Elsewhere in England

I traveled around some during my time in London - lots of daytrips, a week-long trip to the countryside (much of which was spent on the bus, stuck in London traffic), and a weekend in Wales.

Did the touristy things - Shakespeare's birthplace, Shakespeare's grave, and then went to the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of C.S. Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," which was amazing.

The town of Bath. All that's needed to complete the picture is a Jane Austen heroine.

Leeds Castle is not in Leeds - it's in Kent. So it was thoroughly possible to do these both in a day.

It was very British rain - you're never sure if it's raining or noot, but you feel soggy. It was also sort of ambivalently chilly. We spent most of the morning in the maze, getting lost, stepping in puddles, shrieking, etc. Then we walked around the grounds and finally speed-walked through the castle itself before heading off to Canterbury.

The gate to Canterbury Cathedral. Note the Starbucks. The old God meets the new.

Canterbury Cathedral. I saw the site of the Becket murder, and attended Evensong with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, presiding. And we sang "He Who Would Valiant Be," which was appropriate.

Oxford, then Alfriston (East Sussex), and Wantage (Oxfordshire). The somewhat circular route was decided on by the fact that the Wantage hostel was only open on weekends, and it was too late to cancel our reservations in Oxford for earlier in the week. Catherine and I spent the week lost, hungry, broke, drenched, and thoroughly happy.

Me waiting for a bus in Oxford. Unfortunately, my spectacular architectural shots didn't come out too well, but trust me, the place is gorgeous. We stayed in this total dive of a hostel, with sagging mattresses and several different smells that we couldn't quite place ...

We bowed down at the Holy Temple of Balliol College, from whence our fictional hero Lord Peter Wimsey emerged, and we had lunch at the Eagle and Child (aka the Bird and Baby), where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein would hang out and talk theology, and we went to a stand-up show, and got lost in Blackwell's, and generally had a good time.

A cake in the Covered Market, in Oxford. They got the American flag backwards. My immediate reaction upon seeing this was, "look! It's Bush and Blair!"

The hostel in Alfriston, East Sussex. A sixteenth-century cottage, with an absolutely gorgeous living room (fireplace, timbered ceiling, etc.) and a magnificent staircase. We had an 8-bed room to ourselves (it was February), with a bay window and a view over the garden and the cow pasture.

Alfriston proper. Taken near the beginning of our day-long twelve-mile hike.

"I can see it, I just can't get there!"

The walk to the Channel, with only our eyes as maps ...

I don't know what happened when I was scanning this in, but the entire middle section got whited out. Anyway, that's the English Channel there.

The Star Inn, in Alfriston. Cute little paintings on it. Catherine's outside, standing by the menu, but she's pretty hard to see.

The antidote to Spring Break - so expensive it hurt to think about it, but with transportation arranged for us, gourmet food, comfortable beds, a garden to read in, and horseback riding in the countryside, it was a nice taste of the good life. There was also a houseboy named "Nigel" at the place we stayed. You can't put a price on that kind of entertainment.