Discover Oxford's charms, follow the tracks of the brave little Alice. Wander, follow rabbits hurrying, discuss with flowers, fight cards, have a never ending tea party, lay in the grass eyes closed, dreaming ...
Alice is sitting beside her sister who is reading a book "without pictures or conversations". She is bored.
A white rabbit appears. He is running and mumbling "Oh dear! Oh dear ! I shall be to late!". Alice is not that surprised, but when he takes a watch out of it's waistcoat pocket, her curiosity is awaken and she follows him.
Behind him, she enters a rabbit hole and keeps faling for a very long time. She arrives in a wonderland, the country of fantasy, bizarre, absurd.
After a long visit, full of surprises, emotions, strangeness and adventures, she will wake up, lying in the grass and she will say "Oh, I've had such a curious dream!".
The story of the story
Lewis Carroll spent his life in Oxford at Christchurch,first studying, then teaching mathematics.
Little Alice Liddel's father was the dean. One day, Lewis Carroll took Alice and her older sisters boating on the Isis (name of the Tames in Oxford).He began inventing this story to distract them.
It contains lots of jokes that can be understood only if you know how Oxford was at that time, the people, their looks and temperaments, the anecdotes and also the victorian habits.
For instance, the white rabbit, always late, is Alice's father, so busy that he was always late.
The most evocative places :
Folly bridge : Here, you can rent a boat to navigate on the river Isis or simply drink a cup of tea dreaming of it.
Next to it, you will find Alice's shop. Here you can find every possible editions of Alice in wonderland and souvenirs. Its look has not changed since Alice Lidell used to buy her sweets here.
Christchurch: the college (beware, it is not always open and the queue can be frightful as lots of people are interested by it) and the great walk along it. From here, you can go to the botanic garden and discover its wonderful plants, not alive, but magnificent and charming.
And also, the covered market and its fabric of strange cakes as the one below. And the banks of Isis, of the canal or of the Cherwell so favorable to dreams.
No, the window's panes are not big. We found this little door not much higher than the door of the marvelous garden of wonderland wandering in the streets of Oxford .
No doubt, if you follow our example and walk without purpose, following the spur of the moment, you will, like us, find signs that the country of fantasy and wonders is hidden next to the surface of that solemn academic City.
