Ye Olde Merry England

"Who parked that car there!" It was an eventful start to our trip to England as David backed into a parked car, wounding his pride and the rental car (not to mention the parked Mercedes!!). Did I mention we hadn't even left the car park of our apartment in Clontarf. After sheepishly returning the slightly dented rental car, we scurried off to the terminal and our Ryan Air flight to Birmingham. The first of the downpours had us taking the scenic route to Sheffield, our first stop. Once there we checked into our B&B (Westbourne House).

Westbourne House, Sheffield

This was a lovely place opposite a private school where you could hear the sound of the children at band practice. After a search of the Internet we decided that a journey into the picturesque Peak District would suit us for dinner. We had a lovely meal at The Plough Inn. It was in the valley in the beautiful little town of Hathersage. The next day David had meetings at Sheffield University, so I set off to explore the city. After eventually finding the tourist information, I set off on a self-guided walking tour, which had 27 points of interest. It will probably come as no surprise that I got lost at stop 3. After once again getting my bearings, I located the Peace Garden and Winter Garden and Millennium Gallery. By chance, old friend's of David's from Palmerston North, Ken and Sheila Jolley, were just down the road at their daughter's so we had an early dinner with them at The Strines, another old English pub in the Peak district.

Shakespeare's birthplace

Next stop and a quick 2 hour drive - Stratford upon Avon. Of course, we saw Shakespeare's birthplace and everything Shakespeare. We fitted in Shakespeare's childhood home before setting off towards Banbury to meet some business colleagues of David's for lunch. Lunch was at an old pub with the politically incorrect name of the Black Boy Inn. After a morning of sunshine, the afternoon changed with another downpour and the rest of our sightseeing was spent jumping puddles before heading off towards Oxford for our next overnight stop.

We had been managing to navigate our way quite well until the A46 was closed at a vital entrance to the motorway and a detour was in place. I decided the blue signs with an arrow were the detour signs, however after half an hour of driving we realised these were normal road signs and we had driven now further away from Oxford than we needed to be.

Oxford

Eventually we arrived at Dorchester-upon-Thames (just south of Oxford), a quaint little town that is used for the filming of "Midsomer Murders". The hotel dated back to between the 16th and 17th century and the owner was very friendly. We had a lovely dinner here and a lovely morning following in Oxford exploring the cobbled stone streets and narrow roads. I loved Oxford and its beautiful buildings and history. Of course quite the contrast to busy, crazy, pre-Olympic London where we went on Friday afternoon.

The Lyceum Theatre, West End

Over the next couple of days, we took in most of the major sights - did the Hop on, Hop Off bus, Tower of London, did a cruise on the River Thames, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, saw the Lion King and walked and walked and walked.  The highlights of our too short stay in London was the performance of The Lion King and dinner at Sarastro.

Sarastro, Drury Lane

The show was brilliant with its costumes and music and as we left the show with the raining pouring down we were caught up in the bustle and excitement of the West End at night. Sarastro, also in the West End, was where we had dinner the following night. David had been there before with Helen and I had heard stories about this quirky restaurant with its operatic decor and interesting paintings. Midway through dinner an ensemble of musicians entered the restaurant and started playing. It was a lovely evening despite the naughty little boy who upended salt and sugar canisters and tried to get his hands on our bottle of wine while his parents ignored everything he did. We managed to fit in sooooo much in 2 days and yet still so much yet to see. We will save these sights for next time. Anne

The Tower of London

Trafalgar Square