Ambling Ramblings #21- The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

On our return across the Channel, we had a day of exploring London (my all time favourite city in the world) in which we went back to the Victoria and Albert Museum, a place we went to last time we were in London, but needed more time to explore further. We had a lot of fun with the interactive displays and I tried on a corset and hoop skirt, and then we designed textiles and book plates on some digital interactive activities which was a lot of fun. We did get a few strange looks though, as I think we are perhaps a little too old for such things, but what can I say, the child in me likes to come out and play! We also loved seeing lots of lovely teapots and other antique china, beautiful furniture and old clothing and then some incredible old books and other historic artefacts. We also went to the British Museum, which has an amazing collection of historic artefacts from all around the world and from all eras of history. Some of the ancient pieces, Egyptian Mummies, Persian sculptures from Bible times as well as items from the Greek and Roman empires were just incredible to physically see. It has given me a greater understanding and appreciation of the history of our world and just how the world as we know it has developed. I also enjoyed some of the more recent pieces, like a collection of clocks, from intricate little pocket watches to great big Grandfather clocks. By this time we had seen so many things that we couldn't take in any more, so called it a day and walked through the city back to our hotel. We have got quite good at using the tube and are quite comfortable with catching the trains in London so we do that when we get tired (this is, after all, quite a big city and you can only walk so far in a day, craning your neck upwards to look at everything around you!) I have loved seeing spring come to the city and seeing all the parks that we saw five weeks ago coming to life with blossoms in the trees, daffodils blooming everywhere, swans on the lakes and ponds and more and more green life every day. It's just so beautiful, even the window boxes on all the apartment buildings are full of beautiful pansies, tulips, jonquils and other very bright, happy flowers. 
Saturday and Sunday were spent on a two day bus tour of Southwest England through Oxford, the Cotswolds (one of the most beautiful parts of England), Bristol, Bath and Stonehenge as well as stopping in a lot of lovely little villages along the way and driving down country lanes through the English countryside.  There were only three other people on the tour, so it was a nice and small tour group with a really good tour guide who knew a lot about the area and had lots of good stories to tell. We had a fabulous time, although it was strange to have someone else organizing our days for us, after being self reliant for so long! 
I loved all the picturesque countryside, sheep grazing on the hillside, gorgeous little cottages covered in vines, lunch in a lovely little tea room, lots of antiques shops, the lovely little bridges and gardens in the villages, the big old manor houses, settings from period dramas that I love, drywall stone fences through the fields, hedgerows and a vibrant rainbow that we stopped for photos of as the colors were so deep! Our tour guide in Oxford was quite the character, this lady had the biggest personality i have ever encountered, two hours with her were quite exhausting! We were in Oxford on degree day, so saw lots of students and professors in academic regalia, ready for graduation ceremonies. The highlight of the time in Oxford though was visiting Blackwells bookshop and browsing through hundreds of books-another of my 'one weaknesses'!   
Although the little country villages scattered throughout the Cotswolds, like Stow on the Wold, Castle Combe, Upper Slaughter (quite the name!), Lacock and Bibury were my favourite stops on the tour, I must confess that I very much enjoyed going to Bath. In Bath we went to the Roman Baths, wandered the streets and went to the Jane Austen centre for a tour and an insight into the two novels that she set in Bath, one of which is my favourite of all her novels, 'Persuasion'. The centre has quite an extensive collection of pieces relating to Jane Austen and has a very well organized exhibit about the years that she lived in Bath and I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about my most admired literary works and their author. We also stopped at Stonehenge on the way back to London from Bath and although it was quite cold, wet and rainy, it was nice to get out of the tour bus and walk around a field looking up at an incredibly dramatic sky with dark clouds rolling in on one side, and clear, cornflower blue sky on the other. Spending two days in such a beautiful part of the country just makes me want to see more, not only of that region, but to explore further afield someday!