And to top it all off, I slipped on a piece of wet pavement on the last day of our holiday, in the tiny village of Bretforton, while carrying Sophie. She obviously got a shock, but I would say her big head / thick skull probably absorbed most of the trauma, so no worries there. I, on the other hand, is now still hobbling around with a scraped and very angry-red knee.
All in all, it was a less than ideal break, but hey, a break is a break - anything is better than being stuck in the office or at work!
Here's a selection of what we managed to see & do:
1. Joined a walking tour, albeit a truncated one (another long story), of Oxford.
Pedal rules in Oxford - apparently, it is the easiest way for students, teachers and others to get around the various 39 colleges and university facilities spread across the town. The town is pretty congested compared to Cambridge.
In the courtyard of St Francis college of the University of Oxford
Visited Christ Church College, the largest and most powerful of the Oxford colleges, having produced writers, philosophers, religious leaders, 13 Prime Ministers, and numerous other Cabinet members. Lewis Caroll who wrote Alice in Wonderland was a mathematics tutor here and gleaned insipiration for his famous tale from the campus. Also finally saw the Dining Hall, which stood in as Hogwarts' great dining hall in the Harry Potter movies. Even YL was impressed.
Dining Hall at Christ Church College
2. Gloucester Cathedral -its cloisters were used for the Harry Potter films. They were rather quiet when we visited because it was still early (around 10am), and the rain probably deterred some visitors, so the peaceful atmosphere added to the sacred feel of the place.
3. Took a trip on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, a steam and diesel heritage train from Cheltenham to Toddington and back. Seeing the train approach the station from a distance over the hills, spouting out steam in the cold drizzle was truly exciting, even for 5 jaded travellers.
All the pretty Ipoh girls
The train was built and used in 1900's, and has been restored by volunteers in the 1980's. Today, "the line commands wonderful views of the sleepy hamlets and villages, as the it runs though the beautiful Cotswold countryside". Or so we were promised. Instead, we could only see fogged up windows from our train seats, although I must say it was still a pleasant experience.
4. Crash course in putting out the fire in a fireplace. Our obliging B&B owner put on a nice fire in her lounge for us but we forgot to ask how to put it out. So at 11pm, when the whole household was asleep, we struggled and puzzled over how best to get rid of the fire. We ended up splashing water over them and hoping that the embers will not spit and we have to wake up in the middle of the night from a fire alarm.
5. Cursory car tour of some of the Cotswolds villages - Bibury, Burford, Bourton-on-Water, Stow-on-the-Wold, Broadway, Chipping Camden, and I forgot what else. They were all very pretty and quaint, exactly how you would imagine a quintessential English village and cottages would look, but too bad we could not get a closer look due to the rain.
A back lane in Burford
Bourton-on-Water
Chipping Camden
1 comment:
Love your pictures!! I have to pay Cotswolds and Oxford a visit the next time I go to UK!!
Post a Comment