Till the offers start rolling in, I guess I better tell you about our two most recent trips, budget- but never boring. The first one was our first trip out to the Cotswolds, north of Oxford. We took a short train and bus ride out to Burton-on-the-Water. It is called the Venice of the Cotswolds, though it was certainly not Italy, and there were no gondolas or gelato it was picturesque. The little river that winds through the village is called Windrush. The first place we visited was the Cotswold Perfumery. It is one of maybe six actual perfumeries in Europe. We took a tour of the Perfumery that consisted of seeing the Garden, the Perfume Laboratory (where the owner creates the scents by hand), the Compounding Room (where they mix the perfume), and the Packing Room (where- you guessed it, the packing is done.) It was a really fascinating tour and I wish we could have learned more. You can (for a small fee of £179) spend a day learning how to create your very own perfume, and have it bottled! If you ever get the chance to read up on the science of smell- you really should!
After stopping off for a quick lunch, we headed down to Birdland! Yep. Birdland. There were so many kinds of birds I'd never seen before. And we are avid zoo visitors. I took quite a few pictures, but was really upset. I managed to remember to charge my camera the night before- but I did not remember the memory stick! So all the pictures were taken with our mobile phone cameras- which turned out nice, considering. The best part was watching and learning about the Penguins while they were being fed. There was a superstar among them...the one on the right of this picture was in Batman as one of The Penguins minions! See you thought he looked familiar!Once we were through with Birdland we had some ice cream and sat by the riverside, enjoying the sunshine. Then we walked around town visiting the boutiques and shops before heading home again.
Then last weekend we went to London to do some Museum hopping. First it was the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is likely to have been my favorite museum in London. There's such a variety of things to see, from just about everywhere. We saw so many things, you just have to look at the pictures. Then we walked over to see the Natural History Museum which had some impressive architecture but lots of crowds around the dinosaurs...so we didn't stay long. Though we did pass by the a molding of the fossil of a bird who once had teeth and a bony tail- the evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs.Then we wandered over the the Science Museum which was also massive! There were lots of cars, spaceships, and other fun gadgets. Ben couldn't decide which way to go first- the third floor had a sign on either side- the History of Computing or the History of Mathematics! After a lot of walking, reading, and learning our brains and feet were worn out. We stopped in South Kensington to the Whole Foods store and got a fantastic picnic to take to Hyde Park and watch the sun set. Then it was back on the train to Oxford. What a day!
As I am writing this my feet are throbbing. Not at the thought of the previous weekends walking but of todays! Yep. We took a 10 mile hike down and back up the River Thames to Sanford on Thames. It's easy to see why so many people (Ben and I included) love the English countryside. I took so many pictures. We saw so much wildlife. Lots of babies out there, since it is Spring. We stopped off at the Kings Arms pub overlooking the Sanford Lock for a glass of Pimms before heading off back to Oxford. I am really anxious to get to the pictures- so I am going to go for now.The more I remember we only have three months left here the more I want to do and write about it.
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