UK Day 5 - Stratford-Upon-Avon, Cotswolds, Oxford.

It's Saturday! Time for another day tour to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Cotswolds & Oxford by Golden Tours. Don't know if it's because it's a Saturday, but the guide was late half an hour! Made us so worried though they did call up the hotel to let us know 10 minutes passed time.

As usual our pick-up point, Thistle Marble Arch.

I don't even see that many pay phones here in Msia anymore.

We were joined by a Japanese group with their guide so the bus was freakin' FULL. I didn't want to sit all the way at the back so I sat with an American dude from Kansas in the middle front. His accent was so Texas-like. Suddenly images of American movies set in Texas came to mind - mostly of No Country for Old Men. LOL. He works for Llyods by the way wowee.

After about 2 hours drive we reached our first destination - Anne Hathaway's cottage. No it doesn't belong to Anne Hathaway the actress, but rather this is Shakespeare's wife's childhood house.

Our male guide and the cottage lady guide (wonder how old they are?). If you want to hear true English accent, look no further. This lady speaks really elegant, pure English. Cool.

The fireplace in the living room. On the right is apparently one of Shakespeare's courting chairs.

English décor ~

Narrow stairs.

The ceilings are very low in old houses.

The cottage looks so cute with its thatched roof!

Next we headed for lunch in Shakespeare's birthplace town.

Marlowe's Restaurant, newly built 1595.

Shared the same table with a group of Scottish ladies.

Fish cake. It was really good! Everyone was praising the food here including the pasta and sausages. I opted for fish cake as I haven't tried one before. It's something really different to me and I think there's cheese inside too.

I find the markings on the buildings very weird. It's like they have tattoos!

Picture made of jelly beans.

A band on the street.

This is Shakespeare's birthplace as seen from the main street.

The guide explaining the history behind it.

The backyard.

Unfortunately no pictures allowed inside.

Typical English sky in the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Random.

A really small but cute public library.

When I saw this I was like wtf?

This thing here looks like a painting! Except it's real wood real door! Weird.

Entrance to Blenheim Palace - birthplace of Winston Churchill.

We only drove through Cotswolds, had a scenic ride. We didn't make any stops. What a waste. If I have the chance, I'll go for the Blenheim Palace + Cotswolds tour next time. :)

Finally we're in Oxford!

Oxford city is really beautiful. It has many old-style buildings and houses unlike others I've seen so far. It's so nice to see different kind of architecture everywhere you go.

HARRY POTTER!

Apparently the stairs that Harry ran on.

Beautiful courtyard.

THE GREAT HALL!

Seriously students eat here? tsktsk.

So niceeeee and magical~ With all the big paintings around and stained windows on top.

These people really know how to enjoy life.

Student hostel. I saw 2 guys upstairs taking a smoke lol.

It's really weird to me that there are so many tourists coming here everyday and the students just going on about their lives here. Isn't it distracting?

Library.

Seeing real students inside and wondering how smart they are. :P

Contrast.

There was a graduation going on that day.

Bodleian library.

Oxford's Bridge of Sighs.

A ghost walk tour guide waiting for his clients to show up.

We left at about 6pm and reached London 8+. It was also Guy Fawkes day so there was a bit of traffic and we also saw some fireworks around in the city.

My dinner at Tottenham Court Road. I think it costs like 3 or 4 pounds, just rice and meat - it doesn't look much at first but omg this meal is fit for 2 small eaters!

That's the last day tour we booked out of London. Not bad I think we covered quite a bit of England already. Definitely need to see more of old English villages though - in future I hope. ;)