Anderson Tours

Anderson Tours are great for day trips around England. It's reasonably priced and although they squeeze a lot in and therefore don't have much time to explore, it gives you a taste of what is outside London. It's also fairly easy to get there by yourself later if you want to visit again.

Our tour started off with Oxford, famous for Oxford University

Martyr's Memorial:

commemorates three bishops who were burned at the stake for being found guilty of heresay.

Mum loves these olden, timbered, black and white, shakespearean buildings.

If you walk down Broad Street you can see the cross on the ground that marks the spot of where the bishops were executed.

Balliol College, one of thirty eight colleges part of Oxford University

Sheldonian Theatre:

Can you see the interesting stone heads of Roman emperors surrounding it?

If you stand here during exam results time, you can here the students screaming with joy... or crying with sadness.

A secret pub that only locals know about... well not anymore!

For the next part of our tour, I was disappointed that I wasn't more of a Harry Potter fan as we got to visit...

... Christ Church College or better known as Hogwarts! :)

Hogwarts dining hall

But Harry Potter isn't the only famous icon at Christ Church.

A girl called Alice Liddel also attended this college. Charles Dodgson, a keen writer and mathematician who taught at the college became close friends with the Liddel family. He often took Alice and her siblings out on outings. Dodgson would often tell them stories that he had written and Alice loved them so much that he asked him to write down one particular story that Dodgson called 'Alice's Adventures Underground'. Can you guess who Charles Dodgson is better known as? :)

Can you spot the secret door that was the inspiration of the small door in 'Alice in Wonderland'?

Tom Quad Tower: largest quadrangle in all of Oxford's colleges

'Look at me!'

On to Shakespeare's birth place: Straford-Upon-Avon.

Shakespeare's house:

Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures inside the house but they had the rooms set up for you to explore. You learnt about what Shakespeare's dad did for a living, when famous writers like Charles Dickens visited, and where sayings such as 'Good night, sleep tight' came about.

This was our landmark for meeting up with the rest of the tour group.

And I liked this quote below it :)

Part 3 of the tour and so far my favourite place in all of England:

The Cotswold region!

This is where I would like to retire. These photos don't do it justice. I high recommend you visit the Cotswold region if you're in the UK. :)

Quaint cottages: my future home

This photo is of my new, but now lost, friend who I met on the tour. She's a teacher as well, from South Africa. She was lovely and great to talk to about 'teacher stuff'. I wrote down her name to add her to facebook but there are too many names that are similar :( She was going to be my travel buddy too! :(

A Famous Old Mill?

Our tour ended with traditional afternoon tea: Cream Tea (scones and tea)

Portsmouth

On the south coast of England is Portsmouth.

No, it's not only a football team, it's also UK's only island city.

Aunty Looi's niece studies there. She had to drop her off so we went along for the journey.

Which way is which?

Along the promenade:

Mum and I were fascinated with the formation of the rocks.

Views of Portsmouth, the habour and the Round Tower.

Does Melbourne have these?

Spinnaker Tower:

This is newly built viewing tower is where you can see amazing views from three different platforms. It's 170 metres tall and can be seen from everywhere in Portsmouth. Similar to the Eureka Tower, a lot of people hold special occasions, like weddings, there. Unfortunately, Mum and I didn't go up there.

The Round Tower: built to defend the habour.

Inside the Round Tower

It housed 32 cannons.

The Square Tower

Residence for the governers and then later converted into a powder magazine (a storage place for ammunition)

Had to take a photo of this :)

Isn't it beautiful?

I found this fascinating.

Children climb into a plastic blown up ball and pretend they can 'walk on water'! It seemed quite difficult to stand up in as both children kept falling over! Was quite entertaining to watch!

Up close shot of the Spinnaker Tower.

Part of Gunwharf Quay: reminds me of Circular Quay in Sydney.

Full of shops, restaurants and entertainment.

Not only was it an interesting historical place to visit, we had amazing views, perfect weather and to top it all off we got to watch the sunset :)

Musical No. 4

Mum and I saw our second musical together - Oliver! It was fantastic! I even shed a tear at the end. There were so many children involved in this musical - I wondered which ones will become famous stars when they're older?

Primark Bargains

How many items can you see in this photo? 10? No, keep counting. 12? Nope, more than that. If you counted 14, you're still wrong. There are 17 items here. Now guess how much it all cost? 100 pounds! Yep, I heart Primark :)

Lasting Friendships

So while mum and I were in Pinner, we tried to meet up with another of mum's friends, Aunty Sudha and Uncle Mani. Unforunately we couldn't meet during the weekend but after much organisation via sms, we finally met up on our way back and had a late lunch in Soho.

For the Newly Weds

Dear Shar and Vinh, I had you in mind when I took this photo :)