United Kingdom Part Five: Oxford

We spent a whole day visiting Oxford, starting with the Ashmolean Museum, having lunch at a pub, and finally viewing several of the colleges and having an extensive tour of ChristChurch College.

There was so much to see at the Ashmolean Museum. I liked this picture very much.

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There's a special courtyard where students go to receive their degrees. Joe's photo.

A pub for lunch -- The Bishop's Mitre. Joe's photo.

Kevin, our education leader.

United Kingdom Part Four: Traditional London

After  several days on our own, we were old-timers at getting in and out of South Kensington, where our hotel was located (a couple of interesting blocks from the Victoria and Albert Museum). Joe has a terrific sense of direction and always seems to be oriented from the minute we hit a new city; I'm grateful for this: my sister can tell you that this trait is genetically lacking in our family. But even I was able to figure out the London Underground. We'd enjoyed a couple of dinners at our hotel; we'd tested a couple of local places. We agreed that fish and chips in England are far better than fish and chips in the USA. We came to admire mushy peas. We were drinking tea. We were fitting in!

It was time to meet up with the people would would comprise the Road Scholar group for the Quintessential Britain tour. The two dozen of us were six married couples, a single man, and eleven women. A more considerate group could not be found; we were careful not to hog the front seats on the coach, we were prompt about meet-ups, we shared cough-and-cold remedies. All were intelligent, and education-minded, and had good stories to share. We had a detail-oriented group leader who was helpful way beyond his job description. Our education leader was a wealth of knowledge, seemingly on every subject that we encountered. We spent two days seeing the things that one would seem to be required to see in London.

This is the Guild Hall, where the mayor of the City of London is elected. There is an adjacent art gallery where there are  Roman ruins.

St. Paul's.

Tower.

Westminster Abbey where coronation occurs.

The chair for coronation, very old; I took my picture before seeing the "no photographs" sign.

We took a boat ride from the Tower down to the Abbey/Eye area.

Initially I hadn't planned to go up in the London Eye. I don't do ferris wheels. I am so glad that I did ride the Eye;  I felt safe and the views were phenomenal.

United Kingdom Part Three: Out and About in London (and Beyond)

Out and About in London

After our Harry Potter day, we had three more days before joining up with the Road Scholar group. We enjoyed Covent Garden, St. Martin in the Fields, Liberty (!), the Victoria and Albert Museum, St. Paul's Church at Covent Garden, and just wandering around.

My treasures from Liberty. Twenty-four different prints! I haven't opened them yet, but I believe them to be fat eighths.

Tea room in the undercroft at St. Martin-in-the Fields.

St. Martin-in-the Fields. We had the possibility of attending a concert there  while still in London, but this would have been after the Road Scholar program had begun, and we opted not to do it. We were disappointed, but it was the right decision because it came at what turned out to be a very long day.

I went only to the fabric department. I could have spent a whole day in the store!

William Morris at the Victoria and Albert.

Bill's chair at the V&A.

St. Paul's Church at Covent Garden.

Inside St. Martin.

And Beyond

On our last day alone, we were adventurers, taking two trains and a bus to go to Eastbourne (but not as far as Brighton) to see the white cliffs (similar to those of Dover).