Bit of culture

Tue 28 Mar

Peter had his first day at the uni today so Stephanie, Lesley and I took the bus into Oxford town centre to try to get us some culture. We did walk around a lot of the city and took in the sights of the Radcliffe Camera, the Bridge of Sighs and many of the colleges. Interestingly, some colleges prohibit tourists from entering their grounds but others welcome them (for a fee, of course). Our cultural experience also included some shoe stores and a luggage shop to replace the case we broke, as well as a visit to the Eagle and Child pub - the haunt of the likes of C S Lewis, and Tolkien.

Oxford market area

Radcliffe Camera

Oxford is a bicycle town

Lovely home cooked (and well lubricated) meal from Lesley and Peter that night.
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Wed 29 Mar

An hour and a half drive to Bath in the comfort of an Audi A3's leather upholstery! Used the GPS to find the Park-and-ride. Free parking out of town with a cheap bus ride to the city centre. What a great idea. Unfortunately, on the trip down to town, we passed a vehicle accident where one car had landed on its roof. Don't know how this could have happened with everyone driving at such slow speeds.

We found the Roman baths and did the tour there. We found this was the most informative and well presented displays we had come across. The audio guide was instructive and detailed. The display included a lot of relics and artifacts as well as some great video sequences with actors playing the parts of people from Bath's Roman era.

Nearby is Bath Abbey, a Gothic style building with large stained glass windows and a display of illuminated pages of the Bible extracts with an accompanying embroidered panel.

Walked past the 18th century Guildhall and up to The Circus and the Royal Crescent to see the houses built there.

When we returned to our car we then drove to our accommodation at The Forester and Flower; a revitalised pub/B&B. The décor was as eclectic as the hostess but it was a very comfortable place. The "pub" part opened at 6pm for drinks and meals - I had a delicious beef and barley stew and Stephanie had a mushroom risotto that filled her before she could finish it. The breakfast next morning was a vast array of fruits, cereals, toast, tea, coffee ... yum.

If you're ever in Bath, look for the Forester and Flower.