Days 33 - 37 London to Hong Kong

We are sitting at the Hong Kong airport about to fly to Sydney. Left a wet London and landed in a hot and humid Hong Kong. Lost a day along the way, flying out at 10.30pm and landing in Hong Kong at 5.30 pm. We have noticed the time difference and lag this direction.
Our first day here we were tired so visited the shops and markets on Kowloon, where our Hotel is. Every person seems to be selling something - very crowded streets.
On our second day we went to Disney Land and noticed the improvement in air quality traveling to a different island. Disneyland wasn't as big as Anaheim and being midweek it wasn't crowded - we had a fun day there and enjoyed the short queues. Today we went across the Hong Kong Island and travelled on the funicular tram up to Peak Victoria. A very steep tram ride (15 - 27 degrees). The Peak was shrouded in mist so we didn't see much but enjoyed the cooler temperatures. And now we are on the way home ...... and I'm sending my last Blog from where I started my first.
See you soon .....

Day 32 - Oxford

A grey start to the day but we headed off with our umbrellas into the town on the bus. The walking tour started at 11 and we just made it.
William was our tour guide, who is a 'resident of Oxford'. We walked around two of the 38 colleges (and 6 Permanent Private Halls) that make up Oxford University - the oldest University in the English speaking world and second oldest in the world. We learnt that the University (and Colleges) were established following riots between the locals and students about them coming to Oxford - an unpopular decision by King Henry II in 1167 when he banned English students from attending the University of Paris due to the war. The Colleges and their quadrangular buildings, provided protection for the students from the locals.
We walked past the famous Bodleian Library, Bridge of Sighs and Examination Hall. Visited New College (founded in 1379) which has a beautiful Chapel and famous stained glass windows that survived King Henry VIII's attempts to remove all reference to Catholic saints. We also learnt about misericords which are small folding seats that let you lean against them when you have to stand for a long period of time. Most of them were destroyed in other Churches during the Reformation but these survived. It also has the only remains of the Roman city-wall which is still to this day inspected every 3 years by the Mayor - a tradition dating back to 1379 ( they like their traditions). The children recognized different settings from various Harry Potter movies.
We then walked to Balliol College which has beautiful gardens and continued walking through cobbled streets. By this stage our tour was at an end and we wandered off to have lunch in the Mall. We did some shopping and decided to return to our B&B as it was cold and overcast. The rest of the day was spent watching movies.
Tomorrow is our last day in England .... we are planning on visiting Windsor Castle before returning the car at Heathrow Airport. Our flight to Hong Kong is at 10.30pm so a long day ahead.

Day 31- Warwick Castle

The day started with a fine misty rain but loaded up with our umbrellas we walked around the town's streets. Warwick doesn't have a large town centre with most of the old historic buildings being near the square. We did find an old pillar-box which still had its Victoria Regina insignia on it.
The Castle is walking distance from the town and is now owned by the Madame Tussaud organization. This translates to expensive entry and carpark prices. A family ticket was about 130 pounds which we thought was pricey. We did do the Dungeon Tour ... complete with actors scaring us in the dark (well mainly me).
Warwick Castle was built in 1068 by William the Conqueror who appointed the first Earl of Warwick. It has famously held King Edward IV prisoner when the 16th Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville (known as the King-maker during the War of the Roses) tried to rule in his name in 1469 and has been passed between powerful families over the centuries.
It was held under siege in 1642 by the Royalists during the First English Civil War, as Richard Neville was a Parliamentarian and held prisoners from the three civil wars. It has a long and interesting history which you see glimpses of, as you walk through each of its exhibitions and along its walls and towers.
We did walk through the gardens and see its peacocks. Watched an archer and saw the world's largest trebuchet but it wasn't working due to the rain. There was a Birds of Prey exhibition which was very good and we enjoyed watching the eagles soar and swoop. After about 4 hours touring the Castle we headed off towards Oxford.
We arrived in Oxford about 5.30pm and using the hand-drawn map provided by the B&B owner and their recommendations about where to eat, caught a bus into the town centre for dinner (Oxford has minimal carparks to deter people driving and most of the students use bicycles). We visited The White Horse which was Inspector Morse's 'local pub'. But it is tiny and was packed with people. Continued walking to The Kings Arms and also the Turf Tavern (which was hidden in behind buildings and can only be found by using a narrow walkway - almost like a Harry Potter movie). Unfortunately it was Friday night and they all were full. We then found The Beefeaters Inn which had a good menu and the food was delicious. Our waiter was an Australian, from Perth but we didn't pick the accent as he has lived here for 10 years (he is the third person who has been an ex-Aussie wanting to talk about Australia). Caught the bus home and got off at the right stop ... the bus drivers were very friendly and helpful. Tomorrow we are back to Oxford to do a walking tour.

Day 30 - Stratford-upon-Avon

Continuing on our journey, we left Friary Wood and headed to Warwick via Stratford-upon-Avon. The countryside was so green, driving through little villages and across flowing streams. We drove into Stratford-upon-Avon and crossed over the River Avon finding a carpark for 4 hours (it is always a challenge parking the car). We found the Town centre and visited the Shakespeare Centre. We bought the ticket that lets you visit all of Shakespeare's houses .... the kids did groan but once we started, found the houses interesting.
Starting at Shakespeare's birthplace, we saw where his parents lived and learnt that shortly after he was born, the bubonic plague struck Stratford killing 15 per cent of the town's population - he was lucky to escape death. He inherited the property when his father passed away and made it into an Inn, with a stairwell upstairs for tourists to see where he had been born for a penny. Apparently he was an astute businessman deciding to benefit from his popularity as a playwright.
We then walked to where he bought his own family house following his success in London- known as the New House. By the age of 30, Shakespeare was ranked as one of the most prosperous men in Stratford. Unfortunately the house was demolished in 1759 by the then owner who was tired of Shakespearean tourists wanting to see where he lived! Next door to this site is Nash's house where his grand-daughter and her husband lived - it is still standing and has an exhibit showing different artifacts from the Elizabethan period.
Continued walking to Hall's Croft where his daughter and her husband, the local physician, lived. Another beautiful timbered building dating back to1613. Then visited Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare was buried in 1616, in the Chancel. It was his birthday the week before and his gravestone was covered in flowers.
Finally we visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage, a very pretty thatched roof cottage surrounded by gardens. The cottage was actually a farmhouse belonging to his wife's family. It remained in the Hathaway family for several generations and still had a distant descendent living there in 1892 when the Shakespeare Trust bought it. In all the houses you are told stories about Shakespeare and his family which does give it life but some of the guides are interesting - taking their job very seriously. The cottage still has original furniture dating back to when Anne lived there and William visited.
By this time it was getting late and we headed towards Warwick to find our next B&B. We had booked into the Rose & Crown Inn in Warwick's town-square. Again we were lucky to get a carpark for the night outside the Inn. Enjoyed a nice meal at the Inn before going to sleep to the sound of music from below.

Day 29 - Bath

A rainy start to the day .... Britain is meant to be in a drought but I don't think we have the same definition (97mm of rain since the beginning of April). We navigated our way to the centre of Bath and parked the car. Walked to the Roman Baths and toured around its museum and pools. Over 2,000 years old, they are amazing with more than a million litres of water, naturally heated to about 46C flowing through them. You can still see the overflow channel designed to take surplus water back to the River Avon. The Romans and Georgians both believed the water had medicinal powers and drank it ..... we did drink some but thought it tasted horrible. We also found it interesting to read the curses that Romans had thrown into the pools asking the Goddess Sulis Minerva to take retribution on their behalf for things that may have been stolen from them.
We then visited Bath Abbey which has a fan-vaulted ceiling and is so light due to beautiful glass windows on all sides. We started a heritage walk around Bath walking across Pulteney Bridge. The bridge is lined with shops and leads to Great Pulteney Street and beautiful gardens which Jane Austen promenaded through. Named after a wealthy landholder who owned 600 acres and wanted to develop it into a neo-classical garden suburb but was hindered by the American War of Independence and the war with France.
Walked back across the bridge and through narrow, cobbled streets to the Jane Austen Centre. We did tour the Centre, learning about Jane's life in Bath and enjoyed an afternoon tea in their Regency Tearooms. But by this time our carpark ticket was about to expire so returned to the car.
We drove around and stopped to see The Circus, a perfect circle of three-tier houses and the Royal Crescent, 30 terraced houses connected with giant Ionic columns, very grand houses.
Then we continued driving to visit the other landmarks which John, our B&B host suggested.
We drove to Farleigh Hungerford Castle which was a Norman Castle and an important defense against invasion from the North. All that is standing now are two towers and a few walls. It was getting late so we decided not to tour the site instead driving to The George Inn.
The George Inn is in Norton St Philip, Somerset and has been an inn for over 600 years being one of the oldest in the country. It was established by the Carthusian monks who encouraged a major cloth industry to be established in the village. Throughout the centuries, as well as being an inn, it stored wool for the trade fairs and was a court-house in 1685 where 12 men were hung following the loss of a rebel Protestant army led by the Duke of Monmouth against King James II. Monmouth used the George as his headquarters in his retreat (he was later beheaded at Tower Hill). We were interested to hear that a 'paranormal' investigation had been done in the George Inn and had found evidence of activity - however we didn't find any ghosts but thought a portrait of a lady was spooky ..... a great pub where we enjoyed a meal in the front bar.