The Big Smoke.

Oh London... where to start. I could have spent so much more time there. I really loved London. There was so much to see and do. Plus, almost all of the museums are free! I had a great time just wandering the streets. I was also able to meet up with Bec again, who I met in Oxford. Plus, Lianne's boyfriend, Matt, came to town for one day and we were able to see some of the sights together.

 Horse guards near Hyde Park.

 The Abbey two days before the Royal Wedding.

 Abbey Road! 

 Bacon, cheese, bubble and squeak bap. YUM!

 Tower Bridge.

 London Tower.

 Buckingham Palace.

 The London Eye and the Thames River.

   While I was in London I was able to watch the Royal Wedding... while standing on the street! I saw the whole procession both to and from the Abbey. It was such a wonderful atmosphere. Everyone was so excited and happy! Everyone was waving flags and cheering! I love being in a big crowd when its full of positive energy!

 Kate on the way to the Abbey.

 The Royal Couple.

 Part of the crowd.

 This guy had an awesome hat!

I laughed at this!

   On my last day in London, I was able to see the Globe theatre and also to watch a performance of "All's Well that Ends well." I think that watching a show at the Globe really was one of the big highlights of my stay in London! It was such a great end to a great trip!

 The Globe.

 Inside the Globe.

Waiting for the performance to start!

Oxfordshire

I'm feeling a little lazy to write anything interesting about my stay in Oxford. I enjoyed it. I had a wonderful time and the weather was mostly great. Unfortunately, at the moment, a night/morning of partying in Berlin and the first day of actual pouring rain since I left Canada has me feeling a little melancholy and less then inspired. Plus, I just finished some pomme frites with mayo so I am in a bit of a post-grease trance. Anyways, here is the short version of some of the things I did while in Oxford:

~Did a free walking tour with a guide who had an amazing English accent.
~Learned a bit about Oxford Uni. and its colleges.
~Met a super cool Aussie pal, Bec, who I later met up with in London.
~Went on a BBQ with the hostel crew.
~Pet horses on the common land in the park along the Thames.
~Developed a new found love for Primark.
~Broke my most favourite leather sandals of the last 5 years and had to stumble back to the hostel with a hair elastic holding my shoe on.
~Fell even more in love with all things Jamie Oliver at his Italian restaurant.

 View from the top of Carfax tower.

 Oh HI Fred and Ginger!

 Common land park along the Thames.

 Because it was all common land anyone can put their animals on it. There were several herds of horses and cows just grazing in the park!

Christ Church College. Famous for something to do with Harry Potter....?

I also had a chance to visit the Village where my great grandfather grew up and where my great, great grandfather spent his whole life. The village is called Stonesfield. It is very small! I was able to track down the name of the street they lived on and wander along to the old church in search of my great, great grandparents graves. Unfortunately I was unable to find them. A lot of the grave plots were disintegrating so it was impossible to read them. It was inspiring to see where a quarter of my ancestry came from!

Scotch, Scotch, and more Scotch.

   I landed in the UK on April 18th. Now, previous to this, I had spent about 9 weeks in temperatures ranging from about 20-30 degrees most days. So, when I landed in Scotland I was absolutely freezing despite the fact the Scots were all in t-shirts and dresses and celebrating their first warm days of spring. I was in approximately 4 layers and still frozen. It was about 17 degrees the first day and dropped down to about 13 the next. However, night time was absolutely FROZEN! Ok, that may be a bit dramatic but I felt like it was. I could see my breathe in the air!!!!

   While I may have been shivering my tush off most of my time in Scotland I had a delightful time. It was a beautiful city with so much history. I would have to say that speaking in terms of architecture Edinburgh was probably one of the most beautiful cities I have seen to date!

 Look up the story of Greyfriars Bobby if you don't already know it. All of the animal lovers will enjoy the story for sure! Plus, the sticks in the photo will make a bit more sense...

   I also had the time to do a day trip to Loch Lomond and the Trussachs. After almost 18 years of reciting the lyrics to the Loch Lomond song with my bestie, Vanessa, I was so excited to see what bonnie, bonnie banks looked like. They were beautiful!