Last weekend, in lieu of hitting London multiple times:
Friday, Salisbury and nearby Stonehenge. Stonehenge wasn’t really on my list of things to see, and as I thought, it wasn’t all that impressive. Impressive is how it was constructed, not what it was for or what is left standing, in my opinion. Salisbury is a nice enough town, with a nice enough cathedral.
Saturday, things having settled down, I went with some people to London. After leaving them at Buckingham so they could watch the Changing of the Guard, I went off to do my own thing, rolling up to Mornington Crescent station, then back to the London Transport museum at Covent Garden (though the nearest Tube station was closed, along with most of the Piccadilly line), then I looked at Westminster Abbey from the outside, since it was closed to the public for the day.
Followed this with a quick tour of the Tower of London (did it in one hour, whew) and a DLR trip to Greenwich to see the National Maritime Museum (OK) and the Royal Observatory (awesome).
Met the group back at the Imperial War Museum, went to dinner at a reasonably-priced place in Soho (Cafe Emm), then caught the bus for home.
Sunday, I went to York. And I forgot my camera, so I had to buy a disposable when I got there. But it’s a cool town. Saw Clifford’s Tower, which is all that’s left of the castle, walked along the city wall, had a pint of Yorkshire Terrier, saw York Minster, the largest Gothic church in England, went to the Yorkshire Museum, walked a bit more of the city walls, and finally visited the excellent National Railway Museum.
(Yes, yes, I’m skimping on details. Boo-hoo.)
Finally, tomorrow I depart the UK for the weekend to visit southern France, flying into Toulouse in the Midi-Pyrénées and then taking the train on Friday into the high mountains of the Ax region. Saturday, I shall see the Tour de France. I fly back Sunday morning, and will get back to Oxford in the midafternoon. Once I recover from the inevitable sleep deprivation I’ll be sure to write all about it.
I’ve gotten photos titled from departure through Pisa. Of course, now I’m behind on weekend photo processing. Sigh. Still, for those of you entirely lost by my Florence pictures, you can now have your thirst for knowledge sated.
