Tuesday 29th June
Hyper saturated sugar treats
I had a Krispy Kreme donut today. There were boxes and boxes of them at morning tea today. People piled them on their plates. I was afraid, very afraid. I had one. Emphasis on the one and I nearly couldn't eat it all. In hind sight I probably shouldn't have. It was like a perfectly formed sphere of pure energy. I suspect the answer to fusion power lies in the rings of hyper activity. Fortunately there were plenty of bottles of water around and I was able to suppress the sugar induced headache that was trying to fight it's way to the surface.
It was a day of traditional programmers food today with afternoon tea and dinner consisting of pizza. I had to admit, they knew their audience. Tonight was the Apple Design Awards. These awards recognise excellence in products that utilise Apple technologies in exciting and innovative ways. I'll stop now before I turn into a marketing brochure.
After the awards was the annual 'Stump the Experts' quiz. This quiz pits the audience against a team of about 20 Apple engineers in a battle of wits and deviousness. The audience asks questions of an obscure and highly irrelevant nature, then the experts get to confer, access the internet, phone a friend, whatever it takes to try and find the answer. While this is happening there are questions for the audience to attempt to answer in a bid to win points for the audience and prizes for themselves. The lengths the experts go to to answer the questions are quite hilarious. For one question they ended up phoning the system administrator of the iTunes Music Store and getting him to run an SQL query on titles in the store (over 700,000 titles) to find the most expensive album*. Well maybe you had to be there.
* The Complete Ella Fitzgerald 16 disc box set costing $169.83
Posted by Nick
Monday 28th June
Time for a Stevenote
Today is the first day of the conference, which means a keynote. These are always big affairs as everyone is keen to see what new tricks and toys will be unveiled in the inimitable style of Steven "P T Barnum" Jobs. Todays event was no exception as the next version of the Macintosh operating system was being displayed and demoed for the first time. There were lots of new features and fun things much of which can't be disclosed due to non disclosure agreements and all of which would be painfully boring to all but one of my readers. Maybe two. Tops.
The rest of the day was spent going to sessions discussing future and current aspects of the OS in more detail. Some of these were really good. And some of them were too geeky, even for me.
In the evening we met up with Nicky and Alison again and headed for China town. Alison and Nicky had done some research earlier in the day and were sure they had come up with a winner. They described our restaurant as 'really ugly looking' but all the customers were Chinese, so that had to be a good sign. With these facts in mind we braved the formica tables, sat down on our plastic chairs and waited for gastronomic delight. We got a little carried away with the ordering in our attempt to try things from most parts of the menu. This resulted in a considerable amount of food being delivered to our table. So much food that there almost wasn't room for it and we had to do some juggling of condiments and utensils. The meal was really delicious and unbelievably cheap.
Specs was next on our list of entertainment, and it certainly was. The bartender was more than a little bit insane. His tricks of the evening included pulling out a welsh policeman's helmet, that had been removed from a dead body by a grave digging friend of his, talking to us - scarier than it sounds and generally being random. It was quiet however, so we could chat without having to chat and there was a great box of postcards that had been sent to the bar by patrons who had gone abroad. Some of them were really funny. Having survived our local's only bar experience we headed back to the hotel and normality.
Posted by Nick
Sunday 27th June
Free parking
One thing I didn't get to do when I was here last, a little over a year ago, was go to Golden Gate Park. So today Rob and I headed off in search of public transport to take us there.
We caught the MUNI which is sort of like a tram, but they call it a train, and it goes above and below ground, like the tube. This took us within a couple of blocks of the park's south border. From here we walked west over brief sand dunes to the ocean for a view of the Pacific. The sea was nice, the air was fresh and for a moment or two I thought I was on holiday. There is a windmill in the park which is apparently famous. I'm not sure why, but this was where we entered the park. Almost immediately we found ourselves presented with a cafe that demanded we sit down and eat their food. Alright, not so much demanded as gently insisted.
After a very restful lunch we continued/started our walk through the park. The park was great, though it did have a few too many roads running through it for my liking. Either that or I developed a knack for always navigating towards them. Golden Gate Park is about 3 miles long and we covered the entire length and a good deal of the width in about three and a half hours. In this time I learned that in the park there are: two baseball diamonds, nine lakes and over one million trees.
In the evening we met up with Nicky a friend of Rob's in town for WWDC and her friend Alison (not in town for WWDC) and went out to dinner. While neither Nicky or Alison are locals, they are American and have both had more than a passing association with San Francisco which made them far more knowledgeable about local customs, and more importantly who to ask to find good places to eat and hang out. For dinner we went to an Irish pub. Well it was more like an Irish theme bar, but the bar did get points for owner authenticity as he was Irish. In an attempt to learn from the lesson of last nights dinner I ordered a salad. I still couldn't finish it. After dinner and a pint of the local brew we headed to a blues club. Swig is the longest running blues club on the west coast having hosted a Sunday night jam session almost every Sunday since 1949. We saw two bands play and they both grooved in a most excellent manner. Even more enjoyable than seeing quality blues played live was that I got to enjoy quality blues played live in a smoke free environment. All the bars and clubs (in fact most public spaces) are smoke free in California so my night ended with a pleasant stroll back to the hotel not smelling like an ashtray or feeling like my lungs had gone a few rounds with a cheese grater.
Posted by Nick
Saturday 26th June
Up all night, sleep all day
I had been up till late last night. Well this morning really. Things had to be done. There was the packing. The watching of at least two more episodes of Buffy, at several points during the evening this task was ranked slightly higher than perhaps it should have been. And then more of the packing.
The taxi arrived slightly earlier than I had anticipated and although I answered the door without a shirt on, I was mostly ready. No really, I was.
Heathrow was a lot of fun. Lots of duty free shopping. I resisted the Bulgari bling bling and instead chose to spend my consumer pound on a bag of boiled sweets and a travel adapter for the laptop. Neither of these items were gold encrusted or studded with diamonds. We (my boss Rob and I) flew Virgin Atlantic - slogan: 'You never forget your first time' - Oh dear, really, I'm not making this up. The flight was very good. Not too bumpy and we were kept well watered and fed like good cattle, I mean passengers should be.
At this juncture I should probably explain what I'm doing. I've been fortunate enough to be sent, along with Rob, to San Francisco for Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). This is a chance for Apple geeks from all round the world to gather and make clucking noises about computers. Well that's the way it looks to the outside world. In reality it's a good chance to get together with other technically minded souls to learn new things and to talk to the people who actually create the software/hardware we use everyday. Then we get to grill them about why it doesn't work like it says on the box.
I'm staying at the Marriott in downtown San Francisco. This hotel is in a great location. It's about two minutes from the conference venue in one direction and about two minutes to the Apple Store in the other. So really, my bases are covered. I've got a king size bed in my room and it really is rather spacious, this is a big thing as real estate is a prime commodity here (like London) so hotel rooms are often quite cosy.
After washing away the grime of the flight across the Atlantic Rob and I went out for dinner at an American Diner complete with booths and a jukebox. The food was good and the portions were huge. Really big. I don't think I can overstate just how big this meal really was. I didn't finish it.
I returned to my room and crashed.
Posted by Nick
Friday 18th - Tuesday 23rd June
Awaiting information
My brain (Hayley) is not with me at the moment, so I'm a little sketchy on the details over these last few days of me mam's(sic) visit. I will revise this post once I get home. In the meantime it will serve as a monument to lazy fact finding skills. I will say however that we had fun. We sort of enjoyed a delicious birthday dinner out, and we are now sad that mum has gone back home.
Now I can regale you with tales of San Francisco with a slightly clearer blogging conscience.
Posted by Nick the Sloth
Thursday 17th June
Tate that!
We headed to Pimlico this morning to see the Tate Britain. Nick and I had made one previous trip here when we were newly arrived in London. However, we hadn't seen any of the works prior to the twentieth century. While Nick still hasn't, Robyn and I gave the galleries our best shot. We started with Tudor and Stuart Portraiture and moved through Hogarth, Stubbs, the Royal Academy, Blake and Constable before finishing with Turner. I now have a new appreciation for Turner, much of his work prefigured what would come later and I hadn't seen a large group of his works collected together before today. The thing that constantly amazes me is the way in which many of the things we have have seen and done over the last few weeks fit neatly together to give a rounder picture of the whole. Bits and pieces I have picked up in various places allow different interpretations of what I am seeing to what I might have previously made. We called it quits for today after the gallery heading home to complete a few more prosaic domestic chores.
Posted by Hayley
Wednesday 16th June
Something Theatrical
Our meanderings took us to Covent Garden today. We were bound for the Theatre Museum which is located opposite the Covent Garden Market. The Theatre Museum is much bigger than either of us had anticipated. I guess it is not surprising really given the number of theatres in London that there would be a sizable memorial to them. The displays begin with a frank discussion of the West End, its past, its present and its future. It also includes information on each of the over 50 theatres in the West End. It is then down a really large ramp to the main exhibition galleries. We decided to join the free tour of the galleries at this point. The tour investigated the galleries looking at he history of theatre in Britain from Shakespeare's time through the reformation and to the present day. We learnt about the Beggars Opera, the twelve year old boy who played Hamlet and the prima donna sopranos of the Italian opera tradition. The collection is wide ranging including playbills, props, costumes, photographs, recordings and other related miscellanies. At the conclusion of the tour was a gallery on the Redgrave family - six generations of actors and still going strong. Following our visit to the museum we had a quick look around the Covent Garden area including the market and local theatres. We followed this with a trip on the tube to Green Park where we sat in the sun and ate our (rather belated) lunch. We followed this with a stroll through Green Park, past Buckingham Palace (my first sighting of the Palace) and into St James Park. We continued our wander to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. Given the beautiful weather it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
Posted by Hayley
Tuesday 15th June
Greenwich observations
Robyn and I decided to visit Greenwich today. This is rather a hike given the relative lack of public transport to the east of London. We are doing our best to show Robyn the diverse range of public transport options available in London and today was no exception utilising train, tube and Docklands light rail. We started at the Maritime Museum where we had a quick look at the explorers section of the museum. We then went to the Queen's House, a classical building designed in 1616 but not completed for some decades. It has a beautiful staircase known as the Tulip Stairs which spiral up to a blue-tinted window in the ceiling. It was fascinating to compare this with Hampton Court Palace, particular in terms of size and purpose. Although the house is now primarily used as a gallery to display works from the Maritime Museum's fine art collection it has been thoughtfully restored and there is plenty of information on the people who lived in the house and the ways in which it was used, including as a school before being give to the Maritime Museum. I found the historical detail more fascinating than the paintings but that could just be my own bias speaking. We then climbed the steep path to the Royal Observatory, the home of the prime Meridian and Greenwich Mean time. We went and saw the exhibition there and learned a lot about longitude, clocks and astronomy. We also took the obligatory photos of the meridian. Following this we went and sat in Greenwich park to recover for a bit. Here we had a close encounter of the furry kind with some members of the local squirrel population. We headed down the hill and wandered past the Cutty Sark and back to the station where we headed back into the city.
Posted by Hayley
Monday 14th June
You spin me right round
I have another weeks holiday but it was back to work for Nick today. Robyn and I decided we would go to the British Library as she was keen to see the illuminated Jewish manuscripts held there. We started with a tour of the current changing exhibition, The Silk Road. This examines life, travel and later exploration of the silk route through the far east. The exhibition included various documents, ranging through marriage contracts, slave agreements and travel journals, sounds including the singing desert, and art works, many made from silk. It also investigated the use of paper and printing by the Chinese. It was all extremely fascinating. Following this we had to pop outside to warm up as the air conditioning was set rather on the frigid side. It was a glorious day however so this was no real hardship.
Following our brief spell in the sun we returned inside to view the permanent displays. This includes the 'turning the pages' works. Touch-screen computers that have digitised versions of the works on them that you can study in detail. The sheer breadth of the collection is always amazing. Works include the Golden Haggadah, the Magna Carta, Beatles lyrics, Alice's adventures underground and music scores from Handel. All in all we managed to spend a significant portion of our day there.
We had earlier arranged to meet Nick at Waterloo for a flight on the London Eye. So we headed for Southbank. We revived ourselves with a cold lemonade and hot chips before setting off for a wander in the direction of Southwark. This gave us good views of the Thames, St Pauls, the Millennium Bridge and Shakespeare's Globe. We wandered back to Southwark, caught a train and arrived back at Waterloo just in time to meet Nick.
As we headed for the London Eye I suddenly realised how large it actually is. I had only ever seen it from a distance. This hides just how high the capsules really go. I had a few moments of nerves but decided I might as well have a go. I am really pleased we did it. It gives a completely different view of the city. It almost certainly, bar a helicopter and permission to fly, gives the best view of the Parliament Buildings at Westminster and gives you a real sense of the scale of the buildings. It also offers stunning views north, east and west. I suspect we picked a good day to do it, with little cloud or haze and plenty of light. We saw Nick's favourite building The Gherkin and managed to get a shot of it with Nick in frame. London certainly looks an inviting city form the air. We finished our day out with dinner in a cafe and headed home again for a well-deserved nights rest!
Posted by Hayley
Saturday 12th June
On the road again
We headed home today. On the way we stopped in Burford, our last little country town. Officially it is in Oxfordshire but it shares the stone and architectural style of the Cotswolds. Pottery and china seem to be a feature of this area so we had a good look at all that was on offer. We stopped for lunch in High Wycombe before we hit the M25 and the London traffic. We successfully negotiated the roads and arrived home a little after half past one.
Posted by Hayley
Friday 11th June
Fox, Green, Duck
Today we had a quieter day. It was much colder today with a very brisk wind blowing. I spent much of the day watching the cricket. It was lovely to see (rather than hear) some of the New Zealand tour. I'm hoping this test doesn't have the same outcome as the last two! I did tear myself away for a lunch break. We decided we should try our 'local'. There is a tiny pub in Broadwell called The Fox Inn. Fortunately they had something on the menu that all three of us could eat. It was very pleasant and we supported the local economy. We headed from here up to Stow-on-the-Wold for a last look around the shops. It really is a lovely little village and we throughly enjoyed our look around. We went back to the cottage and after a quick cricket update Nick and I walked to the village green to throw the frisbee around. We also had a swing and a see-saw. The green is quite sheltered and we managed to warm up a bit. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to the cricket, dinner, a dvd and bed.
Posted by Hayley
Thursday 10th June
Day Excursion to a Spa Town
I had had Cheltenham roundly recommended to me by a number of people and so today we decided we would head that way. The day dawned slightly grey and we thought perhaps we would have the first wet day of our holiday. This was not to be as after threatening to rain early in the day it again came out beautifully fine. We started our visit with the Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery, to escape the threatening weather. This small Museum has a mixture of things in its collection. Of most interest to us was the section on the history of Cheltenham. I always find it fascinating what people choose to put in an exhibition representing the history of their town. Cheltenham is most well known for being a spa town. It boasted two spas, one at either end of town. There is therefore much spa memorabilia including advertising and souvenirs. In addition to this, this section also contained a wooden guardsman taking a pinch of snuff. The figurine stood outside the Tobacconists shop for many years. There is also a metal chimney sweep which had adorned the sweeps shop. These two pieces dominated the display here and were a quirky look into the past of the town. The museum also had a section on Oriental Ceramics, most of this collection was donated by a man who had no documented connection with Stratford and apparently just randomly decided to donate his entire collection (around 800 pieces) while staying at a local hotel. He continued to send additions until his death. There was also a section on the Arts and Crafts Movement with some beautiful examples of work produced in the area.
We went and sat in one of Cheltenham's many beautiful gardens to eat our lunch. We relaxed in the sun and one of us even had a little snooze (no I am not saying who). We decided to walk off our lunch with a self-guided walk around the Montpelier area. Cheltenham has two predominating styles of architecture Regency and Art-Deco. The walk allowed us to see beautiful examples of both. in particular it was interesting to see the Montpelier Spa building, now a bank, and the Cheltenham Ladies College. Another point of interest was Edward Wilson's birthplace. Edward Wilson was the scientific and artistic member of Scott's ill-fated Arctic expedition. Walking is always a lovely way to see a city as it allows you to find things you wouldn't otherwise see. We found a cookbook shop on our perambulations today. We were extremely pleased to have found this walk in one of the many pamphlets I had collected.
We decided to finish our visit with a quick trip to the other spa in town - the Pittville Pump Rooms. Normally, you can taste the spa water here and view a museum about the spa. However, as the building was in use as a polling station for today's elections it seemed as though this was closed. It is however a stunning building situated in a beautiful park. Nick and I both liked Cheltenham and it may well be in for a more in depth visit in future.
Posted by Hayley
Fine Tuning
I've now uploaded two more days of our fantastic voyage (without photos at this stage). Also, after receiving feedback from several PC users whose screens apparently aren't able to deal with the subtleties of red text on a red background, I've changed the colour scheme for the site. Hopefully this adjustment will be less of an attack on the retina.
I'll talk again soon : )
Posted by Nick
Wednesday 9th June
The Generation Game
We were on the family history trail today. Robyn's father originated from a little village between Birmingham and Coventry called Berkswell. A visit to Berkswell was the prime reason we chose to visit the Cotswolds, as it is within easy driving distance from there. Berkswell is tiny, it has one store/post office. It is however, rapidly expanding with new subdivsions being built on what was formerly farm land. Presumably its proximity to both Birmingham and Coventry make it an ideal location for commuters. We paid a visit to the local Anglican church. We had hoped to find some indication of Robyn's grandfather's presence. We were disappointed in this but did find some Taylors in the church yard so we will have to check further into them. The church is a bit of a hodge-podge architecturally speaking with the vaults dating from the 14th century and various other bits being added over time. It looks like a different era from each angle that you look at it. We also went looking for Dockers Lane, the family's residence in both the 1891 and 1901 census. We found a road called Dockers Close but no Dockers Lane. We did however find Ye Olde Berkswell Store very close by. A plaque indicated it had been the local store between 1611 and 1911. So now we wonder if that was indeed their store and that they lived either above the store or very nearby. We were pleased to have seen a slice of the Taylor past.
We decided to head to Stratford-upon-Avon for the afternoon. I had been told that it is a little disappointing and I think this is true. Probably in the same way that anywhere that is only tourist driven is disappointing. Fortunately for us we are still outside the peak tourist season so it wasn't unbearable but I imagine it would be in July and August. We started with a stroll by the Avon past the Baguette Barge and into the estuary at the end. We decided that we wouldn't canal boat it home this time. The journey back would cover 185 locks over 132 miles and would take us 85 hours! We walked along the bank and found a place selling 'Swan Food'. Of course I couldn't resist, even if most of the hungry hordes were Canada Geese rather than Swans. We also saw some cygnets further around the estuary. It was lovely to have a stroll in the sun.
We, having visited the Tourist Information Office and surveying our options, decided to visit Shakespeare's Birth Place. There are five properties in and around Stratford that have a link with the Bard but we thought we would be happy with just the one. The house begins with a short museum about Shakespeare's life. It mainly contains replicas of things that are held by the Shakespeare Stratford-upon-Avon Society and I'm not entirely sure why they don't have the originals on display. Clearly there are conservation considerations and the need for materials to be available for research but most major libraries and museums have dealt quite successfully with similar concerns. The tour continues through the gardens of the house which are planted mainly with plants mentioned in Shakespeare's work. And finally into the house itself. There is little to distinguish it from other 'set-piece' cottages of its nature. Still it was nice to see a piece of literary history and follow in the footsteps of all those, including famous writers, politicians and many, many Americans, who had been there before us.
It was time to head home, the only problem was we had no directions to get us home as Stratford had been a spur of the moment decision and I had left the map book at the cottage. So we followed our noses. We followed them a little too well in fact and ended up a significant distance from where we wanted to be. Fortunately we eventually spotted a name we recognised and so embarked on a completely planned (no really) visit to Broadway. Broadway is a gorgeous little Cotswolds town with the distinctive yellow stone. In fact, I think it was the most golden of all the towns we have seen. We stopped for tea (well Nick had a Cornish Cream Tea complete with scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream and Robyn and I had plain tea) to revitalise ourselves for the trip home. We asked directions at the Information Centre and soon found ourselves heading homewards.
Posted by Hayley
Tuesday 8th June
Cross Country Slaughter
We decided that today we would do a tour of some Northern Cotswolds towns to get a feel for the area. We started out in Chipping Campden. You reach it through some beautiful countryside including gorgeous little thatched houses. Chipping Campden was a market town and one of the most important of the medieval wool towns. It has an old market building in the centre that was used to sell butter and cream. This is now owned by the National Trust and they have refurbished it somewhat by adding a new roof. The town like many others in the area has thriving arts and crafts and antiques industries. The town has been described as 'gilded' due to the beautiful yellow stone that dominates the town. We enjoyed our stroll along the main street and Nick found something that particularly tickled his fancy, a little patisserie, where he bought a raspberry tart (which he later declared the best raspberry tart he has ever had) and a pan au raisin.
We headed out of town via some extremely picturesque lanes to wend our way through the hills. Many of the roads were only wide enough for one vehicle and were completely surrounded by leafy overgrowth. Fortunately there isn't much traffic and we were able to jump out and take a few snaps on a couple of occasions. We drove through Upper Swell and Lower Swell, which are typical hamlets for the area. We arrived at Upper Slaughter, a tiny village, clustered around the church. It has very pretty views of honey coloured cottages beside the River Eye. It was a typical English countryside scene. We stopped and picnicked over looking the river before heading on our way to Upper Slaughter's near neighbour Lower Slaughter. Lower Slaughter has been voted the most beautiful village in the Cotswolds and it is not hard to see why. The village is based around a now-disused (well except for the craft shop, gift shop, ice cream parlour, cafe and museum) nineteenth century corn mill complete with water-wheel. Although parking is at a premium, we decided to stop for a walk. The river is crisscrossed with flat foot bridges and ducks swim along the river. The houses again stick with the Cotswolds lime stone theme and many also have beautiful gardens. We also had a very exciting time with the wildlife in the area seeing not only ducks and ducklings but a grass snake (our first snake in England) and a fresh water cray (possibly dead). Nick also took the opportunity to have an ice-cream cone. I personally can't imagine living in such a tiny village but it was a lovely spot to visit.
Our last stop of the day was Bourton-on-the-Water. Bourton-on-the-Water attracts enormous numbers of tourists as was evidenced by the coach parks. They have also developed a number of tourist 'attractions' including a model village of Bourton, birdland (bizarrely with Penguins), model railway and maze. We again followed tradition and embarked on a walk up the main street. This time we got slightly way laid while Nick and I dangled our feet in the icy river Windrush. The water was so refreshing and made our feet feel much better. The main street very much followed the other towns we have been to with souvenir shops, arts and crafts galleries and antique shops mixed with more prosaic fruit and vegetable shops, butchers and supermarkets. Nick and I were keen to do the maze so Robyn acquiesced and joined us. The maze, the Golden Dragonfly Maze, had a slight twist as you collected rebus clues as you went around that revealed a secret at the middle of the maze. At the middle is a giant frog in a tiled room full of other animals. We also solved the clues and found out the secret, we can't tell you what it was as it is part of the mystery of the maze and you have to keep it to yourself. We decided this was a good note on which to end our very full day. We headed home for a bbq, the first of the season.
Posted by Hayley
Two more for the road
Not wanting to lose momentum, I present to you the next two days on our epic journey : )
Posted by Nick
Monday 7th June
To the Cotswoldmobile
Today we went into the Cotswolds proper. We started off from Wantage at around 9.00am and headed towards Witney. I had done some research for Robyn before she arrived and discovered that her grandfather when a young man had lived at a pub in Witney while he worked in the local store. We knew what the pub was called but weren't exactly sure of the address. However, following a quick trip to the tourist information centre we established that although the pub no longer existed the building did and it was just a couple of minutes walk away. The building is now a book shop and real estate agents but it was easy to imagine what it would have been like when it was a pub. We also had a look at the 13th century church at the head of the village green and the 17th century Butter Cross in the Market Square.
So having seen what we had come to see it was off on the road again. Before we left Oxfordshire we drove through Burford. Burford was a town that relied on wool, quarrying and coaching and is built out of Cotswolds stone. It was a lovely first taste of the Cotswolds. We drove part of the way today along the Fosse Way, which is based on a roman road and runs for around 182 miles.
Our next stop was Stow-on-the-Wold. Stow-on-the-Wold is the highest town in the Cotswolds and has the reputation of being extremely windy. Today though, it was a glorious sunny day with not a hint of wind. In fact, I had to purchase a new pair of shorts and a summer skirt because I was far too warm in my jeans. We had a wander around town and enjoyed the beautiful views. Including a library in what appeared to be an old church. We decided to have lunch in Stow as the afternoon was getting on. We found a cafe called The Fox in Stow that had seating in a garden. Fortunately, it also had umbrellas. We all had delicious meals. I had poached salmon, Robyn had a roasted Mediterranean vegetable baguette, and Nick had a Caesar Salad followed by a White Chocolate and Strawberry Torte. It was a fantastically relaxing break. We followed lunch with a walk around Stow to look at the Norman Church and its surrounds.
Next we headed for Moreton-in-Marsh. Broadwell the village our cottage is in is half way between Stow and Moreton and so we thought we should look at our two nearest neighbours. Moreton follows the pattern of the towns around with a busy main street with lots of little lanes running off it. It also has more beautiful old Cotswolds buildings. Having successfully identified a supermarket and buying some food for dinner we headed towards Broadwell.
Well our little cottage is lovely. It is three storeys, with the lounge/dinning room and kitchen on the first level, the second bedroom and bathroom on the second storey, and the master bedroom on the top floor. Our bedroom in particular has very low ceilings so we have to be super careful not to bang our heads. It was a refreshing change to our previous accommodation.
We retired to bed early to catch-up on the last two nights sleep.
Posted by Hayley
Sunday 6th June
Hobbits through the Looking Glass
Following a rather interrupted sleep, pub closing time was certainly an experience, today was our big adventure in Oxford day. The day started with a cooked breakfast for some (well Nick actually), continental for others (Robyn) and a banana for yet others (me). We followed this with a leisurely drive into Oxford. We tried another one of Oxford's excellent Park and Ride facilities today, Seacourt. All in all we arrived around an hour before the scheduled start time of our guided walk. We decided to walk further down the main shopping street and were rewarded with cemeteries, statues and the Ashmolean Museum. We are all still finding it hard to believe that it is not all just an elaborate film set.
We headed back to the information centre to begin our tour. The tour proper started in the garden at Exeter College. Here we learned about the college system from our guide a retired lecturer who was originally from Germany but has lived and taught in Oxford for 43 years. We also learnt that Oxford, at around 1000 years old, is one of the three oldest universities in Europe, Paris and Bologna being the other two, and that Cambridge is therefore a mere imitator! Exeter College is just off the golden centre of Oxford and the top of the garden has a beautiful view out over Radcliffe Camera. We also got a glimpse inside the Chapel at the college, including seeing the tapestry that was designed by Burne-Jones and made in William Morris's workshop. All the college's have beautiful stained glass and Exeter was no exception. We then continued into the square and were introduced to All Soul's College and the clock designed by Christopher Wren. The walk continued into Christ Church Meadows, where we were shown the settings for many of the famous scenes in Alice in Wonderland including the croquet lawn (complete with shirtless croquet players), the duchess's castle and the cheshire cat's tree. We also saw Dead Man's walk, 'where ghosts gather'. No ghosts were present at midday on a sunny Sunday afternoon unsurprisingly. We also saw Tolkien's study, from a distance, and thus collected two of our three major literary conquests in Oxford. 
We returned back towards the epicentre of the Oxford colleges via a walk through the lane that houses the exam colleges. As the students are currently undertaking exams yesterday had seen rather messy scenes with those completing their exams showered with confetti, balloons, eggs, flour, feathers and champagne - and occasionally all at once. We had seen some of this yesterday and had wondered what exactly was going on. Next we went to see the Holywell Music Room, the oldest concert hall in Europe. Here we learnt more about the macabre history of Oxford including the town and gown gallows, the silk rope for the aristocracy and Oxford's right to use the death penalty against students until 1976. We finished the tour with the bridge often wrongly known as the 'Bridge of Sighs'. Apparently the most photographed object in Oxford. On our way past we learnt that Halley and Evelyn Waugh had lived in the rooms surrounding the area. The walk itself gave us a much better idea about the layout of Oxford and which lane connects with which other lane and this made our further navigations around much easier. And as is usual on these tours we learned a number of eccentric things about the city that you don't get from any other source.
We were all well in need of lunch by now so we returned to Christ Church Meadows and sat amongst the trees to eat. We had previously decided to follow lunch with a climb up The University Church of St Mary the Virgin tower. Our guide had recommended this as the best views out over Oxford and as we had pretty much decided to do it anyway that was all the encouragement we needed. The climb is 176 stairs and most of it is up an extremely narrow stone staircase that clearly wasn't built with tourists in mind! The views out over Oxford are stunning and it really shows you just how much of the old town remains. You get a full 360 degree view around the city from the tower which is smack bang in the middle of the golden centre of Oxford. The dreaming spires are never more apparent. It is very cosy up the top and only really wide enough for one person. It is completely open to the elements so you really have a sense of the height. It really was a fantastic way to see Oxford.
Finally, we decided to go and see Magdalen College (pronounced maudlin). It was a toss up between Christ Church and Magdalen but the key deciding feature was that Christ Church's great hall, home of the dinner hall in the Harry Potter movies, wasn't open. Magdalen College was high on my list of things to do as it allowed us to complete our trio of literary references. Magdalen was home to both Oscar Wilde and CS Lewis. Having walked down High Street we promptly arrived at the College and entered. It really is a very beautiful College and has the reputation as being the prettiest in Oxford. The chapel has quite unusual monochrome stained glass windows. We also saw St John's Quadrangle, the Chaplain's Quadrangle, the Great Tower, the Cloisters and Hall and the New Building (built 1733). However, the highlight at least for me was seeing the deer and walking the full length of Addison's way, one of C S Lewis's favourite places to walk. There were plenty of punters, rowers and ducks to keep us company. Although it is too early in the year for the deer to be loose in the grove we did see them in a garden on the other side of the path. The whole place was extremely picturesque and it was a lovely way to finish the day.
Three very weary people returned to Wantage tonight. My disappointment was not seeing inside the Bodelian library, oh well at least it guarantees me a return visit to Oxford! I'm sure we shall all sleep very well tonight.
Posted by Hayley
Danger - update ahead
The entry below fairly obviously wasn't here on the 5th of June. It had however been written, so that's alright then. Over the next few days we will be uploading the entries from our trip and when time allows the accompanying photos. This drip feed approach will hopefully prevent arterial damage in viewers accustomed to a far leaner diet of update.
Posted by Nick
Saturday 5th June
The holiday is afoot
Today saw the start of our Cotswolds holiday. We successfully collected the car from Heathrow last night and made it home more-or-less in one piece and not having got too lost. Today did not get off the greatest of starts as Robyn was stung twice by a bee as we packed the car. At least it meant the holiday could only get better. We left home at around 10.00 am and following a fairly uneventful drive, even if we couldn't quite figure our way out of Raynes Park, arrived at the Thornhill Park and Ride at around midday. Helpfully our navigation was aided by following an Oxford Bus most of the way. The park and ride buses are not the most relaxing in the world as their insides are painted a nauseating green colour.
We decided we would take it fairly easy today. As tradition dictates we started at the Information Centre and booked a guided walk for tomorrow at 11.00 am. We decided to conduct our own walk around Oxford. We saw the outside of the Bodleian Library, Radcliffe's Camera and, significantly for Nick and Robyn (Nick having grown up in a street called Brasenose Place), Brasenose Lane. Rather mysteriously we also saw heaps of confetti and champagne.
We tried walking in the other direction and found Lewis Carroll's Old Sheep Shop or more colloquially the Alice shop. We were tempted by a number of things in here including Alice chocolates and jam, teapots, cheshire cat earrings and a beautiful chess set. However, we settled for buying a couple of postcards. We followed this up with a visit to Christ Church grounds. Of course, we are never ones to miss the chance to do some shopping so we looked at the shops in Oxford's main street. We made no purchases rather disappointingly.
Following a bite to eat we headed back to the park and ride and set out for Wantage, our accommodation location for the next two days. It was a beautiful drive along country roads and through hamlets and villages. Wantage is most famous for two things, it was the birthplace of Alfred the Great and it is a market town. The market continues to this day and the Saturday market was just finishing up when we arrived. Fortunately the pub we had booked is in the main square in town so it was extremely easy to find. The pub perfectly serviceable accomodation, not the best in the world but it could be worse. The pub itself is in a 17th century building. However, our accommodation is in a building across the road. We settled in and headed to bed around 10.00pm.
Posted by Hayley