Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon: Our first road trip

Today we had our first road trip in England that was made possible with the assistance of our new Navman Gps navigation system (we called her "Lucy"); one less thing to worry about because I do not like navigating, looking down on maps when there is SO much to see through the windows and with the left side driving and the unknown roads we thought we deserved the treat.


The trip started in Oxford, the beautiful city where Oxford University is located, about 90 miles from London and over 800 years old. The university buildings are spread throughout the city, they all keep the same architectural style - it is hard to see where the university starts and the city ends. As visitors, we were able to access some of the university "Colleges" and see the student residences, the Churches inside this colleges, libraries and classrooms.

It was a beautiful summer day and some of the students were studying outside on the many parks and squares. The city inspired peace and reflection, almost respect.

We visited a nearby town called Woodstock, a charming little village where Blenheim Palace is located, one of England's largest houses and also the birth place of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. We had lunch at the beer garden of a pub on the side of a river. There were Swans on the river and also got to see a performance of some English dancers.




After that, we decided to go further north to Statford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. A historic place well packed with hundreds of tourists. A town with lots of very old buildings, older from what we have seen in London so far. There are a number of Shakespeare-related attractions, a number of houses related to his life and theater productions. There is a lovely canal with boats and Swans (we used to think that Swans were something really special that you would only see in a blue moon, but today we changed our views on that, since we saw more swans on the rivers and lakes than ducks and geese). We enjoyed an afternoon tea at a tea house which has been in business for over 400 years.

On the way back we stopped in Alsbury, a small town with an old medieval church and lots of narrow streets. We enjoyed the English views driving outside London, the hills, country side and specially the sheep. A truly unforgettable day!

En Español : Nuestro primer paseo en carro

Hoy tuvimos nuestro primer paseo en carro en las afueras de Londres. Empezamos en Oxford, la ciudad y la universidad, como a 90 millas de Londres. Una ciudad realmente deslumbrante, muchos edificios componen la universidad, como facultades, con las residencias de los estudiantes e iglesias. Es mucho mas linda de lo que la había imaginado, tantos jardines y espacios verdes. Almorzamos en un pueblito que se llama Woodstock, en un "pub", que es como un bar típico Ingles, este en especial tenia un "jardín de la cerveza" al lado del rió donde vimos cisnes. También fuimos a Stratford-Upon-Avon que es donde nació Shakespeare, una ciudad mas pequeña pero llena de historia y magia, canales y rió. Visitamos Alsbury, un pueblito con una gran iglesia medieval. En el camino, en lugar de vacas, vimos miles de ovejas en las colinas.