City of the Dreaming Spires

What is there to say of Oxford? We were only able to spend a day there, hardly 24 hours, yet it was completely worth it. I will quote a passage from a favorite book, which details the story of the love of a couple, who begin as pagans and encounter Christ through the joy of other Christians. This passage is from their arrival at Oxford, where they will eventually meet and befriend C.S. Lewis:
"Imperceptibly the ages of faith, when men really believed, when the soaring spires carried their eyes and thoughts up to God, became real to us, not something in a book. What was happening was that our mind's gaze, almost without our knowing it, was being directed towards the Christian faith that, at once, animated our living contemporary friends and had brought this university with its colleges and churches and chapels into being. It was not precisely that we were being called upon to accept that faith but that we were being called upon to acknowledge its existence as an ancient and living force. There was a terrible splendour in these churches with their glorious glowing glass and in the music of the plainsong and in the words of the liturgy. The splendour of course did not mean that the faith was true; but perhaps we felt vaguely that it did somehow hint at a validity." (A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken)
While not having the academic experience of the university, as Van and his wife had, we too felt a bit of the splendor of Oxford, even amidst somewhat inclement weather in the evening. Some cider with a friend in a local pub was a warm welcome!