Campanile Coventry

With time rapidly dwindling I went down to Banbury way this afternoon to visit my brother et famille before I leave, taking the opportunity to say goobye to two young nephews - one of whom was able to appreciate some of the implications of what I am doing, "But what if you get sick?" he asked. :-)

Back up to Stoke in the late evening. Last day of preparations tomorrow.

... br>very..umm..informative and slightly condescending in his tone when
speaking..which he does alot of in comparison to the last tour. We
set off to Hampton Court..and in a very short time we were there. The
"tour" of Hampton Court didn't involve the palace or the formal
gardens..just the gardeny bits around the outside. Not terribly
exciting. The toilets were the most exciting bit. We got back on the
bus and continued on towards OXford, making good bus time ...

... India train timetables, Packing suggestion lists, Foreign and Commonwealth Office information sheets, TravelPod Forum open, my diary........David is downstairs building our kitchen in our building-site of-a-house which is almost finished completion - hooorah! He's done all the plumbing, electrics, plasterboarding, fitting of units, everything while I have been designated as Honeymoon Organiser and Planner. Not sure who's got ...

... sweetcorn and mayo. Stratford-Upon-Avon and Warwick Castle The birthplace of Shakespeare was a really pretty town, straight out of storybook with it's leaning buildings in contrasting black and white, thatched roofs and antique shops. Apparently Shakespears is buried under 16 feet of concrete to stop people digging up his bones and his house was knocked down by a priest who was sick of tourists. Lunch was ...

... over the castle that Nathan couldn’t even hold the audio controller any more. Our feet and hands were numb by the time we got into the car.










We went home for lunch of a pastie and eccles cake and then drove out to the Castle Inn at Edgehill where Stephen and Michele used ...

... and we laughed at how silly sheep are and how deep their 'baa’ is.

























We got back hungry and exhausted. All the tearooms were full of people so we bought some delicious ...

... back to the river. We went and did a brass rubbing for 7 pounds 50p ($17) of the Earl of Warwick from 1406. We were so cold when we got home that I had to put my feet on the central heating pipes for ages. Called Lavinia in London and arranged to have dinner Monday night. Went to the local for a drink and then home for Coq au Vin.

... br>








All the way home we looked for a bakery to buy some sausage rolls for lunch but couldn’t find any. We had a late lunch when we got home at 3.45 pm. Tonight for dinner we bought Indian from Tesco’s Supermarket and heated it up. Really no cooking and so nice.

... picked us up and we went food shopping for dinner. Had a piece of pork and egg pie. Stephen cooked us duck with orange sauce and veggies. We put the dinner on and walked around to his local "The West End" and sat by the fire and had a drink. After our delicious dinner we watched a DVD – “Nanny McPhee” which was fun.

Woke up 3 am and dozed until 6am and then got up. Nathan slept until 8 am. Michele made us all porridge for breakfast. This morning we did a 2 hour walk around Stratford with Stephen. We went to Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare was baptised and buried. We had a look inside and read some of the old tombstones. We walked along the river and saw swans and ...