Road trip

As narrated at my previous posts, we had guests staying over at our place. They were here for a total of 12 days, which were more than enough to visit the most important monuments, museums and central areas of London, especially at the pace they were running around. So, we decided that it would be nice if they could travel a bit outside the Capital to see Britain’s countryside. We rented a nice cool car (Audi A1) that JJ would drive and made plans about which places to visit.

The first day we spent in Warwickshire. We drove up M40 and firstly visited the Warwick Castle. I hadn’t been there before but I was told it was nice. I found it more than that. The Castle sits on the edge of the hill next to Warwick overlooking the Avon River. It was built in the 11th century and a symbol of power for many years. Now it is run by Mme Tussaud’s and a visitor can take a glimpse of the way of life in the castle. As you can see it is beautifully preserved and the views from the tower are breath taking. I highly enjoyed the experience.

The entrance to the Castle

The views from the high tower

The cage they used to lock people

                                   Henry VIII                                                      A guard

After spending a couple of hours at the Castle we decided to visit the village. However, it was getting slightly late, the weather wasn’t very good and since it was Sunday evening the place looked a bit miserable and deserted. I think that on a bright sunny day the architecture of the village would be sufficiently portrayed and its beauty more apparent. We did pay a visit to the medieval Church of St. Mary’s that’s prominent in the village.

After Warwick we drove down to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Stratford-Upon-Avon is much bigger than Warwick. There’s a lovely big pedestrianized high street where the Shakespeare museum and house are located. When we arrived there, the museum was closed but we did take some pictures of the house and walked around the area. Unfortunately it started raining, a lot! We got drenched on the way to the car. While driving back, it seemed like buckets of water were being thrown on our windshield. Fortunately the motorway wasn’t very busy and drivers were careful. It’s so dangerous going on high speed on such conditions. We arrived home safe and sound though.

Shakespeare's house

The next day we drove to Oxford. One of the girls studied there many years ago and we had to pay a visit. The weather was good and we enjoyed walking around. I hadn’t been there either. I’ve been to Cambridge many times but not to Oxford. The latter is quite bigger and the university buildings are distributed in the City and not joined together like Cambridge.  However, the grandeur and history of the place is obvious.

Oxford

On the way back from Oxford, we stopped at Windsor. It’s one of my favourite places outside London. I love the old train station and walking around the high street or towards Eton. Unfortunately, once again we arrived late and there was a drizzle. Not many people were around and the place looked a bit gloom.

My guests left yesterday! I believe they had an amazing time and I’m very happy for that. I’ll probably see them soon on my visit to my hometown, this holiday season.

Oxford