August 5/13

Drove to Warwick to see the castle, parts of which date from 1100. It has four towers, some of which have displays on the lower level. Unfortunately many of the rooms on the lower level were poorly lit, making it hard to see how elaborate and colourful they are. Upstairs was better lit, and decorated in the style of the early 1900's. Besides the castle itself, there were a lot of other activities, such as jousting and falconry, which attracted large crowds. They also had Glamping - upscale camping off site. There was a princess tour and a dungeon tour, and the courtyard was full of food tents and things to buy. The castle was bought by Madame Tussauds, and there were some wax figures inside. The whole place had somewhat of a Disney feel to it - very entertaining for families, but a bit over the top for adults in our opinion. The extra activities distracted a bit from the castle too, which should have been the focal point, but I'm sure that these extra things are big money makers.

Because we were heading south and past Oxford, we decided to give that place another try. You may recall that our first visit a couple of weeks ago didn't work out very well. This time we knew to park outside the city and take the Park 'n Ride in, rather than try to drive, which they actually don't want people to do. We went directly to Radcliffe Square. This is where the Bodleian Library (containing 118 miles of books), Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre, the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, and a few other colleges are. The Bodleian is one of three copyright libraries in Britain. Unfortunately we could only see in the Divinity part, as you can only do the rest of it with a tour, and they were all full for today. The same applied for the Radcliffe Camera. We climbed up the church tower and had great views of the city. And at least we saw some of the colleges this time!

Stayed in a small hotel for a change, as it is close to the car rental place. They serve dinners too - Indian food - and it was very good!

Tomorrow morning it's off to the airport and then home. I have one more blog entry that I'd like to post - perhaps while waiting for 3 hours at the airport!