Back to London

So from Paris, I got back on the Chunnel Train, old hat by this time, and came back to London.  Another fantastic hotel suggested by Dianne--this time the Bedford Hotel in Russell Square.  The hotel is right next to Russell Square Park and Great Ormond Street Hospital (as in Peter Pan, if you can't remember where you've heard that before).  The next morning I went to Hotel Russell, an impressively beautiful hotel down the street, to join this tour.  First we went to Oxford.

We saw Christ Church, where some scenes of Harry Potter were filmed.  No flash allowed, though.

The hall in Harry Potter was inspired by the hall here in Christ Church.  All around the hall are pictures of Henry VIII (right down there at the end), Lewis Carroll (right next to the door when you come in, under his real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), and many other notable people.

From Oxford we went and had lunch at a lovely little place in the Cotswolds, on our way to the main event:  Stratford-upon-Avon.  We saw Anne Hathaway's cottage and Shakespeare's birthplace.

Anne Hathaway's house

Some of it was very tourist-y, of course, and I remember a moment when I was looking at some of the artifacts that were dug up and the labels slapped on them and thought "Seriously?"  But at the same time it was fun and interesting to see such history.  Before we left, an actor in the garden was performing Marc Anthony's speech from Anthony and Cleopatra.

Shakespeare's birthplace

Then back to the hotel, and back home to America.  All in all, I consider it a very successful first trip to Europe for me.  I had a great time, I saw a lot of cool stuff, I took some pretty pictures, and I met some wonderful new friends.