That Time I Made my Parents Visit a Bunch of Castles and Old Villages

After getting a bit better at round-abouts, we finally made it to our first destination: Oxford.  Oxford is one of the most beautiful cities in the UK. The buildings and streets are perfect; it's no wonder so many movies are shot here.

A typical street in Oxford

A typical building in Oxford.

 The highlight of Oxford for me was going into the Bodleian Libraries, one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It was magical to see books older than Canada and learn about the collection.  Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed but I recommend a visit if you are ever in Oxford.

The Divinity School which was used in Harry Potter. It has an amazing ceiling.

Mom getting her learn on in the Divinity School

The Radcliffe Camera. It is basically a storage space for books.  The Bodleian Libraries get a hard copy of every published book ever published. So a lot of Oxford is dedicated to book storage. 

 Our next stop in Oxford was to Christ Church Cathedral.  The Cathedral was closed so we just walked the gardens and enjoyed the views. We also got to witness an Oxford graduation tradition where when a student graduates, his/her friends throw foam and confetti on the graduate and then they go for a dip in one of the creeks or rivers to clean off.

At the gardens.

More of the gardens.

 After seeing all of Oxford, we hopped back into the car, through some more round-abouts to arrive at Blenheim Palace where we walked from room to room, enjoying the decor and how the top-half live.

Blenheim Palace.

Nice use of bunting!

Beer time!

 Warwick Castle was next on the list of large buildings to visit. The site does a great job with walking tours every hour or so, a birds of prey show, and just enough information to read in order to learn a thing or two about the castle.

Warwick Castle

The mighty trebuchet.

Inside the castle and up along the walls.

We walked all of the walls, went into the pathetic gaol while mom learnt about birds.

 For Father's Day, we were in Stratford-upon-Avon where we found a Sunday Roast dinner.

Happy Father's Day!  Now eat up!

There is turkey and beef under all that gravy.

After all that food, we needed a walk so we strolled along Shakespeare's home.

A large monument to Shakespeare.

A plaque for Shakespeare.

 Bath was the next destination on the driving tour.  I don't think the city is as pretty as Oxford but it does have a few attractions worth visiting; the first of which is the Roman Baths.

Shea was in charge of pictures here so a lot of them were of me wondering the baths. Very few were of the baths. 

A selfie with something in Bath. Perhaps the Abbey?

Selfie with a bridge.

Selfie with a well-earned beer.

 After a few days of Bath, we were back doing round-abouts all the way to Salisbury.

Interesting sign on the road.

We had a nice lunch in Salisbury and the sun was out. 

Again, Shea was in charge of pictures so we didn't get too many of the Cathedral which is the main reason to visit Salisbury. 

Salisbury Cathedral. 

Shea and I had previously visited the cathedral in 2005. Our time did not allow us to fully explore it so it was nice to return and get a private tour.

The world's oldest working mechanical clock. It was built in 1386 and still ticks!

Some old flags. They are hung until the final thread disappears. 

Drinking in the Library.

We had a bit of trouble finally getting to it, but eventually we found our way to an Open for Visitors Stonehenge (stupid druids on the Solstice and the GPS lady).

Stonehenge.

Selfie with some rocks.

Dad's got all the rocks in his hands...

Our final stop on this driving tour was Windsor Castle, the castle where the Queen stays on weekends. It was magnificent. I especially enjoyed St. George's Chapel where King Henry VIII is buried with wife number three, Jane Seymour. Again, no pictures so you will just have to visit.

I can't remember what plants these are but they have some Canadian connection. 

Windsor Castle

One of the garden's for the Queen to enjoy.

It was great exploring the countryside with the parents. I think we are all experts at round-abouts now.  10/10 would do it again.

That Time My Parents Visited and I Made Mom Walk A Lot and Dad Drive on the Wrong Side... Part 1

To begin the Summer Season of Fischer Family (that's what I am calling Summer 2016, you will see why eventually), my parents came to visit! They had not been back to Europe since I first moved here (2013) which means they had not seen our flat, and most importantly, not seen the grand-kitties for a very long time.

Their trip across the pond did not start off well as there was a three hour flight delay.  Then, when they did get near London, their flight circled and circled and circled before finally landing.  Arthur and I enjoyed watching the real-time progress of their flight.  Apparently, mom did not enjoy all those circles.

We had arranged to meet at Victoria Station, the final destination of the Gatwick Express.  Unfortunately (as usual here in the UK), there was illegal strike action on the trains which made their arrival very late. The trains that they should have been on kept getting cancelled and I got more and more concerned that maybe they had just decided to take a cab to the flat.

They did eventually show up, very tired and in need of a drink or two. Luckily, the flat is usually well stocked and the Underground was not on strike.

Their time in London was very short but we did get to explore Greenwich, the place where time starts.

Making the parents pose in front of random things.

This is the Painted Hall in the Old Royal Naval College. 

The Queen's Chapel. The College was originally built by King Henry VII. It is also the birth place of Queen Mary I and her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I. 

Dad on Greenwich Mean Time at the Prime Meridian. 

Views from Greenwich. You can see City, Canary Wharf and the O2 Arena. I made mom walk up that hill.

Mom and Dad with Canary Wharf. I don't know why they don't look happy. I had a good day!

 After touring a bit of the East side, it was time to get our rental vehicle and explore outside London.  After a harrowing 8 minute journey on the wrong side of the road, we made it to our first destination: the London Motor Museum.  With over 160 vehicles, it was dad's paradise and mom's nightmare. The building looks really tiny from the outside, but it just keeps going and going with more rooms full of cars. We saw old cars, new cars, long cars, short cars, muscle cars, girly cars, famous cars, not-exactly-a-car cars...

One of the many rooms of cars.

A shiny car.

This was my favourite: Mr. Bean's car. It was even autographed. 

I also enjoyed seeing this one.  It is the flying car from Harry Potter.

In the Bat-Cave, there was the 1989 Batmobile and the 1966 Batmobile from the TV series.  

Not exactly a car, but you would be the envy of all your farming friends with this Porsche Tractor. 

One more car for the road. LOL. This is the rental that dad drove amazingly well.