Sep 28 2009: Shakespeare, Oxford, a Castle, and a Hard-Ass
Monday was a jam packed day. We had booked a guided coach tour to Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Oxford. I was really looking forward to this day for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I liked being off the hook and letting someone else guide us around. I’m one of those kinds of control freaks. I like to take charge and then complain about it.
So Monday arrived and we didn’t want to have a repeat of getting on the train to Bath, so we arrived at the tour office extra early. This turned out great because then we were first on the bus and got seats up at the front. I should back up a bit and say that we got over there so early, we were able to call home and talk to our loved ones who were still awake in America and we were able to stop at Starbucks and get some breakfast. I special ordered an iced tea. They looked at me like I was a crazy loon, but I didn’t care. So worth it!
The Starbucks on Buckingham Palace Road.
So back to the tour. Mark, our “hard-ass” tour guide told joked dryly with us as we left the likes of London and went northwest to Warwick. Along with Keith, the bus driver, Mark was quite a hit in my family. We still talk about him all the time. He was full of facts and loved to act out Shakespeare. He brought along old text books and read to us. He was quite the tour guide. He was also a “hard-ass” (as named by Marissa), because he was obsessed with staying on schedule. I personally appreciated that, but it wasn’t so hot for Marissa when she wanted to get a quick smoke in.
Mark the "hard-ass".
So first up on the trip was Warwick castle. Warwick is quite a lovely place and the castle is quite charming, even if it had a Disneyland feel to it. There were lots of activities to do and not a whole lot of time. We saw a huge catapult demonstration.
I'm sure this guy loves his job. Seriously...he probably does.
And peacocks.
Admittedly, I'm frightened of peacocks, so the long lens came in handy.
The castle itself was pretty nice.
Where's Cinderella?
And then, with only a few minutes to spare, I made the brilliant suggestion that we do the wall walk. Upon entering the wall walk doorway we were bombarded with warning signs. If you’re faint of heart, out of shape, disabled, old, wussy, do not do this. “Warning: there are 550 STEEP steps.” I may be all of those things, but I am crazy for good pictures and interesting angles, and so I convinced my mom and sister to do it too. Sure, there were points while climbing up the tower that I thought I would fall backwards and crack my skull open. And yes there were moments when my heart wanted to beat out of my chest from the exertion. But was it worth it? Eh, probably not. I did get some good shots of the city and the views were breathtaking. But we grew very aware that we could miss the bus, and because Mark was a “hard-ass” he would simply leave us behind. He did, after all, instruct us how to catch a cab to Stratford, and predicted how much that might cost. But we made the bus and it’s now a funny story that we can tell when we get together and talk about our trip.
Smiling on the wall walk as my family gives me the evil eye.
So next up was Stratford on Avon. Stratford is one of the cities I’m writing about it my book. Not much happens there, but it was good for research none-the-less. We went directly to lunch at Marlowe’s and I was introduced to Cottage Pie, which was quite yummy. We even got ice cream, coffee, and we got to sit with another American. She was nice enough and had even lived in Colorado for awhile. She brought up health care and my sister and i just stared at each other. I tried to remain polite as she and my mom bonded over their feelings on the matter, until I simply said, “I’m sorry. I fundamentally disagree.” Politics with strangers is my pet peeve, but I couldn’t resist. At that we were able to steer the conversation away to other such topics.
They sure are funny at Marlowe's.
Before we knew it, Mark was shuffling us out of the restaurant and over to Shakespeare’s birth place. A quick tour through there proved only slightly interesting, and then we hit the gift shop, where I went bananas snatching up souvenirs for co-workers and a few for myself too.
My mom and sister look so thrilled with the birthplace.
With a few minutes to spare we took obligatory red phone-booth photos of each other, which is just one of those things you have to do.
Touristy and proud.
It was at that moment, when we were rushing back toward the bus that Marissa said it and said it so seriously, “God, Mark is a hard ass.” I thought I would die from laughing.
Keith, our delightful and somewhat neglected coach driver, then streamed us through the Cotswolds while Mark read us sonnets. Beautiful country there and a lovely ride. And then it was Oxford time. Oxford was the place I was looking forward to the most. Since my adult-life has been all about higher education, I am of course very interested to see other campuses, colleges, and universities. To know that we were going to one of the most prestigious in the world with the finest architecture and used for such lovable movies and television shows, I was I excited to say the least.
There was definitely not enough time in Oxford.
We went to Christ Church College and I was blown away. In what little I saw I was amazed and delighted. I wish we could have been there when school was in session, but we were a week or so off. Absolutely stunning.
It was impossible to pick a picture to place here. I have so many.
And as we walked off campus it felt as if we were still there. The town is gorgeous and about the same size as Boulder and the university has about the same amount of students and faculty. Big difference though is that some of the colleges date back 1,000 years. CU feels so new in comparison, and there are definitely old things at CU in the context of where we live.
After our walking tour, where Mark led us by a plaid umbrella he held up in the air (closed of course, there was no rain), he took us over to the various souvenir shops. I once again went crazy and bought up all kinds of Oxford stuff. I was simply stupid over it. Oh well, it feels good to be a tourist sometimes.
Lots of cute shops for me to waste all my money.
A couple of interesting things happened on our rushed tour through Oxford. First, they were filming a Detective Lewis show right by the shops that we had to somehow bypass. That was very cool.
Mark describes what the filming is all about.
And second, we encountered some interesting graffiti on various passage ways. They were very Banksy-esque and so we’re wondering if we got lucky and stumbled upon his work or if it’s just another talented artist making his or her mark.
Banksy? Maybe, but even if not...very cool.
And that was it. We drove back to London and we were let off at Notting Hill Gate. It was sad to say goodbye to Mark and Keith, but we are better off in life now that we’ve been on one of their tours.
With our bags full of over-priced souvenirs and tons of stories to recall for years to come, we found a pub and bunkered in for what would turn out to be quite an interesting night.
Once again there drinks to be had and more pub food. But what that night had in store was not only some of the finest looking Englishmen everywhere we looked but quite an incident by my clan. This was the point in the trip when the three of us got in a major fight that led to me, my mother, and my sister crying in a pub in London. Yep, we did that. All over politics. It was bound to happen since politics is so personal in our lives and we disagree so much with our mom. But we got past some issues that we’ve been carrying around since 2008 and so it was probably for the best, even if the venue was all wrong.
Puffy eyed, sore, and tired, we stumbled back to our hotel and called it a night.
Overall it was a fantastic day and one I will never forget!
Check out the rest of my pictures from that day, especially the Oxford ones.
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Even though I’m only just now commenting, just wanted to let you know I’ve been thoroughly enjoying your pictures from your trip! Looks like a fantastic time!
Love all the pictures. So glad you guys had a good time! I am very much looking forward to the day when I can get my very own Digital SLR camera and start taking some real photographs.
Anyway sounds like it’s time to start planning your next trip!