Saturday, September 1st, London

Greetings!

We woke up this morning, and it did not look like the sunny day that was predicted.  At breakfast, we decided to take the train to Oxford instead of the Underground to Kew Gardens.  Two underground tube trains later, we were in the Paddington Station, and got there just in time to board the east-bound to Oxford.

I know Pat preferred to go to Cambridge, but she demurred to my preference for Oxford.  The area holds lots of history for members of the Lary family, and I wanted to walk the same University grounds that some of them walked.  And then there's the Harry Potter thing.

Those of you who have seen the trilogy will remember many scenes in banquet halls, and on stairways.    When we got to Christ Church College, it was apparent that filming a popular movie in sets based on your college hasn't been lost on their marketing staff.  The queue through the dining hall was five deep in teens and wound down the stairs and out main door.  On the walls were portraits of alumni, including Lewis Caroll and several prime ministers.  None of them moved as we passed by them.

We visited several other colleges.  One of them had a chapel with a 16th century reproduction of Da Vinci's Christ's Last Supper on the wall.  Except for the bounty of Henry VIII paintings, I couldn't find any sign of Lary ancestors.  There is a nature preserve (Wytham Woods) nearby where my Norrey ancestors lived in Henry VIII's time.

And for those of you with plans to be in London, we recommend two restaurants within a block of each other (obviously, this is the restaurant place to be).  One is Pera, serving excellent Turkish food and entertainment, and the other is Thai and Co, whose service and selections couldn't be better.  Both within walking distance of our hotel, in the Woodside Park neighborhood.

Here is a link to the photos taken today: Saturday, September 1st, London

Tomorrow's our last day here in London, and I'm pretty sure we'll be heading to the Kew Gardens.

Gregory