FIFTH DAY – WARWICK CASTLE, STRATFORD AND OXFORD

Another busy day.  Especially as our tour ran behind by about 15 minutes and, in tours like this, every minute counts.

First stop was Warwick Castle.  I really liked it – the outside of it anyway.  It’s a magnificent structure.  Shame about the gimmicky feel inside it.  Reminded me a little of Kryal Castle with the jousting and archery demonstrations and actors walking around in character.

I made the mistake of starting off climbing the spiraling stairs to the ramparts and tower.  It felt like the stairs went on forever.  The steps were not very big so you practically had to climb up on your toes.  I almost didn’t make it to the top as I lost my knee three quarters of the way up.  I hadn’t felt a pang of pain all this time in London, until today of course.  The views were awesome though and worth the pain – you could see for miles around.

Favourite part of the Castle - the great hall and state rooms.

Then, it was off to Stratford and lunch.  Unfortunately, as we were running late and our food was not ready when we arrived and had to wait for at least 10 minutes.  We only had about half an hour (including the 10 minutes wasted waiting for our food) for lunch then we had to go immediately to view Shakespeare’s birthplace.

At least I didn’t sit on my own this time.  I sat with a Brisbane woman and a couple from Mexico.  The acted as a translator while conversing through lunch.  The Brisbane lady (again, no names were exchanged) had planned a trip to England and Ireland with her husband but, unfortunately, her husband died suddenly of a heart attack last year.  She decided to do the trip alone.

Anyway, Shakespeare’s house made me wonder how short the people must’ve been in Shakespeare’s day with their low ceilings and small rooms.  Of course, photography was not allowed inside.

Then, it was a quick walk over to the bus so I didn’t really get to see any of the town itself.  One more thing to see on my next trip to the UK.

Our next stop was Christ Church College in Oxford – the inspiration for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies. What a wonderful building.  This is the college that the famous Charles Dodgson, a maths tutor, wrote the adventures of Alice in Wonderland – otherwise known as Lewis Carroll.  The Alice in the stories was actually the Dean’s daughter named Alice.  Charles got his inspiration from the characters around the college.  There is even a stained glass window with Alice characters in the main dining hall.  Not only has this trip been a holiday, I’ve actually learned something along the way!

We then had some time to explore the city of Oxford.  By the way, in case you weren’t aware, there isn’t an actual Oxford University building – it is made up of various colleges one of which is Christ Church and another is Exeter College.  The group of colleges are known as "Oxford University".

Of what I saw of Oxford, I loved it....except the bloody cyclists!  The architecture of the buildings is simply stunning.  I went a little nutty taking pictures here as well.  Everywhere I looked up, there seemed to be some type of gargoyle staring down at me or a statue looking down onto the street, like the city library.

As I’ve learned since arriving in London – look up, because you may just miss something spectacular.

Then, it was home (or more accurately) hotel time.

Tomorrow, Windsor castle and Hampton Court. The best thing? I don’t have to get up so damn early!  Meeting up with the bus at 10am at Leicester Square – no hotel pick-up this time.