Latest Trip

So, I did do a bit of travelling again, this time with the Marymount Students that we're studying with. We were scheduled to go on the trip, all of us in Lexia, but for some reason, Ryan, the project Coordinator, didn't know that and there was a number of last minute phone calls to get me to go. They were happy to have me come along, they were just surprised that we'd thought that we're going on as well. So last minute, I was going along.
Got up at about 8 on friday, showered, and got myself down the road to where we were getting picked up, and by around 9ish, we were off.
It was the first time that I've exited London via roadway. The numerous other times that I've left the city was through trains, and it was really cool to see a new side of the city. It was about a three or so hour ride to our first stop, Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill's birthplace. Big house, with the family still living there, although we went to a different wing, one open to the public. Very well decorated, and boring. Our guide was interesting, but I really wasn't interested in china and chairs. There was a very cool display on Churchill's life, and of his paintings.
From there, we went on another couple hour ride to reach Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of the playwrite William Shakesphere, which was very cool to see. Nice, small town. All the book stores had huge sections on him, and there are some very old buildings. I didn't actually get to see his house, because of the expenses and time. So we all walked around for a while, went to a pub for dinner. Decent enough food and drinks there.
That evening we went to a play, Women Beware Women, which was long, slow and weird, but interesting, although I was falling asleep at times. I believe that it was put on by the Royal Shakesphere Company, and the actors were very good. We stayed in a bed and breakfast for the night.
The next morning, we got up, and drove over to Oxford, which I've already been to. There was a major protest while we were there, something about animal rights and anti-testing, as well as a pro-testing group that was huge. The police were out in force. I gathered that the anti-testing group had been violent in the past and they were completely surrounded by policemen and police women on foot, horse, motocycle and lorry. We did a tour around the city with a guide, a nice guy named Chris, who took us into one of the colleges and explained a lot of the history and interesting points of the city. We then scattered, and I got a cookie and lunch at a resturaunt. (It was about a 45 minute wait though) but worth it. From there, went around on my own, then stopped by the Eagle and Child again, got a drink, then got the bus and returned home.
Overall, a fun trip.
I've put the pictures that I took online, here: http://norwich.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2002216&l=33832&id=70000497