Kathleen and I went to London on the weekend and took a couple of tours around the country. It all started on Thursday night. We caught the train to London and checked into the Equity Point Hostel. The next morning we were up bright and early to catch the Anderson Tours tour bus. After picking up the other tourists we were on our way out of London and onto our first destination. The first place we stopped was Oxford University. We first started with a guided tour of some of the main attractions at the university such as Balliol College and the Ashmolean Museum. After the guided tour Kathleen and I walked around Oxford some more and then went on a self guided tour of Christ Church College whose Great Hall is used in the Harry Potter films. After leaving Christ Church College we got back on the bus and continued on our way. On our way to where we would be stopping for lunch we drove through the Cotswolds. We then stopped in a small village for a lunch of cream teas. After lunch we got back on the bus and continued on our journey. Our final stop of the day was Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. While in Stratford-upon-Avon we saw most of the main attractions about Shakespeare, including the home where he was born, the museum dedicated to him, and his grave. Shakespeare and his immediate family are buried in the Church of the Holy Trinity. Shakespeare was buried 20 feet deep, instead of 6 feet, as he thought grave robbers might dig him up. He also placed a curse on his grave that if anyone dug him up his ghost would haunt them. After leaving Stratford-upon-Avon we headed back to London. When arriving in London Kathleen and I had supper at a nearby restaurant named Garfunkel's and then went back to the hostel for the night.
The next morning we took the London Underground to the International Student House where we were being picked up for our next tour. The bus from International Friends Tours picked us up and headed out of London. Our first stop of the day was the city of Gloucester and the Gloucester Cathedral, the burial place of King Edward II. Our tour guide took us through and showed us different parts of the cathedral. She also showed us where they were filming for a London Olympics video and where they filmed the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets from Harry Potter (Every English tour has to have some Harry Potter content doesn't it?). Anyway, we then left the cathedral and continued on through the Royal Forest of Dean, where J.R.R. Tolkien got some of his inspiration for the Lord of the Rings books. On our way to our next destination we stopped at a beautiful bird watching point with some pretty amazing views and took some great pictures. We then continued onto Tintern Abbey, where we explored the abbey's ruins and then had lunch. After Tintern we went to our last stop of the day, the seaport town of Chepstow. While in Chepstow we took the picture that every tourist takes while there, with one foot in England and one foot in Wales. We then went and visited the Chepstow Castle near the banks of the River Wye. After a thorough tour of the castle we got back on the bus and headed back to London. Upon getting back to London we went for supper at Garfunkel's again, because lets just face it they have really good food. After supper we went back to the hostel for an evening of reading in the common area.When we woke up the next morning we had breakfast and then caught the train around noon back to Melton. We're going back to London in two weeks for another weekend of adventures and I'll let you know how that all goes when we talk again.
Till then,
Rocky
