Blogs from Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 54

Geo: 51.7523, -1.25582After a slight detour through the gardens at New Place, which happily took us through a parking lot where I could squeal over a Smart car, we walked to <a href="http://www.stratford-upon-avon.org/">Holy Trinity Church</a> to see Shakespeare's grave. The verger who was taking donations at the entrance was an adorable older man, who wanted to know where we were from, etc. He glanced this way and that, then told us that if we wanted to take a picture, we could ("Shh").  Beautiful little church -- with Bill and his family earning permanent front-row seats. As we left, Mr. Verger-man asked Sara if we'd gotten our photographs. "Yes, thank you so much." With a sly downward look, he proclaimed us "Naughty Americans." That just tickled us, and we used the phrase quite a few t... read more

Our trip down Memory Lane starts at "The Lawns" B&B in Woodstock, which served as our home base. A great little town with good restaurants and Pubs. I lived in Oxfordshire at the nearby RAF Base Upper Heyford (1972-1974) with the US Air Force. Also worked as a dining room waiter at the Weston Manor Hotel (1974) in the village of Weston-on-the-Green near Bicester. ... read more

I have now gone through almost a rite of passage here, in one day I went to a cream tea (yum! The vanilla tea and scones complemented each other quite well.) then later on hit a pub called the Lamb and Flag. I liked the L&F a lot, students conversing, and laid back environment. Managed to get myself in a conversation comparing the British Empire to American Imperialism. Oxfordshire ( the Oxford area) has some gorgeous rivers (I’d call them streams, they call them rivers) and canals, so I did a bunch of the walk/hikes around the meadows and streams, which I enjoyed a great deal. I went out to Blenheim Palace for a day. What a huge place! All the Rosenblatt’s (my mom’s large extended family for those who don’t know) could take up residence ... read more

It was a nice distance for a day trip from London... a stroll around the colleges on graduation day, relaxing in the commons, despite the impending rain.... read more

Well I survived my first Henley Regatta. Having never been near a rowing competition getting the chance to dress up in proper Henley attire, jump on a riverboat with 60 other antipodeans was an opportunity too good to refuse. The crew (who are a fantastic bunch of people) set out from Hammersmith to Henley from Paddington station (yep the one with the little brown bear). It was first beers early as we loaded onto the boat from the shoreline and spent the day cruising up and down the Thames adjacent to the rowing. The weather was great, at time sweltering, but mostly fine and the company was just awesome. Afterwards we headed to the Angel, that famous Henley pub on the river to continue festivities!... read more