Day 23: London to the Cotswolds

Wednesday 14 May 2014 60 °F

Today my family and Uncle John traveled from downtown London to the rural Cotswolds. It was a beautiful day of 60 degrees and partly sunny skies.

After another breakfast at our Premier Inn (make sure to say that name in your best Brooklyn accent) in London, my family and I walked to the nearby Waterloo Station, met my Uncle John, and we boarded a one-hour train to Oxford.

Shortly after noon we arrived in Oxford and started touring around the Christchurch College of Oxford University. First, we visited this graveyard:

There were actually a few birds out at that point, such as this DUNNOCK (a species I haven't seen since New Zealand!):

As well as this EURASIAN MAGPIE, which perched on a tombstone for its photograph:

Also nice was a beautiful fly-over BLACK-HEADED GULL, of which I sadly didn't manage a photo.

Then, we toured through the campus. Here are a few architecture photos:

This Great Hall inspired the Hogwarts Great Hall; indeed, some of the movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was filmed on this campus.

The adjoining cathedral was beautiful, as well:

Can you spot the Summer Tanager?

Then, we walked back into the center of town, picked up our rental car, and the five of us drove the one hour drive in our cramped car that smells acutely of diesel fumes whenever "third gear" (whatever that is) is enacted.

In the mid afternoon, we arrived at our lovely B & B in a small town in the Cotswolds, and our family enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening around town. After dinner and trumpet practice, my mom, dad, and I took a beautiful walk through the countryside while my Uncle John stayed back to make sure that Pearl was safe. Here are a few photos from the walk:

A classic Cotswolds countryside scene: