Parents Arrival, England

                                                     Dad driving on the wrong side of the road

                                        Mom and Dad outside Oxford Castle, which is now a hotel

                                                   Dad in a phone booth which smelled of pee

                         Mom outside the phone booth because it smells like pee

                                     Whitney in Witney, this is where we told dad to pull over
                                and instead he drove up the wrong way of an exit of a freeway

                All of us on top of Cheddar Gorge, mom and dad looking exhausted and me looking refreshed

                                     Mom made us pull over just to take a picture on a rock wall

                               View point in Bath, after we booked it out of there from the Easter crowds

     Stonehenge, someone had to come and take this photo for us after we failed miserably to do it ourselves

                                                               Dads Birthday Present

                                            Getting prepared for his demonstration drive

                                                   All set to go (you can see the fear in his eyes)

                       Mom and Dad first time in London on the Tube, looking ecstatic

                                        Mom and Dad off to visit Hogwarts through platform 9 3/4

                                                Abbey Road, mom posing, dad looking casual

                                                      Tower Bridge at night, my favorite

                                                                      Big Ben, its big alright

          Changing of the guards, millions of people crowded around Buckingham Palace Easter Sunday

                                                                  Princess Diana's Memorial

                                                     Sunday Dinner, in Nottinghill



Mom and Dad arrived on Thursday and there was no time to waist.  We rented a car and were off, our first stop of many was Oxford for the night.  We toured around Oxford that night so that in the morning we could get an early start on our other journeys.  however early starts when traveling with anyone over the age of fifty doesn't work out as planned.  As early as I could get them moving we headed off to Witney, seeing as it is named after someone important.  Trying to get a photo with a sign that said Witney was quite the adventure as dad turned up onto an off ramp from the freeway and we had to quickly pull off into the grass so as not to die.  Leaving Witney we headed to Bristol, which was not one of our favorites and therefore did not spend much time there.  From Bristol we ventured off in search of Cheddar Gorge which I had read about the night before and boy are we glad we did, it was incredible! A huge gorge with breathtaking views which we hauled dad to the top of to get some good photos.  We were headed to Bath next so we drove all the way through the gorge to the other side and continued on to Bath which was so jam packed as it was Easter weekend.  We tried parking for an hour but it was so busy and stressful to drive in we took it as a sign to leave.  We stopped for a traditional english meal of fish and chips at a small pub on the side of the road on the way to Stonehenge.  Stonehenge was closed so we took pictures through the fence and even tried climbing the fence/ lifting each other up for a better photo.  After a long day of traveling we stopped in Cholderton for the night.  In the morning I wanted to bring dad to a race track as a late Birthday present but hadn't anticipated everything being closed for Easter.  So we headed to Mercedes Benz World where he could test drive a car, however the test drives were full for the day but some amazingly nice women said because it was for his Birthday she'd get him something he'd never forget......he got to go in the car during a demonstration with professional stunt drivers!  It was awesome and he loved it despite his initial fear of what he was getting himself into.  We returned the car after dads mini adventure as he was starting to become a race driver himself, and we headed into London.  That night we took a boat cruise down the river Thames and walked across Tower Bridge.  The next morning was power sight seeing so that they would experience all of London.  We lucked out and ended up at Buckingham Palace just as the changing of the guards was about to commence.  As it was also Easter Sunday that day we had a traditional Sunday Dinner at a pub with a roast and potatoes, and the works before heading to church at St. Paul`s Cathedral.  After eight hours of touring it was time to call it a day and take a train into Colchester. Today we will head around my town, spend one more night here in Colchester then start part two of the adventure early (hopefully) in the morning tomorrow.