Return to London

 Our final day of this phase of our trip was short and sweet. It's funny, but when I ask my family what they remember about this day, it's "not much". We were all really looking forward to getting back to the Park Plaza County Hall hotel where we had stayed in London at the start of this trip, just for something that felt "familiar" for a change!

The drive through the Costwolds was as picturesque as I'd ever heard it was, and though we didn't get off the coach at any time, we did get to drive slowly through delightful little towns. I still adore authentic thatched-roofs!!

To break up the trip from Stratford-Upon-Avon to London, we got to spend a few hours exploring Oxford, and Oxford College. We left the hotel at 8am, after breakfast of course, and arrived in Oxford shortly after. Darren once again gave us a walking tour to orient us to the city, and to pick a place to meet up when it was time to go.

Darren waiting for half the group to cross the road.

We were left on our own just outside a little market that reminded me very much of the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. We shopped around and grabbed some food from a couple of the vendors, and then headed back outside towards the Oxford University campus. 

They were holding some kind of Open House day, and the prefects kept asking us if we were part of the tours...which, honestly, we really looked like all the other families with University-aged kids wandering around! LOL 

N looks like she belongs here, doesn't she?

The campus is full of stunning buildings and beautiful architecture. I didn't know where to look, first. 

Shortly after this, we managed to gather for a group shot. I just remembered I never got that picture, and just emailed our Travel Director to bug him for it! Watch for that, later!

Bored of looking at old buildings, and some of us needing a bathroom, we made our way over to the Ashmolean Museum, just a short walk away. Luckily, museums in Oxford are free to enter! We made a small donation, found our way to the loos, and then spent the rest of our time wandering through the displays of some of the collection. I was stunned by the fact that some of the marble statues were dated back to 800-300 BC...rocks that were shaped into art by humans literally some THREE thousand years ago! 

At 12:30 we were all gathered again (in front of yet another Harry Potter store!) and made our way back to the coach.

One final stop to learn and see more "historical crap", with a brief visit to the grave of Winston Churchill. The girls didn't even get off the bus for this one - they were so done with seeing "rocks, and more rocks, and oh look - another rock". And yep, I get it, kiddos! But still, I couldn't pass up the chance to stretch my legs, and pay homage to this formidable man whom I deeply respect, based on all I've read about him.

There were some much, much older graves here, too. It always saddens me to see how many children's graves and memorials there are, but they are beautiful, and remembered.

Finally, we arrived back at our hotel in London. We said our goodbyes and got our hugs from Darren and Gary, and took our bags and belongings (no more porter service!). We checked in, grabbed dinner with some of the other tour group in the hotel's restaurant and discussed our "going home/elsewhere" plans. We made sure our train tickets were all set for the next day, and consulted our concierge for the best way to get to the train station. I'd planned to use the Underground, but was talked into getting another cab to make it a bit less stressful. I put in the order for a "seats 6" cab on the Freenow app for the following morning pickup time, and we retired to bed.

The rest of the pictures: https://link.shutterfly.com/Pmtkm49x4rb

A Day of Shakespeare

This leg of our trip was winding down, and we could really feel our enthusiasm flagging. The family discussion on the coach to York yesterday revealed that only N was really eager to visit any of the Shakespeare sites, or do the optional schoolhouse tour. (Until Darren announced there'd be scones at the end of the tour...then I perked up.) However, we were really determined that everyone in the family should get to see and enjoy whatever part of the trip they could, and so we all agreed to go along with N. Boy howdy, we were glad we did in the end! This day brought several pleasantly unexpected memories!

We had an earlier-than-usual start to the day, with our "bags out and breakfast" scheduled for 7am, and the bus departed York at 8am. The trip between cities was fairly short, and I don't think we even stopped for anything...maybe there was a quick bathroom break at a rest stop but nothing picture-worthy. :)

When we arrived in Stratford-Upon-Avon, we were given a brief walking tour so Darren could show us where we had to meet to start our tour of Shakespeare's home and gardens, and then we were left on our own to shop and explore. 

We wandered up and down the quaint town street, reading menus on restaurants (and finding even more Harry Potter themed stores) until we settled on a place where we could all find something to eat for lunch. We chose an outdoor table to soak up the sun and ambience. Zero regrets.

I didn't realize the clouds looked so ominous in this picture. It was sunny most of the time, I remember!

After eating, we met outside of Shakespeare's home for our included tour. Without a castle on the schedule today, we got a "really old building" selfie instead!

We worked our way through the outside garden, first.

Right before entering the house was this really old and "delicate" tree with such an interesting trunk that I had to take a picture to share. The sign reads "I am old and fragile, please do not shake my branches." Same, tree. Same.

Inside the building we got to see how the family would have furnished their home, and how they joined together what was originally 2 buildings into one. I didn't realize we were allowed to take pictures until the second-last room. 😝 

I'll bug the rest of my family for more pictures, if they have any. Check the link at the end of this post!

Immediately after finishing this tour, a small section of our tour group proceeded to the optional tour of the schoolhouse where Shakespeare studied as a boy. We watched a short film about the society that preserves the location, and then were taken upstairs to "meet the schoolmaster", and sit in the very room where Shakespeare and his contemporaries sat for lessons.

Then we moved next door to where the "younger" students were taught, and had our snack of scones and champagne. We got to try on clothes from the era - or as we call it, SCA garb - and try to write calligraphy with quills. 

Then we got to explore one or two final rooms in the building, which were used as town meeting rooms as well as a school.  Here again I got to see the remnants of painted walls that just continue to amaze me.

The actual wall shown in the paintings above.

We finished up all our touring around 4:30pm, and then walked the block or two over to our hotel. This building itself was over 400 years old. Curt and I absolutely loved the whole place. It had such fabulous details, and the rooms were spacious and clean, and really modern despite the age of the building!

N, however, has the exact opposite opinion. She was certain that there was a "spirit" in her room, watching her sleep all night, and she did not enjoy that experience at all!! LOL Who can blame her?

But ghosts or no, the building itself was really cool. Here are a few highlights of the lobby, hallways and rooms.

We say farewell to Trafalgar

Our evening ended with the formal "Farewell Dinner" of the tour. We got a delicious 3 course meal, with 2 free beers each, to say our good-byes to our travel director and tour companions. I can't say we made any fast friends out of this group, although I believe that S did connect with the other two "under 20's" on Instagram. Nevertheless, it was a nice time, and I just realized that we never got the group photo Darren took of us and I need to bug him for that!

If I get more pictures, they'll go here: https://link.shutterfly.com/SegVo4dy4rb

York and a Ghost Walk

Want to hear a confession? I briefly considered telling the travel director that I'd tested positive for Covid, just so I could be left behind in Edinburgh.  LOL! But, there was so much more to see and do on this trip, that the thought was only fleeting, and onward we went!

The morning started with the now-familiar bright-and-early routine:

• 7:30am bags outside the rooms, and breakfast in the hotel
• 8:30am we were on the bus, rolling out of Edinburgh

The trip between Edinburgh, Scotland and York, England is not short. We had a few stops on the way to break up the drive, stretch our legs, and grab some lunch. The first stop was in a town next to yet-another-castle, both named Alnwick (prounced: al-nik)

This one was used for the outside shots of Hogwarts during the quiddich games in the Harry Potter movies, so, that was kinda cool! This wasn't a tour, though, it was just a place to grab a snack, take a bathroom break, and putter around the town for about an hour. On our explorations, N and I found a back entrance into the castle grounds, and made our way around some gardens and a mini-golf course before we had to get back to the coach. We even met a mamma duck and her babies taking a lovely stroll. 

We would have loved to play this course!

From here, we stopped in another local pub for lunch of soup and sandwiches, and afterwards we were given a tour of a small church across the street, St. Andrew at Heddon on the Wall. The church's caretaker was quite proud of the building, and clearly loved to talk about it! We adored the unique bits of architecture here, and the old graves. 

And finally, just before arriving in York, we got to see the "Most Viewed Art Installation" because it sits right next to a gigantic highway and anyone driving past really can't miss it:

I think it's supposed to be an angel?

An Evening in York

We arrived in York right around 4pm, dropped off and taken into the center by Darren.

This...this is what I always believed that all of England looks like. 

Once again, we found out we had arrived too late to get to tour inside anything, like York Minster, which made me a little grumpy. But, we took a (long) walk around just 2 sides of York Minster, which is just *gihungous*...and by that I mean, the word "gigantic" doesn't quite cover it. This building took over 250 years to complete - meaning it took longer to build it than our country has been a country. 🤯Currently there is scaffolding around a section where they are putting a statue of the queen! That's pretty neat!

(Play the video to hear the bells!)

And from here, we entered "The Shambles", the oldest original medieval street in England, and supposedly the inspiration for Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. 

We also found out that the Ghost Walk portion of the evening's "Optional Dinner and Ghost Walk" had to be canceled because the guide had Covid. Our family elected to skip the "Optional Dinner and...", and explore York on our own. We left the tour group and did a bunch of shopping in The Shambles area. There were a ton of Harry Potter themed stores, as you would expect!! A lot of "similar" items, but we realized there's basically one UK-based company that makes aaaalllll the Harry Potter merch...and they sell online. Saved us some suitcase space, and now we have lots of gift ideas for later! After shopping ourselves out, we went back to see more of the York Minster Cathedral, and then finally decided we were hungry. We wandered past this restaurant, which turns out is on the shortest street in England (with the weirdest name!) 

We ate at trio

When we told Darren about this, he informed us that the street is best known for smelling like urine! LOL We didn't notice any such thing, thank goodness!!

After dinner, we knew our rooms would be ready at the hotel, so we made the 1-mile walk. On the way, our bus driver passed us and we gave him a wave. Arriving at the hotel, the bus driver managed to meet us in the street right outside...he had realized when he saw us in town that he had our room keys with him! He handed them over to N, and we went in to find our rooms and bags. 

N and I still had energy and the desire to walk some more. The trusty internet told us that there were several options for ghost walks around town that did not require tickets or reservations in advance. So, we put on our Brave faces, and ventured out to see if we could find one of these tours on our own in a completely unfamiliar city.

We backtracked through many of the streets we'd wandered before, somewhat losing our way, but always able to see the ginormous cathedral to keep our bearings. Finally, we made it to the steps of the cathedral, where we thought there was at least one, maybe two, ghost walks meeting. 

However, we saw no signs or indication of exactly where to go. N noticed someone sitting on the steps of the cathedral. Her observation: "He looks ghosty." She suggested we - meaning I - go ask him for help. 🙄 I worked up the guts to go over, and said "Hello there. We are tourists, and we were hoping to find a ghost walk tonight. Do you happen to know of any?" 

He gestured to himself, and replied "You've found one"...turns out, he was indeed ghosty. 🤣

The tour was just over an hour long, and utterly enjoyable. The gentleman, Ghostly Graham as it happened, was funny, and spooky, and a great story-teller, and N and I had a blast. Completely worth the £20! Plus, it was even cooler to see the buildings with less crowds:

And let me remind you, this picture was taken around 10pm!! It was just so odd going back to the hotel around 10:30, with the sky making it feel like late afternoon. Luckily, all the walking we did today made me exhausted enough that sleep was easy.

More pictures: https://link.shutterfly.com/NE5T4Jod1rb