Stratford Upon Avon, the Cotswolds and Oxford

This past Saturday we and the Smithdahls headed out on a bus tour to Stratford Upon Avon, the Cotswolds and Oxford. What a great trip, learning more about some of the most impressive writers of England, not to mention the world was inspiring. We saw the birthplace of Shakespeare,


(Mac and I outside of Shakespeare's first home.)

his wife, Anne Hathaway's childhood home,



(Us in the gardens of Anne Hathaway's childhood home.)

and the impressive buildings of Oxford

(Christ Church, one of 39 colleges that make up Oxford.)



(Mac and Jeremy in the stairwell of Christ Church college. You may recognize this stairwell as it's been used in the filming of the Harry Potter films.)


(A future Oxford scholar, perhaps? This is actually a dining hall and was an inspiration for the dining hall of Hogwarts. It houses pictures of many famous past students and professors including C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll.)

and its perfectly manicured courtyards.


We finally had a day of nice weather which contributed to a lovely day exploring. The tour guide, Mark, pointed out that in London you often experience all four seasons in one day and we've definitely had that the past couple of weeks. Although no extremes of snow or extremely hot temperatures so mostly tolerable weather. The kiddos were great travelers,

(Mac enjoying a video of Barney on my Ipod. I was hoping this would be a good occupier of her time on our next flight to the States but it only held her interest for like 5 minutes. If only Elmo was available on Itunes!)


(Gabe and Mac playing in the gardens in Stratford upon Avon.)


(Mac playing her new favorite game of Hide-n-Seek.)


(Mac and Gabe toasting a lovely trip with a glass of delicious apple cider in the gardens of Anne Hathaway's home.)

And I would say a half empty bus is almost as nice a way to travel as the train is, if not better in some ways. The best though was being with some of our favorite people, the Smithdahls!