yk

<b>Day 2 - Oxford

Part II</b>

So, picking up where I left off...

The fabulous guided tour of the Bodleian Library had just ended, and I went in search of the crew of <i>Inspector Lewis</i>.

In a fast pace, I walked down Broad Street, turned right onto Magdalen St (and saw the Martyrs' memorial on the right), then turned left onto Beaumont street. The Randolph Hotel is right on the corner of Magdalen &amp; Beaumont. I was expecting to see road blockades and lots of filming trucks etc. BUT...

NOTHING! Just a normal city street with normal traffic.

So here I was, standing in front of Randolph Hotel, contemplating my next move. Perhaps they're filming <i>inside</i>? Maybe I should head in and check.

For those of you who don't know, Randolph Hotel is a 5* hotel (or at least it claims to be).
http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk/randolph/
Dressed in a light purple down puffer jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of brownish-grey sneakers, I am hardly the type of clientele who would enter Randolph Hotel.

In the end, I drew a deep breath and opened the doors of the hotel. Inside I would describe as old world opulence decor. I looked around and didn't see any filming action going on. I was ready to give up and leave, then I decided to ask the 2 men at the concierge desk.

They were very friendly, and sadly informed me that Yes, the film crew was at the hotel the last few days, but they had checked out yesterday. As far as they knew, there's no more filming today. They continued on to tell me that they were extras in the most recent episode, so I thanked their info and promised I'd look for them when the series air in the US.

What a missed opportunity! If I could have just come here one day earlier...

With this detour, it was close to 1pm for the <b>Oxford Walking Tour</b> (&pound;7), so I headed back to Broad street Tourist Office.

(If you are interested in taking the walking tour, I think it'll be prudent to buy your ticket as soon as you arrive in Oxford. The tours are limited in size - 19 people - so they do sell out. On the day I went, which was a Friday, the Tourist Office ended up adding a few more tours in the afternoon due to the high demand.
http://tinyurl.com/5a4aas)

Our tour guide is one excellent Dr. Charles Mould. With a bit of googling, I found out he is an Emeritus Fellow of St Cross College as well as a former Secretary of the Bodleian Library. You can see how impressive his knowledge is of Oxford.

We began our tour just a few yards from the tourist office, at the cross in the middle of Broad Street. This marks the spot where bishops Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley were burned at the stake back in the 1500s.

The 2hr+ tour covered a fair amount of ground though we mainly stood outside of buildings. The only college we went in was Jesus College (which isn't open to the public) where we saw the chapel and the hall. But most importantly in this tour, was the history and knowledge told by our guide.

By now, it was past 3pm and I was cold (it was very cold that day, and being outside walking for 2 hours didn't help) and starving. I orginally had planned to eat at Loch Fyne, but I wasn't sure if it closes for lunch, or perhaps I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the &pound;11 lunch deal, so I didn't attempt to go there.
http://www.lochfyne.com/
I tried to look for Edamame, but it closed after 2:30pm. I ended up eating at Pret a Manger on Cornmarket Street. It is set inside a beautifully restored half-timbered building (I think from the 16th or 17th century?).

As I was starving, I ordered a lot at Pret a Manger: a miso soup, a chicken/rocket sandwich, a bag of crisps, and a lemon cheesecake. Total came out to &pound;8.

After my late lunch, I walked over to <b>Ashmolean Museum</b> (free). It is currently under renovation, but some galleries are still open, including one room called the &quot;Treasures Room&quot; (aka greatest hits - and thanks flanner for the info). The most important 200 objects of the musueum are displayed in this room.

Interestingly, the organization of these objects are thematic, rather than chronological. So in each display case, there are artifacts next to one another which can be 2000 years and 10,000 miles apart from their origins. I thought that was an interesting concept, but a bit disconcerting at times.

I still had some extra time before the museum closes at 5pm, so I walked through the rest of the museum.
http://www.ashmolean.org

When I emerged from Ashmolean at closing time, it was dark already. My bus back to Oxford isn't until 6:10pm, so this is the time for me to visit Magdalen College (whose website states it is open until 6pm). Of course, it was my oversight - it was open until 6pm OR dusk.

When I got there, yes, it's closed. So I slowly strolled back along High Street, did some window shopping, and made my way to Gloucester Green station for my bus back to London.

I am somewhat disappointed that I missed Magdalen College, but I don't know what I could have done differently to fit that in, given the short opening times of the Colleges and the short daylight hours. If I had gone a week sooner before the end of DST, I probably could have visited Magdalen College.

On the bus trip back, I had a nice (and much-needed) nap, so I was re-energized when we arrived back in London.

Because of construction work around Notting Hill, the bus stopped at Baker Street station where I got off. It's already 8pm by now, but I have one more stop for today.

I made my way by tube to <b>Tate Modern</b> which is open late on Friday (and Sat) nights until 10pm. I have been there several times before, but my main goal on this trip is to see the <b>Rothko exhibition</b> (&pound;12.50).
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/

Before I headed upstairs for the show, I stopped by quickly at the Turbine Hall to check out the current Unilever series by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. I'm not sure what to make of it, and I'm relieved to see that the reviewers felt the same way.

The star of the Rothko show is a reuniting of many of his Seagram murals. Rothko painted a total of 30 canvases for the Seagram Building commission (which he backed out of), and the Tate's 8 are shown together with 9 others from Japan and the US.

I spent another &pound;3.50 for the audioguide due to a very persuasive museum staff. I was a bit skeptical, but at the end of the show, I was really glad I got it. It was one of these new interactive guides which a screen - plenty of information on it.

Let me just say this first, I LOVE the Seagram murals gallery at the Tate Modern. In fact, I can go one step further and say that it's my most favorite gallery in all of London. The lighting, the intimacy of that gallery is perfect for viewing his paintings.

Therefore I was a bit disappointed when I stepped into this exhibition. Of course, in order to accomodate all the canvases, the room has to be much larger. It feels too big, too impersonal, and WAY too crowded. It's still great to see these paintings reunited, but it's just not the same feeling I get when I visited the Seagram murals room.

The rest of the galleries showed his later works, which are no longer the dreamy colorfield paintings, but rather, dark &amp; well-delineated colorblock paintings, which I don't fancy as much. (As a result, the Rothko Chapel in Houston didn't move me the way his colorfield paintings do.)

Before I left, I returned to the main Seagram gallery. At this point it was almost closing time (10pm) and the crowd had finally thinned out. It was a better experience with much fewer people around.

At the gift shop, I could not resist an unexplainable urge to purchase a framed print, so I did, for &pound;40.

From Southwark Street, I took the RV1 bus to Covent Garden, then walked over to Chinatown for dinner.

I was quite surprised by the changes in Chinatown. Many old-style restaurants have been replaced by newer, modern (ie more pricey) Chinese establishments, esp along Lisle Street. This is compared to my last visit just 6 months ago.

It was almost 10:45pm by the time I arrived at my go-to place in C-town: <b>HK Diner</b> on Wardour Street. I have eaten here several times on my previous trips, and I've found it to serve reliable Cantonese &quot;fast food&quot; so to speak, though it IS a sit-down restaurant with table service.

Since I had a big lunch, here, I only ordered a bowl of wonton noodle soup with extra veggies, plus a pot of tea (free). My dinner was &pound;7.20.

End of Day 2

yk

<i>Were the loos in the Bodleian too cold for her?</i>

Funny you mentioned this. I had to use the loo at the Bodleian library before the tour. I was escorted by a staff to the rest room (which is halfway up the stairs). I asked her if I should just make my way back to the front desk when I'm done, but she told me that she had to stand at the entrance there and wait for me, in order to escort me back. I guess they don't trust visitors and worry they might take off and roam around the place?

flanneruk

&quot;Dressed in a light purple down puffer jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of brownish-grey sneakers, I am hardly the type of clientele who would enter Randolph Hotel.&quot;

A might too formal, maybe. But they understand that Americans overdress.

Cathinjoetown

yk

I wish I had half your energy. What a great trip report. You really maximize your time.

Keep it coming--I'm particularly interested in the opera(s).

yk

<b>Day 3 - Borough Market, William Morris Gallery, Sutton House, Aida at ENO</b>

Today is Saturday and my plan was to arrive at Borough Market by opening time which is 9am.

Alas, I overslept and didn't leave the hotel until 9. As there's no straightforward way to get from Gloucester Rd tube station to Borough Market, I decided to take the tube to Monument and walk across London Bridge.

Since I was at Monument station, I might as well popped over to <b>Leadenhall Market</b> for a quick peek (thanks Apres_Londee and rickmav for bringing this place up in their trip reports).

The best thing about visiting Leadenhall Market on a Saturday morning is that it is deserted. Only 1 other tourist was there. All the shops are still closed. It is truly a gorgeous Victorian building. (To complete my Harry Potter theme, the market was used as Diagon Valley in the first movie.)
http://www.leadenhallmarket.co.uk/

As it was cold, windy and drizzly, plus I was running behind schedule, I took the easy way out by hopping on a bus towards <b>Borough Market</b>.

I entered through the Borough High Street entrance, and immediately to my left is the <u>Monmouth Coffee</u> stall. What a great way to start my morning. They serve real drip coffee (&pound;2) and one of that morning's choices is Guatamalan, which is what I drink at home normally.

I roamed around the covered section several times, checking out some wild game (rabbits, fowls, mallard ducks) and lots of other stalls. It seemed a bit small until I found out there was another uncovered section (underneath the railroad bridge). I had quite a few free cheese samples from the many cheese stalls, saw some Melton Mowbray pork pies, and finally found this famous <u>Grilled Cheese/Raclette</u> stall that everybody talked about here. Of course I had to have some, so I ordered a plate of raclette (&pound;5) which served as brunch for me today. My only complaint is because of the cold weather, the melted cheese quickly coagulated back into a big glob.

To counteract the cheese and fat I just ingested, I bought a punnet of strawberries (75p) and ate it while I was still at the market. Before I left, I bought a blueberry muffin to go (&pound;2) for later.

I was there for about 45 minutes between 9:45-10:30. It wasn't crowded at all. I had previously read Fodorites reports that Borough Market gets extremely crowded (elbow-to-elbow) on Sat mornings, so this was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps it was the bad weather that kept people away?
http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/

Next, I went across the street to visit the <b>Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret</b> (&pound;5.45; but I found a 20% off coupon on discountbritain.net, thanks to texasbookwork, so I paid &pound;4.36).

The entrance is a bit tricky to find as the building currently is undergoing some construction with lots of scaffolding.

Once you enter the door on the street level, you have to climb up a steep and narrow sprial staircase until you reach another door which is the entrance to the museum.

This is a quirky place. It is the roof attic of a church which used to be attached to the St Thomas Hospital. The attic was used as a storage space for herbs for hospital use in the early 1800s.

A few decades later, half of the attic was converted to an operating theatre in order to accommodate the number of surgeons and appretice observing the surgeries.

Another few decades later, St Thomas Hospital moved, and this attic space was closed up and forgotten... for over 100 years until it was rediscovered the mid-1950s.

I spent about 45 minutes there.
http://www.thegarret.org.uk/

Next is my onward journey by tube to the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. As it was raining quite hard, I decided to take the bus from the station to the house. (At the tube station, follow signs to the bus stop. Go to Stop D and take any bus there - 4 in total - to Bell Corner. Bell Corner is the 3rd stop. After getting off, continue forward until the big intersection and turn left onto Forest Road. The gallery is 200 meters down on the Right.) The trip took just under 1 hour.

<b>William Morris Gallery</b> (free) houses a wonderful exhibit. The ground level is divided into multiple rooms, describing his life and works in chronological order. On display are his wallpaper designs (including his famous Trellis and Daisy), tapestries, lots of painted tiles, plus stained glass by Burne-Jones (whose work I had just seen the day before in Oxford's Christ Church Cathedral).

Upstairs on the first floor is full of pre-Raphaelites' paintings as Morris is affliated with that group (his wife being a model for the artists). I'm sorry to say but I am no fan of pre-Raphaelites paintings.

Behind the house is a wonderful garden and grounds, which unfortunately I had to skip due to the bad weather. I left after 1hr 15 minutes and caught the bus back to Walthamstow Central.
http://www1.walthamforest.gov.uk/wmg/home.htm

From there, I caught a National Express East Anglia train and got off 2 stops later (5-min ride) at Clapton Station. Outside the station I caught a bus (#253 or #254) to Hackney Baths, and from there is a short walk to Sutton House.

Before I talk about Sutton House, let me just say a few words about Lower Clapton Road &amp; Hackney based on my experience. This part of town is known as &quot;Murder Mile&quot; so naturally I was a bit apprehesive about visiting there on my own. But since this was going to occur during daylight hours, I figured it should be fine.

Overall, the whole area seemed completely fine. If I hadn't heard/read about Murder Mile, I wouldn't even have given this area a second thought. There was plenty of traffic on the main roads, and plenty of people on the streets going on with their own business. The section I had to walk between Hackney Baths bus stop and Sutton House, all the houses there look decent and well-maintained. (This is compared to my experience in West Philadelphia in the 1990s, with rowhouses full of broken windows, graffiti on the walls.)

I did come across a few unruly teenagers on the bus from William Morris Gallery back to Walthamstow Station. They were quite unpleasant to one another, though never really a threat to any fellow passengers.

<b>Sutton House</b> (a National Trust property, &pound;2.80) is the oldest building in the East End of London. It was built by a Ralph Sadleir in the 1500s in brick. He was the right hand man of Thomas Cromwell and later became Henry VIII's Secretary of State. He served 3 soverign, and was one of the judges at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. Talk about history!

The star of this house is the <u>Linenfold Parlour</u>, a room covered in wood panel of a linenfold design, dating back to the time of Sadleir. You can have a glimpse of the room here:
http://tinyurl.com/6mdmhj

2 other rooms (Little Chamber and Great Chamber) also retained wood paneling from the 16th &amp; 17th c, while other rooms were decorated in Georgian and Victorian style. The ground floor kitchen was restored back to Tudor style.

It is truly amazing to me how the linenfold paneling survived over 400 years without being dismantled or destroyed. After all, this is not an important historic building and the ownership had changed many times over the years. In fact, this house was a squatters house in the 1980s. The lady who worked there told me that the squatters locked up the Linenfold room as they realized how unique it is.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-suttonhouse

From Sutton House, it is a very short walk on a path (through the church graveyard) to Hackney Central station. If you arrive from Hackney Central, when you come out to the big intersection, just walk towards the old church tower and follow the path through the graveyard. When you exit the path, turn Right at you're at Sutton House.

Hackney Central is served by the Overground rail, and this is my first time riding it. 50 minutes later, I arrived back at my hotel.

After a nap, I took the tube to Chinatown for an early dinner (as I didn't have a proper lunch today). I ate at <b>Baozi Inn</b> on Newport Court which I read about in Time Out Cheap Eats.
http://www.timeout.com/london/restau...ews/13356.html

I consider this place as another &quot;fast food&quot; type eatery (again, table service). Chairs are individual benches without backs, which basically leave one without any place to hang coats and scarfs. I ordered a bowl of Dan Dan noodles plus a glass of iced soy bean milk. My food was served in 5 minutes. I was in/out of the restaurant within 20 minutes tops.

With some time to spare before the 7:30pm <b>Aida</b> performance at ENO, I stopped at Starbucks for some coffee.

This Aida is an encore of last year's sold-out Aida production by Jo Davies and costume designs by Zandra Rhodes. The costumes remind me of peacocks - everything is either bright orange or peacock green. However, I don't think the design is as outrageous as the one she did for Magic Flute, which I saw in Dallas a few years ago (in fact, I went to a talk by her then and she showed up with her signature pink hair).

I had a decent Balcony seat for &pound;21, and I think the singing is very good that night. I'm not used to listening to Italian opera sung in English though. I had forgotten how beautiful the interior is at the Coliseum. BTW, I spent another &pound;6.50 there: &pound;4.50 for the programme and &pound;2 for ice cream during intermission.

cobbie

Great report - thanks. I enjoyed lunch at the V&amp;C &quot;cafeteria&quot;. Very pretty rooms.

julia_t

What a wonderful trip report as usual yk. It's lovely to hear from you.

&lt;&lt;What a missed opportunity! If I could have just come here one day earlier...&gt;&gt;

I was in Oxford the day before you, saw Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox by the Martyrs Monument, chatting to the director, loads of film crew all around, vans parked down the road opposite the Ashmolean. I didn't hang around to watch the cameras roll, it was too cold that day!

But I did the 11am walking tour, there were 21 of us, and we had the most verbose and boring guide you could imagine! He was genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about Oxford, but there was just too much information and it ended up being dull. All those on the tour who had not grown up speaking English had glazed eyes before we even moved away from Broad Street, and were totally baffled by the time we left Exeter College (opposite Jesus). I wanted to ask a question or two but didn't dare because it would have delayed us all for a further 10 minutes LOL!

The Sheldonian was closed for renovation, but did you get up into the cupola for the views for only 1 GBP?

I enjoyed the time I spent in the Ashmolean, especially the pre-Raphaelites on the top floor and all those Dutch still lifes featuring half-peeled lemons!

I wish I had visited the Bodleian Library, but I was a bit pushed for time, having to get back to Cheltenham before dusk.

Looking forward to the rest of your report, and wishing you many future trips so we can all read about them!

yk

<b>Day 4 - Red House, Eltham Palace, Westminster Abbey organ recital</b>

I began my day with a coconut bun (80p) for breakfast, which I had purchased the night before in Chinatown.

My morning activity is to visit the Red House in Bexleyheath. To get there, I had to take the tube to Cannon Street and catch the Southeastern Train service to Bexleyheath (with a change in London Bridge). The train trip was 30 minutes.

At Bexleyheath station, it is a 15-20 min walk to Red House. It is a very straightforward walk with plenty of signs along the way.

Although it was still cloudy, fortunately the rain had stopped.

<b>Red House</b> (&pound;6.60) is owned by the National Trust, and was the house of William Morris for about 5 years. It was designed and built by his architect friend Philip Webb. It can only be visited by a 1-hr guided tour which has to be booked in advance.

I was booked on the first tour of the day at 11:15am. There were 6 of us in our group. The exterior architecture is of gothic influence. Inside has plenty of stained glass. Unfortunately part of the house is under scaffolding currently (until Dec 08) so 4 stained glass windows along the entrance hall were blocked up.

Morris only lived here for 5 years because it is one cold, damp house. He developed rheumatic arthritis and his doctor recommended him to move.

Most of the wall coverings are reproductions, but several large furniture pieces remain as they were built into the walls. Some bits of wall frescos have been rediscovered (painted over by subsequent owners) , but NT has not completely restored those.

Interestingly, according to our guide, the Red House came up for sale back in the 1930s for just &pound;300. National Trust rejected the decision to buy it then. Instead, they bought it in 2003 for &pound;2 million.

Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed by the Red House. I guess I expected to see more of Morris' designs and works in the house. I have not been to Kelmscott Manor, which I would be interested to visit some day.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-redhouse/

I retraced my steps back to Bexleyheath station, then took the train 2 stations back to Eltham (10-min ride).

At Eltham station, it is again a 15-20 min walk to Eltham Palace. One can also take bus #161 which cuts the walk to just 5 minutes.

<b>Eltham Palace</b> (&pound;8.20, managed by English Heritage) is one unique and fascinating place. On its grounds, the 15th century Great Hall still stands, but now attached to a modernistic 1930s Art Deco home. I think the Courtaulds had done a wonderful job.

Before I toured the palace, I first ate lunch at the tea house. On its website, the tea house is described as &quot;<i>the original Service Quarters and a very different world. Enjoy tea or coffee, lunch or a light snack served by waitresses in traditional black and white uniform.</i>&quot;

In reality, it is a rather charmless room with florescent lighting and pale green walls. The tea room was packed to the gills and the staff was simply overwhelmed. I ordered a brie/lettuce/tomato baguette sandwich and a soft drink. Since the place was so full, an older couple shared my table. It was fun chatting with them while I had lunch. The sandwich was served with a small side salad and crisps. Total was &pound;5.55.

After lunch, I picked up the free audioguide and toured the palace (after putting on slipper covers over my shoes). The Art Deco <u>Entrance Hall</u> is truly impressive, even though I had seen numerous photos before. I love the wood marquetry on the walls.

My biggest complaint on my visit is that the place is full of children - young children - running wild inside the house. They were constantly touching the furniture, the walls etc. I understand the house wants to be children-friendly (has lots of children activities) in order to attract more people, but I worry about the wear and tear on the property?

The interior space is much larger than I had expected, and majority of the rooms are just spectacular (esp Virginia Courtauld's bathroom with gold mosaic and onyx, and the Venetian suite). By contrast, the medieval hall is less impressive despite its long history.

After touring the house, I had another hour to spare in the Gardens. The sky actually cleared and it was just beautiful. The golden afternoon rays shining on the fall foliage made this breathtaking. I took a nice long walk all around the premise, and finally left at 4pm (closing time for winter).
http://www.elthampalace.org.uk/

I headed back to Cannon Street station by train, then changed for the tube to Westminster. I took some dusk photos of Big Ben and London Eye (along with about a million tourists) before making my way to <b>Westminster Abbey</b> for their Sunday 5:45pm Organ Recital (free).

I think the concert was almost full. The wardens there were quite strict, admonishing tourists who were reading guidebooks or maps (this was while we were waiting for the recital to begin).

Currently, the Abbey is hosting <u>new</u> (aka contemporary) organ music. The performer that evening was Jan Lehtola from Finland, and the programme consisted of pieces by Jouko Linjama and Olli Kortekangas. Needless to say, these pieces are far far different than JS Bach or Saint-Sa&euml;ns. Not really pleasant to the ears I must admit. The concert ended 30 minutes later.

Dinner that night was at the High Street Kensington branch of <b>Prezzo</b>, an Italian chain restaurant. I had eaten at a Prezzo 6 months ago in Salisbury, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. It offers honest good food, great service, and reasonable prices. The High St Ken branch was a bit hard to find, as it was tucked inside an alleyway and I almost missed it. (It is in the alley right across the street from Wagamama, in case you want to know.)

It was rather empty on this Sunday evening. The only other diners there was a group of 7 americans. It took me a while before I realized they are NW flight attendants.

My visit to Prezzo this time confirmed my previous experience. Again, food was simple and honest. I ordered a <i>penne con bufala</i>, a small mixed salad, and tap water. The pasta was done nicely in a light tomato sauce. The waitresses are very nice and attentive. I think the training staff has embraced the American way of service. After my entree arrived, I was asked 3 separate times by 3 different waitresses if my food was alright. Dinner bill was &pound;11.40.
www.prezzoplc.co.uk

yk

julia_t - I was thinking of you last week when I was in Oxford.

<i>I was in Oxford the day before you, saw Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox by the Martyrs Monument, chatting to the director, loads of film crew all around, vans parked down the road opposite the Ashmolean.</i>

You just have to mention this to make me jealous, don't you?

RE: Oxford tour guide. I was so into all this history stuff that I didn't pay attention to the rest of the group (I was the only one from US, the rest was split half British, half Europeans). Perhaps they found our guide boring too. I think one has to be somewhat interested in history in order to enjoy the walking tour. Our guide only does the tour twice a month, so at least I don't think it was the same person as yours.

I didn't climb the Sheldonian cupola. Since I had already climbed the St Mary's tower, I figured that should do it.

rogeruktm

I am very happy that you had a grand time. Though I would have little interest in some of the places you visited, I am glad you did.

Also, it was a pleasure that food was simple and fulfilling. I do get to wondering sometimes about the time and amount of food reported by some as if food is the purpose of travel.

janisj

Oh yes - you do need to try to get to Kelmscott Manor sometime. I'm not sure if it is doable by public transport though.

Where furnishings were missing, the Antiquaries bought many of Morris' own things from Kelmscsott House in London. So it is very complete, and the gardens are really lovely.

yk

One thing I forgot to mention Re Oxford. A few nights ago I had dinner with my DH's aunt, whom I have never met before. She lives in Oxford and is visiting the US. She told me that last week she parked near the Randolph Hotel and guess what? Yeap, she saw the whole filming crew of Inspector Lewis as well. She probably was there the same day as you were, julia.

rogeruktm - Yes, it was nice that I could get good, non-fancy food for not much money. Granted, I wouldn't mind eating at Gordon Ramsay if money was no object, but sometimes I do wonder how some Fodorites can afford &euro;100 meals (for 2) night after night.

janis- I did look at Kelmscott Manor's website and it doesn't appear it can be reached by public transportation. Some day I'll just have to make my husband agree to rent a car in the UK and drive on the CORRECT side of the road. He does have some relatives in the UK so perhaps they could drive us if DH refuses.

Kristina

Great report as usual, yk. I also don't know how you manage to do so much in such a short time.
Hmmmm...if the pound keeps dropping I may just have to go back to London.

taggie

Enjoying your report very much yk. You are great at fitting in a lot!

I'm pretty much of the same mind on the food thing. There are so many options in London despite the city's being so expensive, that I find it's possible for me to be quite satisfied in the &quot;cheapish&quot; food department, particularly when I don't have my husband and his appetite along.
However, I'm a bit fussy about my hotels. I'm hoping to return to London this winter sometime.
I'm considering Priceline for this next trip because I too want to watch my budget (for once). How was the HI Kensington Forum?

janisj

If the rel's won't/can't drive you (and if your DH is such a wuss ) - you could always hire a cab from either Swindon or Oxford train stations.

Anna1013

yk,

Thanks for going more into detail about your food budget. Didn't realize that I wrote my question wrong - although I didn't have as strict a food budget as you did, I did have a budget...I might have given myself about 10 pounds more per day, which still isn't much

I think your right about most people of fodors being budget travelers, and although alot of people don't like the chain rest. in Britain like Pret a Manger and Prezzo(haven't been there yet) it's adequate, and most times quite good food for anyone on a budget.

Too bad you missed seeing the film crew! I think I would have felt the same way if I missed seeing the Doctor Who team filming an episode.

flanneruk

This thread touched on Oxford renovation projects. To update:

The <b> Sheldonian Theatre </b> reopens today, though tourist visits don't restart till Monday . The usual concert programme also restarts today.

The <b> Ashmolean Museum </b> closes completely on December 23 and won't reopen till November 2009

The <b> Pitt Rivers Museum </b> is closed, and will remain so till spring 2009. This is the slightly obscure ethnographic museum: its much more visited neighbour, the University Museum (one of Britain's two great temples of dinosaurology, and therefore as chocker every wet Sunday afternoon as an IKEA opening day) is unaffected by the Oitt Rivers closure

<b> Merton College </b> claims on one site (http://tiny.cc/Dc68b) to be closed to visitors while construction work is on. No idea how long this is taking, and not on my usual beat, so phone themn to check.

Apres_Londee

Another wonderful report, yk. I can't wait to hear about Juan Diego Florez!

yk

Kristina - You can always go to London to celebrate your 41st birthday!

taggie - the HI Kensington is fine. My room faces Cromwell Rd so it is a bit noisy. I'd say the HI is like a 3.5* hotel (altho PL rates it as 4*). I'll post a more detailed hotel review at the end of the TR.

Coming up next...
<b>IMW, NPG, ROH w/JDF</b>

rhkkmk

great details thanks....