he told us his degree, he followed it up telling us that most people don't understand it, so they've changed the name to material sciences. Perhaps going to Oxford gives one the right to be pretentious—although one might imagine a fancy degree is unneeded to become a tour guide.

After the tour, we stopped in Christ Church College, and I got my photos in Hogwarts.

This one is in the beautifully lit Hogwarts corridor.

I followed the path McGonagall took the first-year students in the first movie up to the Great Hall.

And finally, we made it to the hall. Sure, the ceiling didn't show the sky, but it was as real as it gets. While it was much smaller than I had imagined, it was surreal seeing this scene in person.

Finally, we crawled up the narrow stairs of the University Church tower, where we got some breathtaking views of the city.

It was extremely narrow on the balcony. There was barely room for more than 10 people, so I can't imagine what it would be like to visit during the high season, rather than on a cold winter's day.

The verdict: Oxford is my favourite. It's very grand throughout the city, as opposed to Cambridge, which seemed to be very generic in the city centre (although the university itself was beautiful). I may be biased—the Harry Potter locations may have raised my opinion of Oxford—but I would definitely recommend a visit to this beautiful city.

Evan Evans Sightseeing Tours review

I promised to write about my tour of Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, the Cotswolds, and Oxford. It was a pretty terrible tour and I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I'll try to explain why and then show you some of the good parts.

I took Evan Evans Sightseeing Tours, opting for them because they did pickup down the road, had pretty good reviews, and I thought I'd treat myself to a bit of a nicer tour since it seemed to go through everywhere I wanted to visit.

The first few problems became apparent right from the start. Firstly, that although they picked us up at the hotel, they would not be dropping us off at the end of the day in the same location. They said they would get us to a nearby tube station, but it was unexpected.

Next was more disappointing: Christ Church college would be closed, so we wouldn't be able to see the area where the Hogwarts Great Hall was filmed.

The website said nothing about the possibility of it being closed, so I assumed the tour would be given access even if it was closed to the general public. The guide, Sheila, told me that it was very unreliable and I shouldn't have counted on seeing it. The tour came with two options: prepay for all admissions or pay as you arrive at each location. I chose the former, assuming there was some benefit. Instead, with this one closed, everyone on the bus lost a bit of money.

Our first stop on the tour brought us to the farther location, Warwick Castle. There we wandered around the castle, visiting the Great Hall, State Apartments, and more. Madame Tussauds owns the castles and has decorated it using wax statues. A good portion of it was meant to resemble a holiday gathering in the late 1800s, although other rooms held wax figures of people such as Winston Churchill and Henry VIII and his wives.

The castle was probably the best in terms of decorations out of all the castles I had visited. I thought it would be very tacky based on the description, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was probably the best part of the tour.

Next we headed to Stratford-upon-Avon, where we visited the birthplace of William Shakespeare. I had visited Stratford, Ont. countless times, and I imagined the two towns would be very similar. In some sense, this was true: the river flowing through the town and lots of old-style homes. However, the problem was with the shops in this town. It has been a while since I've been to the Ontario version, but I remember it being filled with little independent shops selling unique products. In Stratford-upon-Avon, I didn't come across a single store that wasn't a big chain. Instead, it was filled with Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Marks and Spencers, HMV, and more.

Shakespeare's Birthplace itself was a very nice house. It was difficult to tell how much of it remains from when he lived there versus what was placed there to appear old. Apparently it's much better to visit in the springtime because the gardens are filled with flowers of all colours. It was still very nice in the winter, and I'm glad I was able to see it despite being somewhat unimpressed with the town itself.

Although the tour guide repeated over and over that if we were late, she would not hesitate to leave us behind, she and the bus arrived quite late to pick us up, making many of us very stressed and worried.

When we finally left Stratford-upon-Avon, we continued on through the areas known as the Cotswolds. It was described as one of the most scenic areas of England, passing through ancient inns and thatched cottages.  Our guide pointed out a few thatched cottages, but that was about all. She told us that winter was the only season where we wouldn't be able to see much at all in the Cotswolds, so it was really just a route to get to Oxford. This definitely should have been mentioned in the tour description.

We arrived at Oxford at about 3:30, giving us about an hour before we had to meet the bus. We were given a walking tour, in which our guide spent the time pointing out her favourite gargoyles and buildings. On the bus, she told us about how Oxford University got started, but once we got there, we weren't given enough information. Twice, she pointed and told us there were Harry Potter scenes filmed somewhere over there, but we didn't actually go through them, so I didn't get to see them, and she couldn't even tell me what I was meant to be looking for from the movies. I found that a bit disappointing considering the tour mentioned Harry Potter sights in its advertisements. She should have at least been able to tell us basic information.

Finally, we were given free time to walk around Oxford. Since we only had about 30 minutes, my friend Michael and I rushed to the Eagle and Child, the pub famous for its literary patrons. J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis would sit in the pub on a weekly basis as part of the Inklings, a literary discussion group. They would gather in the Rabbit Room to read and discuss their unfinished works. Therefore, we spent the rest of our Oxford time in the Rabbit Room with mulled wine. This was on my list of must-sees, so I left slightly less upset.

All-in-all, it was probably the worst of the tours I've done since I got to the UK, and was also the most expensive. I only have a few more free days in England before I go home for a few weeks, and I'm thinking I'll have to return to the Oxford on my own. That definitely seems the way to go.

Summary: Don't go on an Evan Evans Tour unless you want an unfriendly tour guide, an hour in each town, and most of the day to sleep on a bus.

[Edit: After many emails with the company, they've agreed to refund the admission cost (£5.50) for Christ Church college. However, they refused to refund any more, insisting the tour guide was actually one of their best. Disappointing.]