UK trip part 1 - Oxford

Pretty smooth flight, little hopper plane to Vancover from Seattle (Thanks Lise for taking us to the airport), I was in row 12 and it was at the back of the airplane, that is how small it was.

Vancover airport was lovely but a hell of a long walk, perfect timing for our next flight, just enough time to shop and have a cup of tea, the plane was very new 777, entertainment system was very new, lots of movies so we were all happy, food was OK but not great and most of us got at least some sleep (Lilly did really well, stretched out, head on my lap, feet on Debra's.

We stopped for some lunch at the airport then got a car for our trip to Oxford, roads were busy, it's the M25 after all but not a complete standstill.

After checking into our B&B quick shower to shake of some of the journey we headed into town, a 10 minute walk along Abindgon road, narrow, lots of bicycles and many large buses, the boys were amazed that they could all exit together without major accidents happening every 2 minues. From the narrow pavement (sidewalk) you almost felt the bus brush past your  shoulder.

Went we got into the town proper, we started to point out all the colledge buildings and the old pubs to the boys and they started carbon dating, by eye, the building and at a rough guess they said they were from about the time of the dinosaurs.

Pubs as frequent as Startbucks are in Seattle and although I know they exist here, I did not spot a single one. Sam gave up on his plan to take photos of every pub after the 5th or 6th one that he came across in about the first 300 yards.

We popped into River Island, and the boys realised that they quite like British fashion, Nathan picked out an entire outfit, shoes, t-shirt, underwear and jeans, the price was not even that bad as some was in the sale but he could not face that this was the first shop and so what else would he find later, such trauma.

We help out until around 6 to have dinner, we went back to a pub we had passed earlier, "Head of the River" right on the banks of the Thames river, sat outside and had a pint and some food, chatting and watching punts and other boats go by as teh sun set for the evening.

Tired but happy we walked back to the B&B and all went to bet pretty early.