Miles and Miles and Miles

I had gotten all of my work done so that I was able to show Valerie around both London and Oxford over a two-day stretch. She had done a lot of museums and indoor things in Paris, Prague and Budapest so she said she was fine to just wander outside. I never need to be asked twice to wander about London so I came up with a suitable route that would take us back some of the highlights of London. Here's what we hit up, in route order:
-Harrods
-Green Park
-Buckingham Palace
-St. James' Park
-Westminster Abbey
-Houses of Parliament
-Horse Guard Palace (both the front and back- first time for me seeing the Olympic Volleyball courts)
-Scotland Yard
-Trafalgar Square
-National Portrait Gallery (I asked to pop in there to see the 1900s gallery- I ended up seeing the portraits of Mosley and Nancy Mitford, as well as a few other folks I'm studying. And we also saw a great exhibit of Native American portraits)
-Covent Garden
-the Strand and Fleet Street
-the Old Bailey
-the City of London
-St. Paul's Cathedral
-Guildhall
-Museum of London (it's finally completely re-done and SO wonderful, plsu there was a fabulous exhbit on Michael Caine)
-The London Wall
-Tower of London
-Tower Bridge
-Jack the Ripper tour

For this last one, we met up with Niki, grabbed some dinner and then met the group in front of the Tower Hill tube stop. The tour was led by Molly, the same lady that led the tour Shiri and I were on years ago. She was still wonderful. I know that Niki and Val really enjoyed the tour and I was proud of myself for still remembering all 5 of the victims in order. I just wished it had been darker- it's much more exciting when it's dark and there are creepy alleyways to walk down. The night finished off at a local pub in the East End that had delicious Aspall and some super cheesy garlic bread.


The second day, we hit up Oxford. It was not as sunny as it was when I was there with Niki but it was still warm and, Oxford could look gorgeous even in the rain. Again, here's what we hit up.

-Carfax and the old Roman intersection
-ChristChurch (Val paid to go inside and I walked around the meadow to the High Street so I could wait for her in Oriel Square)
-Magdalen College
-Cowley Roundabout (which basically means the BALLROOM!)
-Teddy Hall
-The Bod Magic Exhibit
-the Sheldonian Theatre
-Covered Market for lunch (and of course shopping about, enjoying the cakes and getting some Ben's Cookies)
-Cornmarket
-the Eagle and Child (and the Oxfam bookstore)
-Uncle Pitt's House of Weird
-Walton Street (to get some coffee and rest our tired feet for a little bit)
-Jericho
-the canal path, all the way up past the old house to the pub
-St. Peter's Church near Godstow Road
-both Woodstock and Banbury Road
-Summertown all the way down to city center again
-the Turf Tavern for dinner

We literally walked all around Oxford and it was beautiful. Already can't wait to go back!

And let's be honest, at this point, I could totally be mistaken for a "local". I didn't have to use a map ONCE both days. Who wants to give me a visa?