These people just left our house after 10 days of trains, gardens, tea, palaces and road trips.
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| Front gates of Buckingham Palace |
Jim and Debbie are Chris' dad and step-mom. This was their third visit to England but first to the south of the UK. We loved every moment of having them here with us. Madeline loved having grandparents to spoil her! There was no lack of hugs, cuddles and special treats from Granna and Grandaddy.
Along with enjoying the many exciting things Oxford itself has to offer, we traveled to London for the day and took a tour of the State Rooms at
Buckingham Palace. The tour included an exhibit of the wedding dress and other items from the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge this past April. It was splendid!!
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| Back garden terrace of Buckingham Palace |
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| Big Ben and Parliament |
We also went to
Blenheim Palace, home of Winston Churchill's family and where he was born. This was seriously one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. To think it is only 20 minutes from our flat. The palace is situated right outside of a village called Woodstock - we are thinking we might need to move there soon!
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| Yea, that is just the front gate! |
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| We road the train to the gardens/playground. |
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| Gardens |
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| Front of Blenheim Palace |
The next day we drove up into the
Cotswolds and attempted to cover some serious territory in just a few hours. It was quite an adventure. First, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare is from; second, to Stow-on-the-wold where nothing exciting has happened but there are some great pubs; finally, we stopped in Bourton-on-the-water which is quite possibly the most beautiful village I have ever seen. It took all four of us to keep Madeline from going swimming off of one of the bridges.
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| Church in Stratford-upon-Avon |
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| William Shakespeare's grave in the church above. |
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| Maddie having a cup of milk. |
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| Bourton-upon-the-water |
On our last day of traveling outside of Oxford we ventured to Bath. It took a little extra time to get there (couldn't possibly have been the navigator's fault!) but once we did it was well worth it. Bath is an amazing city. It is such a wonderful combination of modern shopping and restaurants with architecture from Roman times and since. I think I could live there!
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| Bath |
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| Bath Abbey |
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| Roman Baths |
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| The Royal Crescent (people live here!) |
Our travels around were wonderful! We also did some great things in Oxford, so part two to come soon...
3 comments:
You really made me want to go to Bath!! This is great, and the pictures are beautiful!
You should! As long as I am not giving directions, it only takes about an hour and 20 minutes by car. You would love it!
Very jealous you have been to Blenheim. One day I will have to make it there. Great photos of Bath. I love the Pulteney Bridge there.
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