The Republic of Heaven

I traveled to Oxford & London last week from the US to visit the Botanic Garden & see the stage plays. I would like to share some of the images with the forum.

"Lyra led him almost to the end of the garden, over a little bridge, to a wooden seat under a spreading, low-branched tree..."





This is the view from the bench.

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v101/ ... R_0122.jpg

i have to go look for the rest of my pictures

How did it feel to see in real life what you have read about so many times?

It's looking a bit greener than it did in January:

Wow, thats cool, i didn't realise it was a real place in Botanic Garden, i've never been there before.

Dæmon wrote:How did it feel to see in real life what you have read about so many times?

It was interesting to say the least. Since walking through Oxford is so much like walking through the last 800 years of history, your mind & imagination are already quite engaged.

I don't think I really had any real preconceived idea of what I thought it would look like. I have been in a lot of gardens & to England before for horticulture events... The only reason we thought there might really be a "real" bench in the Gardens was because of the photo in "Lyra's Oxford."

We really enjoyed walking into the Botanic Garden and seeing the items that Pullman described that lead us to the bench. It was a lovely morning. The Botanic Garden are quite beautiful.

I was a little taken back by the post above that seems to imply that "Lyra" is scratched on the bench there. I would hope that people traveling to see this location will realize the sacredness of the setting, irregardless of the HDM literature.

We did take a picture of ourselves with our daemons...

Aww thats cool.

*Phones relatives in Oxford, and informs them that I am coming to stay, despite having exams in the very near future*

Awww those pics are awesome!!!!!!!! I wannna goooooo Stupid midterms...

Don't forget, also, that we have a gallery of photograms of HDM-related locations on this site.



EDIT: There's also an entry in my blog you might like to look at.

OMG!!!

I have driven past the horn beam trees, I just remembered. That is my HDM moment of the day.

Walking virtually anywhere through town these days has a somewhat otherworldly feel to it.

Any other world in particular?

i'm not sure if i'm right but isn't this will+lyra bench http://www.bridgetothestars.net/images/bench.jpg
Admin: Converted to link as the image was too big
(to a wooden seat under a spreading)

Admin: Image removed as it was my copyright image posted without attribution
(it's also a low branched tree)

P.S- it says this at http://www.bridgetothestars.net

dæmons-master wrote:i'm not sure if i'm right but isn't this will+lyra bench

Yes, it's the same one as those above.

And you don't need to keep linking BTTS. Everyone here knows about it!

The first rule of sraf club is you do not talk about sraf club.
The second rule of sraf club is you do not talk about sraf club.

Oh Christ. You're going to take my bal-.. daemon now, aren't you?

Gah, those pictures are beautiful. I hope I'll have a chance to visit there someday...and pretend that Lyra is there with me in a different world. What can I say? I'm a kid at heart.

Blue Bird wrote:I'm a kid at heart.

But you're a monster raving loony on the outside?

There's also some more good photos from clay here

wow
I knew that the gardens existed but
didn't that they were that amazing
I should try and cross the atlantic some time soon before the world discides to use nukes everywhere and cause nuclear winter