Saturday 28 July 2012

Meeting Alice in Oxford where it all began


As the sun is out at last and that I am also on holiday ( at last too!)
Aliénore, her dad and I have decided to go to Oxford where the story of Alice began.
These are some of our souvenir pics!
The University where Lewis Carroll met Alice Liddell and started 
telling her and her sisters a very special story.
Aliénore pretending to be Alice at Christ Church University
The shop where Alice used to go.
Meeting the White Rabbit


Then we saw a beautiful exhibition called Tea with Alice that featured over 100 original illustrations
 of Alice in Wonderland throughout the world.

 Rebecca Dautremer
 (I should have written down the names while taking the pics....sorry)
A giant Alice by Tenniel


 Anthony Browne!

There was also a room with lots of hats to put on to find inspiration!
Aliénore loved it!

Outside we saw this massive building surrounded by very big heads. 
Aliénore got scared and thought it was because of the Queen of Hearts.
Poor little thing she was shaking!


But things were quickly forgotten with a couple of good local sweets,
going back to a safe and extraordinary place,

 where she could pretend to be too big...
...or too small.
A safe place where she knew she could play safely in the garden
while her mum was tenderly looking at her through the window.

Meanwhile, we heard that you too were having tea with Alice and Miss V?


We wish you a lovely Mad Hatter Tea Party!



28 comments:

Unknown said...

Magical party! Please stop by mine if you can! :)

Unknown said...

Oh Aliénore thank you for the lovely tour. I know you had fun and were very brave during some of the more scary moments. You are an inspiration and I enjoyed this journey with you so much today. Well friend, enjoy a cup of tea and I will do the same and think of you! Bon Bon!! *smiles* Norma

Flora Cruft said...

What a fun tea party, I love the photos of the Alice exhibition! Oxford's a great place isn't it, my partner studied to the uni there many moons ago...

Thanks so much for having me:)

Please come join me for a cuppa at my party:

http://www.idlebakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/a-mad-tea-party-in-idle-wonderland.html

Wendy said...

How truly exciting. I was so glad to have stopped by. This was the first time I have been able to visit such an historical site. I absolutely loved it. I will wish that one day my five hatters and I can also visit this Magnificent place.
Thank you for taking me
Wishes and Whimsy
Wendy from Wonderland
**please stop by for a mad cup of tea

http://candydelane.typepad.com/curiosities/

Sylvia Smiser said...

Oh I loved your post! Thank you for taking me on your trip to see all the wonders of wonderland!!!
I hope you will come to my mad tea party and giveaway!
http://anaboocreationsbysylvia.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcome-one-and-all-o-fanciful-madd-tea.html

dalesdreams said...

Love all the pics! I hope all three of you are having a grand time, vacations are so nice, aren't they? :)

ps, I love her uggs :)

dalesdreams said...

:)

I forgot to follow by email ;)

Kathy said...

Great Tea Party, I felt I will there at Christ Church, just look at those stain glass windows. I am so excited to have taken your mini tour. Thanks for sharing. Kathy

http://afancifultwist.typepad.com said...

We are all so so so so lucky!! You took us to the very beginning, the very place!! Oh thank you Patricia!! How magically wonderful!!! Love it, what a journey all the way from Arizona!!

xoxo

Happy Mad Tea Partying!
♥ Vanessa {a fanciful twist}

Rachel said...

It looks like you had a wonderful trip. Somebody bought me jam from the Alice shop before, it was yummy. Have never been myself though, will certainly have to make a visit and to the exhibition which looks amazing, hats to try on! Yes please!

Chelsea said...

hehe, this photoset is very cute. I love visiting oxford, the natural history museum there is amazing too.

I seem to be running awfully late for all these tea parties so must dash....
but do pop by

http://chelseaselkie.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/mad-tea-party.html

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing pictures of your trip. I would have loved seeing all of the illustrations too!

Natasha said...

A really lovely post, great to see those gorgeous places! I fancy some of those sweets too. Thanks for your visit. xx

Laura S Reading said...

How exciting and fortunate for you to see the Alice exhibit in person!
Thank you for sharing a taste of it with us.

Jessica said...

I absolutely love your pictures! They are amazing! Especially the ones from Oxford...sigh, I have always wanted to visit Alice's shop! But living in California doesn't leave me much of a chance, no does it?

Here is a link to my party:

http://www.awoodlandfantasy.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcome-to-5th-annual-mad-tea-party.html

Please do visit! ♥

Rhissanna said...

Gosh, Alienore does get to visit some wonderful places. Oxford indeed? A Wonderland in itself. Ans all those lovely pictures. Anthony Browne? Lovely!

Bill said...

Wow. It is so difficult to visit everyone's party. There are so many! I am so glad I was able to stop by and see your pictures, though. The architecture of the old country (meaning not the United States) is so beautiful. It was fascinating to see all different illustrations of Alice in Wonderland, too.

By the way, I am Canadian French. My grandparents lived in Montreal before moving to Michigan. Unfortunately, I never learned to speak French. My grandmother only spoke French, but died when I was very young. We didn't see my grandfather very often as he wasn't a very nice man. Anyway, it is so nice to meet you!

Cobblestone Prims said...

Ohhh...this looks wonderful...i love your pictures.
Thanks for sharing
Kerstin
http://cobblestone-prims.blogspot.de/2012/07/mad-tea-party-2012.html

miniacollection said...

Merci pour ce joli reportage! Aliénore a eu une grande journée. Profite bien de tes vacances, tu les mérites.
Geneviève

Lisa said...

Such a fun party!
thanks for having me
lisa

Lisa said...

I love the historical tour and wonderful photos!
XO,
Lisa

The Gossamer Tearoom said...

Thank you so much for this tour of Alice's Oxford! I found this to be so interesting and informative!!

Won't you please come visit me at The Tearoom? Hosting what are probably Mad Teas most of the time here, I thought way outside the box for my tea!

http://gossamertearoom.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-mad-tea-party-2012.html

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Betty

apinkdreamer said...

what a lovely post my lovely patricia!
thanks for sharing!!!

Lynda said...

Oh, how wonderful and such good timing! I just finished reading The Mystery Of Lewis Carroll by Jenny Woolf yesterday, so this was a perfectly timed party indeed :) I am fascinated with his life and it was much muchier of you to show us photographs of where he lived. Thank you! :)

http://butterflydream27.blogspot.com/2012/07/2012-mad-tea-party.html

Scrap Vamp said...

Gorgeous tea party! Thank you so much for inviting me to share it with you!

http://scrapvamp.blogspot.com/2012/07/mad-tea-party-2012.html

Kelly said...

It was great to see some of the history behind the story. Thanks so much for sharing!

Queenie Believe said...

What a wonderful party post!!! I loved seeing where it all began.
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie

Mercedes Spencer @ Liberty Biberty said...

Well it looks like Aliénore had the most wonderful time...I know another little girl that would love to go there one day. Thank you for the tour!
Mercedes