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This fall I took an entire month off and travelled around England. The main excuse for this was a friend's 50th birthday on October 14. The other end of the trip was a tour of England's Cotswolds sponsored by the Ex-Students Association of the University of Texas and run by Alumni Holidays www.ahitravel.com which ran from September 19 to 27. I just wandered around and visited a couple of other friends the rest of the time.

My trip to England (Fall 2000)

Kab
2004-09-15 09:58:09

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The Cotswolds is a range of limestone hills, beech wood, steep valleys of pastureland grazed by sheep renowned for quality wool. In Roman times sheep and rivers were a source of wealth for medieval people producing wool and cloth. The area boasts quaint and colorful towns and villages. The base of our tour was Stratford-upon-Avon. Stratford is a small Elizabethan town on the gently-flowing River Avon. Stratford was the birthplace of William Shalespeare (in 1564). The city consists of an array of 16th and 17th century structures with rows of half-timbered houses, including Shakespeare's own home on Henley Street. Stratford was a market town and trading center in the Middle Ages.

Tuesday and Wednesday, September 19 and 20, 2000
With miles I earned on a trip to Singapore last year, I upgraded to business class and has a luxurious flight from Denver to London via Newark. I left Colorado (where it had not rained in months) and landed in New Jersey and London, both of which were getting a pouring rain. It was wonderful to see.
I was met at Heathrow by Tim Parry who has a limo service between Stratford-Upon-Avon and London. He gave me a guided tour of the area on the way to Stratford. I hadn't even gotten to my destination and I had already seen some lovely Cotswold villages.

I wandered around town a bit to get cash and familiarize myself with the area while I waited for the rest of the tour group to arrive. Dinner at the hotel was accompanied by a local actor performing bits of Shakespeare.

Thursday, September 21, 2000
We stayed at the Alveston Manor hotel which is on the other side of the River Avon from the main part of Stratford. The first performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream was at the Alveston Manor. The bridge we crossed to get to Stratford is the Clopton Bridge, named for Hugh Clopton who lived in Stratford and moved to London and became ...