Family Vacation in the U.K., 3rd October 2016, Day 4: Oxford, and arrival in London

Our family had a memorable day today. We saw so much, and all this without actually staying overnight at any place. We arrived in our Insignia at the Enterprise office in Oxford around half past nine. I had already negotiated an arrangement to leave our luggage with the Enterprise office here and then explore Oxford on foot. The team gladly took possession of the car, which we had planned to deliver here. We left our luggage with them, which they very kindly agreed to. After this, we made our way on foot to explore this little but important educational centre on foot. Our sojourn took us to various college and university campuses in Oxford. The most interesting of the lot was the Trinity College and the Christ Church College. At the Trinity, we also visited the cathedral inside. We also visited the Bridge of Sighs, and did a full tour of the Oxford Castle Unlocked;  we ended our trip with a bit of punting on the Oxford River just past the Magdalen College. 

What we could not see were the famous Ashmolean museum and a few other museums that this city has. What we did observe, however, was that Oxford is a tight little city that is highly bicycle-friendly (we would learn later that Cambridge, another educational place in the U.K. is even MORE bicycle-friendly, but for that, wait for the installments to come). 

The Oxford covered market was where we had our lunch and browsed for different kinds of things. While the three of us had pasta, Nishrin had a sandwich to tide over hunger. 

What follow are some interesting pictures we took in Oxford.

The presenter at the Oxford Castle Unlocked

Hannah on the detention board

Inas, ditto

A prison cell

Trinity College

Trinity College grounds

The College cathedral

Entrance to the Oxford Covered market

Hannah under the Bridge of Sighs

Punting A

Punting B

Punting C

hunger. In the evening, we returned to where we had kept our luggage, and then we went to Oxford station to catch a train to London. We arrived at the Notting Hill station via a tube train ride that we took from - I can't remember for sure, but I think from the London Victoria station. 

The Notting Hill Gate hotel was just a few minutes away from the tube station. We checked in into a very small, cramped family room with 2 double beds and hardly any floor space or storage space to keep our luggage. The reception staff was extremely unhelpful, and the room itself had nothing to recommend it to anyone coming to London for a trip. We went to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner, the Zizzi's restaurant. Food here was really interesting, and perhaps, this was the only thing that went right for us after we entered London. We slept soon after, as there was nothing to do. Tomorrow, we would begin our sightseeing in London.

Family Trip to UK, October 2016: I An overview

My family arrived in the UK through Manchester on the evening of the 30th of September 2016. Having flown on Turkish Airlines, they looked tired. I went to pick them up in a car I had hired from Enterprise - a US based company that works out of many locations in the UK. 

I took my family straight home to my residential quarters in the hospital, where they settled in for the night. From the next morning, we were on the move. We first went to Bath, where we stayed for 2 nights, then Oxford and onward to London, where we spent three nights. Our next destination was York where we would stay for 2 nights, but before that, we stayed one night at Cambridge. After York, we stopped for a night at Durham, then proceeded to Edinburgh, where we stayed for 3 nights. From Edinburgh, we moved to the Lake District, where we stayed near Hawkshead for one night, and then, onward to Blackpool itself, where we stayed for 5 nights. On the 20th, my family took a return flight from Manchester to Mumbai, thus ending a memorable 21 day holiday that had everything in it.

This, then, was the itinerary (as planned and how it panned out):

30/09/2016: Arrive in the UK via Manchester. Stay overnight in Blackpool at my place.
01/10/2016: Travel to Bath, and arrival to Aquae Sulis Hotel. Evening walk to local places. 02/10/2016: Visit to The Roman Baths. Onward to Stonehenge. Return to hotel.
03/10/2016: Drive to Oxford. No stay. Explore the sights and buildings on foot. Punting on the local river. Drive to Castle Comb village for an unique rural experience. Evening train to London. Stay at the Notting Hill Gate Hotel.
04/10/2016: London sight-seeing. Hop-on, hop-off bus tour. London Eye. Thames river cruise. London bus tour by night.
05/10/2016: Museum of Natural History. St. Paul's Cathedral. More local sight-seeing.
06/10/2016: Leave London and drive to Cambridge. Overnight at Cambridge.
07/10/2016: Cambridge colleges sight-seeing. Drive onward to York. Overnight at Clearly Apartments in Bootham.
08/10/2016: Explore York. Visits to the Minster, to the Shambles and other local sights. Overnight.
09/10/2016: Leave York and travel to Durham. Visit to Durham Cathedral. Could not see the castle as it was closed that day. Stay overnight, 
10/10/2016: Planned hot-air ballooning with Virgin. This flight was aborted because of inclement weather. Proceed to Edinburgh. En route, unscheduled halt at the Vindalonda Village (old Roman archaeological site) and Hadrian's Wall. Reaching Edinburgh at night, overnight at Heather's Place (booked on AirBnB).
11/10/2016: Full day bus trip to Scottish Highlands and visit to Loch Ness. Return to accommodation overnight.
12/10/2016: Full day Edinburgh sight-seeing. Visited the Edinburgh Castle and a few more places. Stay at the accommodation overnight.
13/10/2016: Leave Edinburgh and arrive at Hawkshead at the High Grassings Hotel at Outgate in the Lake District. Stay overnight.
14/10/2016: Check out, and drive to Blackpool Stop at Tarn Hows on the way for a few hours of brilliant sights of the Lake District. Drive by ferry to Bowness-on-Windermere. Take a boat trip from Bowness-on-Windermere to Brockhole, then Brockhole to Ambleside, and then return to Bowness on Windermere. Drive back to Blackpool in the evening. Arrive at Blackpool and stay overnight.
15/10/2016: Drive to Manchester. Visit to Manchester United FC. Return to Blackpool.
16/10/2016: Drive to the Birds of Prey Centre at Trubary Woods, Duxbury, Preston. Amazing experience with hawks, owls, kestrels and falcons. Then, drive onward to Liverpool where we spent the evening at the Waterfront. Overnight at Blackpool.
17/10/2016: Local sightseeing at Blackpool, Visits to the Blackpool Tower, Dungeons, Sealife and Madame Tussaud's. Overnight at Blackpool
18/10/2016: I resumed work at the hospital while the family went to the Pleasure Beach.
19/10/2016: Shopping and enjoying the last night with family.
20/10/2016: Drive family to Manchester airport, from where they returned to Mumbai with Turkish Airlines.

End.