Where the Ox Forded the River

 Today was our longest day of bus travel but it was broken up by rest stops and some interesting touring.

Our first tour stop was in Stratford-Upon-Avon to visit the home of Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare. As with many homes we’ve seen on this trip, what we saw was the original home with some add-ons. There was not a level floor in the place, the stairs were very steep and the doorways were dangerous to anyone over 5 foot 2 inches. Hathaway was 26 and Shakespeare was 18 when they married. It apparently was not the happiest of marriages since William spent most of his time in London attending to his plays while Anne stayed back in Stratford.

Hathaway Cottage

We re-boarded the motor coach for the short trip into central Stratford where we visited the Shakespeare Centre. On the grounds of the Centre was the birth home of William. This was bigger than the Hathaway cottage with better floors and stairs. I guess Anne preferred not to live with the in-laws even if it was a nicer place.

Shakespeare Centre

Shakespeare birth home

Your author & The Lady in front of the Shakespeare Birth Home

Back on the Motor Coach, we headed for the star attraction of the next two days, Oxford, where we arrived in the late afternoon. The city's name is derived from the fact that it is bounded on three side by the river Avon and apparently there was a convenient place for oxen to cross. Ox-ford. Clever.

Our hotel, The Randolph, is right in the middle of town. After ditching our carry-on bags we were off on a quick tour of Oxford University. The University consists of 39 colleges, 30 of which are undergraduate. They all seem to have one thing in common, they are old, very old. 

Our hotel in Oxford

The colleges serve over 26,000 students from 160 different countries. One fun fact, the students wear carnations to indicate how far along they are with their exams: White just starting, Red about to finish, Pink, about halfway through.

A College where we will have dinner tomorrow evening

The colleges have three eight-week terms. Right now they are between terms but the colleges sponsor all kinds of groups during this time. We saw a lot of teenagers as we walked around today. As with most college towns, this place is very high energy.

Tomorrow we head for the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Hope you will come along.