May 29th- Fun Touring

Monday, May 29^TH was a Bank Holiday so we had a wonderful day together touring in the English Countryside…all 7 of us with a terrific guide, Ian Grover. The tour was put together by a company, British Heritage Chauffeur Tours and was perfect for us.

Ian was waiting outside the door at exactly 9:00 and we all managed to be outside too. We piled into his Mercedes big van. Bill, Michael, and Jack in the back seat; Katherine, Ethan and me in the middle seat and Jim in the front beside Ian. Traffic getting out of the city was not too bad since it was a holiday. We saw several of these Spidermen people advertising for Domino's pizza. 

We drove first to Oxford to see the many colleges that   

Exam Registration Tent

combine to make Oxford University. It was a busy place. There are 39 colleges as part of the university. None of them specialize in any field of study. You express a preference of the college you’d like to attend but somebody, somewhere assigns you to the college you’ll attend. There are about 29,000 students enrolled. The town was lovely and the downtown center was filled with people walking and riding bikes. We parked for a little time so we could wander the streets.

Clock in the Wall

Degree Presentation Place

We saw the large white tent where students go to register for exams. The tent is not up all the time but since this is exam time it was in the  Students must wear an academic robe and carry a carnation that indicates what kind of exam for which they are to register.  We saw the round Shelarian where degrees are awarded. The reading room was also a round building beside the library. You cannot take books out of the library but you can take them to the reading room to study.

We also leaned that the clock on the town in the wall strikes the hour 5 minutes after the time the rest of the world does….calling it Oxford time.

Ethan has said he’d like to go to college there so he really loved seeing around. The campus. Jim got coffee and the other Barnett’s stopped at a fudge shop and came back to the van with a big bag of fudge… and the munching began.

View from the Castle

Ian talked about why the British drive on the left. In the horse and carriage days the roads were filled with highway robbers and the travelers needed to be prepared with a sword in their right hand thus they rode on the left side of the road. This continued as cars entered the scene. 

We arrived in Warwick about the time that Ethan was overcome with motion sickness so we all gave thanks for the big fudge bag. We stopped and he got out of the van. Bill stood with him as he tried to feel better. A woman was sitting inside a window in her home. She noticed his discomfort and handed him a bottle of water our through the window. Nice people are all around. Bill, Michael and Ethan decided to walk to the 

Warwick Castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 and has been rebuilt many times since. The current castle , built in stone during the reign of Henry II, is on the same site as the earlier Norman motte  

Warwick Castle

- and bailey castle. The castle was owned by the Earls of Warwick until 1978 when it was bought y the Tussauds group. Bill’s crowd went into the castle and had a great time watching a Joisting event depicting the War of the Roses. They were in the white rose side from the House of York. The red rose was the House of Lancaster. They cheered and booed while someone told the story of the war. The story ultimately ends when people from the houses married each other. Katherine said “It was a history lesson with joisting thrown in.”

We went on the Stratford on Avon for a quick look and lunch. We had been there years ago and had no need or desire to join the long lines getting into Shakespeare’s Birthplace or Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. There were so many people wandering around. 

We had a lovely lunch at a pub, Lambs at 

Street. Lambs is located in on of the oldest buildings in Stratford dating from the early 16th century, probably during the reign of Henry the 8th.

Learned from Ian that there are six rivers in England with the name Avon and they are not connected at all. There is a Saxon word “afona” that means “river.”

Rain came down so we texted Ian when we were done and he appeared right outside the door. We headed back to Warwick, picked up the other Barnetts and began our journey back to London.  We arrived back at Flat 11 Douglas Court about 5:45.

We ordered in yummy Chinese dinner and watched about half of “From Russia With Love” and headed for bed. Was a great day.