We were out of our hotel by 7:30am. I can certainly recommend the Amba Marble Arch if you're staying in London. The cab soon got us to the Grosvenor Hotel to join our tour and our bags were the first on the bus.
Michelle, our Tour Manager, was wonderful and everything seemed very clear and well-organised. The bus was modern, clean, comfortable and spacious. There were 40 seats, but only 38 people on our tour. We were to rotate our seats every day (moving two rows each day), and so we would be in the front row on our trip through 'Robin Hood country' to York, the next day.
The drive out of London was interesting, and we were soon out in the countryside. We had a pit stop for coffees and toilets at a fancy service area with lots of eateries (turns out these are quite common around England). The design of the building reminded me of the cafe with the salmon in Rakaia. But this was much bigger.
Oxford (population 150,000) was very interesting - lots of detached three-storey brick buildings, some obviously student flats. Then as we got further into the town the buildings were joined together and some were obviously very old. Dating from Anglo Saxon times, the University began in the 12th century.
Michelle took us on a walking tour around some key spots, and then we were left to our own devices for an hour and a half. She showed us the Sheldonian Theatre, designed by Christopher Wren, and used for music concerts, lectures and university ceremonies.
The Bodleian Library is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom - every book printed in the UK must be deposited there.
We saw the Clarendon building, where the Oxford University Press was based until the 18th Century. Michelle pointed out a bridge between two university buildings (rather like the Bridge of Sighs in Venice), built to save students having to go up and down stairs. However, if they were overweight, they weren't allowed to use it and were told to use the stairs. The Radcliff Camera building was interesting to see; a round building built to house a science library.
There were numerous other points of interest, including Christ Church College. The Martyr's Memorial, although a newer monument, represented the three famous martyrs (Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley), who were burned in the town under Queen Mary I. We even saw the very spot in the town, marked by a cross, where this deed was done.
We then walked down Henley Street, the very street that Shakespeare had walked in. Amazing! Then a stroll down through the town to the Avon River, with its canal boats and swans. We stopped in the bar of our hotel, Alveston Manor, for a drink. There was a manor on this site in Shakespeare's time.
Michelle, our Tour Manager, was wonderful and everything seemed very clear and well-organised. The bus was modern, clean, comfortable and spacious. There were 40 seats, but only 38 people on our tour. We were to rotate our seats every day (moving two rows each day), and so we would be in the front row on our trip through 'Robin Hood country' to York, the next day.
The drive out of London was interesting, and we were soon out in the countryside. We had a pit stop for coffees and toilets at a fancy service area with lots of eateries (turns out these are quite common around England). The design of the building reminded me of the cafe with the salmon in Rakaia. But this was much bigger.
Oxford (population 150,000) was very interesting - lots of detached three-storey brick buildings, some obviously student flats. Then as we got further into the town the buildings were joined together and some were obviously very old. Dating from Anglo Saxon times, the University began in the 12th century.
Michelle took us on a walking tour around some key spots, and then we were left to our own devices for an hour and a half. She showed us the Sheldonian Theatre, designed by Christopher Wren, and used for music concerts, lectures and university ceremonies.
The Bodleian Library is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom - every book printed in the UK must be deposited there.
We saw the Clarendon building, where the Oxford University Press was based until the 18th Century. Michelle pointed out a bridge between two university buildings (rather like the Bridge of Sighs in Venice), built to save students having to go up and down stairs. However, if they were overweight, they weren't allowed to use it and were told to use the stairs. The Radcliff Camera building was interesting to see; a round building built to house a science library.
There were numerous other points of interest, including Christ Church College. The Martyr's Memorial, although a newer monument, represented the three famous martyrs (Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley), who were burned in the town under Queen Mary I. We even saw the very spot in the town, marked by a cross, where this deed was done.
We needed to grab an early lunch in this time, so we hopped into a Pret. Then we wandered through town and spent a short but very interesting time visiting the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Technology - so much more pleasant, and less hectic than our visit to the British Museum yesterday.
We drove past Blenheim Palace, and on through some of the part of England known as The Cotswolds - lovely, gently undulating farmland, very green and beautiful, and dotted with tiny villages of very old and traditional buildings some with thatched roofs, and small churches in the traditional limestone. I couldn't get any good photos through the bus windows.
Stratford upon Avon is a very busy town and very quaint. Shakespeare was born and died here (this year is the 400th anniversary of his death). We had a bus orientation tour of some of the sights (places where Shakespeare's family lived, and the newly upgraded Royal Shakespearean Theatre. Then we were dropped at the house where he was born. A museum is attached, and then you wander through the rooms he lived in as a child - including the room he was born in. If these places were in Christchurch, they would not have survived the earthquakes... But it was amazing to walk in such an old building, lived in by such an historic figure.
We drove past Blenheim Palace, and on through some of the part of England known as The Cotswolds - lovely, gently undulating farmland, very green and beautiful, and dotted with tiny villages of very old and traditional buildings some with thatched roofs, and small churches in the traditional limestone. I couldn't get any good photos through the bus windows.
Stratford upon Avon is a very busy town and very quaint. Shakespeare was born and died here (this year is the 400th anniversary of his death). We had a bus orientation tour of some of the sights (places where Shakespeare's family lived, and the newly upgraded Royal Shakespearean Theatre. Then we were dropped at the house where he was born. A museum is attached, and then you wander through the rooms he lived in as a child - including the room he was born in. If these places were in Christchurch, they would not have survived the earthquakes... But it was amazing to walk in such an old building, lived in by such an historic figure.
We then walked down Henley Street, the very street that Shakespeare had walked in. Amazing! Then a stroll down through the town to the Avon River, with its canal boats and swans. We stopped in the bar of our hotel, Alveston Manor, for a drink. There was a manor on this site in Shakespeare's time.
The bus took us to our Welcome drinks and dinner, just out of town at the Blue Boar. A three course meal, and I enjoyed toasted GF bread, melon with a raspberry purée, grilled sea bass with roast vegetables, and more fruit for dessert (a nice fruit salad of melon, strawberries and a raspberry sauce).
We were back in our hotel rooms by 8:30pm, and getting ready for the bags to be outside our rooms by 7am tomorrow, and breakfast at the same time.
We were back in our hotel rooms by 8:30pm, and getting ready for the bags to be outside our rooms by 7am tomorrow, and breakfast at the same time.
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