Day 2 The Tour Begins

After a full day in London it was already time to leave on my 2 week bus tour.  I slept well which made adjusting to the different time zone much easier than I usually do.  6 hours is more than I have ever had to adjust to.  I grabbed my breakfast to go from the front desk, checked out of my hotel room and sat down in the lobby to wait to check in with the tour.  I met a couple girls who were also on the tour in the lobby and struck up a conversation.

We checked in, got our bags and ourselves on the bus and off we went.  We started with an introduction of the bus, the rules of the road, procedural stuff, including no Crocs, and courtesies  and expectations.  

Our first stop after about an hour of driving was Oxford.  We only spent an hour there wandering around the city.  The nice thing about being on a tour is getting a little info before heading into town on your own.  The main hall at Oxford University was the inspiration for the Great Hall on Harry Potter.  Harry Potter whoo!  But of course we where there during Sunday services so we where not allowed because of services.  No!

  But there were great looking buildings all over with gardens surrounding them.  Can you imagine going to University here, or as the Brits call it Uni.  So much history and beauty on the campus.  

After our short stop in Oxford we headed north for another hour to the home town of Shakespeare called Stratford-Upon-Avon.  We started at his birthplace which is situated in the middle of the shopping area in town.  I have a feeling the shopping came in after Shakespeare time, just a hunch.

Around the city of Stratford-Upon-Avon they have all the iconic white and brown inlayed wood which is what his first home looked like too.  I suppose it is what you think England would look like and it actually is.

From his birthplace we headed to his adult home with his wife Anne Hathaway and no, it's not that Anne Hathaway.  The house at the time was the second largest house in town.  Currently there is a dig site at the back of the house where you can dig for a treasure from Shakespeare's time.  We didn't have enough time to visit the house or the dig site unfortunately.   It was another short stop.   From his home with Anne we walked down to his final resting place.

I did not go into the church because you had to pay a little bit and I was still not able to get any cash out of the ATMs.  Up to that point I had tried 4 different machines and none of them wanted me to have cash!  But I still enjoyed the outside of the church and all stained glass.  Plus I discovered right away that the cemeteries  in each town were different.  

The girls that I had met at the hotel in the morning and I ventured back to the main street.  We walked along the river side where people were enjoying a impromptu performance of a Shakespeare show.  Only in Stratford-Upon-Avon I suppose.  

There were also boat hires all along the riverside.  If you loose close enough to the picture below you can see all the boats are named for female characters in Shakespeare plays.  

We found a British pie shop on the main street where I had a traditional pie, not Sweeney Todd style.  I enjoyed the pie which was like eating a beef stew inside a pastry. Who could complain about that.

Not too much to in the city but shop or drink but it was worth stopping to see the house styles and get your dose of Shakespeare history.  It is a bit of a one and done kind of town.

Our final stop for the day was York.  We had some free time before dinner so I headed into town alone.  From out hotel the city walls were only a ten minute walk.  It was the first day of the tour and my first time heading out with out any of the tour mates which would be a trend that would continue.

In the center of the city there is the most amazing cathedral.  It is massive.  I walked around the entire grounds and just kept walking around and exploring the city.

So much so that when I got lost not too much later.   I used the cathedral to reorient myself.  And did I ever get lost.  I suppose that you get to know the city well by the time you figure out where you are. 

I found a couple mates from the tour and we headed back to the hotel to meet the group for dinner.  

We walked back into town and found our way into the restaurant   I got a hard cider at the bar to go with dinner that was very good.  We had 3 courses to choose from.  I had a nothing to write home about tomato soup, it was tomato soup.  As it was Sunday I ordered the Sunday Roast.  The roast came with a Yorkshire pudding which was pretty much bread with not much taste used to sop up the gravy.  But hey, now I can saw that I had Yorkshire pudding in Yorkshire county.  After about another 20-30 minutes, and about 10 minutes after everyone else had their dessert mine finally came.  It tasted great but I only had about 5 minutes to eat it so we would be on time for our ghost tour.

York is supposedly the most haunted city in England.  Our guide, or ghost host, was fantastic.  Great mix of serious and funny.  We heard 5 different stories around the city while walking through narrow and dark alleys.  It was a great way to bond at the beginning of our bus tour.  Plus it was fun scaring the one girl in our group who was afraid of ghosts.  Plus we found out who would be the punching bag of the group on the trip too.

At the conclusion a couple of us went back to the shambles which inspired Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films.  I thought that it looked like when I was wondering around lost so I was happy to have my inclinations confirmed.  Yes, super Harry Potter fan along with my Disney problem.  I'm seeking a cure by visiting more sights to expand my knowledge.

After getting a little lost again the group that I had wondered off with after the Ghost tour finally found the cathedral in thanks to my being lost in that area earlier in the day.

We made our way back to the hotel for the night to be off the next morning to Edinburgh.