A crazy photo update!

I've been slacking on the blog posts, but mostly due to being insanely busy. I've got tons of photos to share but don't have the time or the energy to upload them all, so here are a few with some brief explanations.

Last Friday we spent most of the day in London, getting lost. We found Russell Square, with this awesome Victorian building Nathan became completely obsessed with (we'd love to live in the area one day, but were recently told that rents run around £2000/mo for a one bedroom flat. yikes!):








Nathan's father has been in town since Saturday the 15th, so we've been entertaining him (and ourselves) since his arrival. The first several days we spent gallavanting around Oxford (because there's just so much to explore):

(Some of Oxford's famous spires, paired with the Radcliffe Camera)


(The Bridge of Sighs)


Lest you think everything in Oxford is quaint, let me assure it is not. Most of the time it is quite crowded, and I think September is still very much a part of the high tourist season. Last weekend was alumni weekend here, and the town was bustling, to say the least. Here's a portion of the crowd we encountered on Cornmarket Street, one of the main roads in the downtown area here:



Here Nathan and I are at the Eagle & Child Pub, the famous Oxford pub where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis used to meet and socialize/argue, likely in the very booth they utilized (we were both very tired this particular day as you can probably tell):


Oh oh! One thing I should mention is that we've refreshed Nathan's wardrobe since we arrived here, out of necessity. He needs some decent things to wear for business school. Here he is looking spiffy:



We spent the past two days in Bath. We got a fantastic deal on a wonderful boutique B&B with a lot of character. It was definitely among the fanciest places we've ever stayed, and probably the best value. I was very happy with it.... one of those budget traveler's delights.

Bath is incredibly beautiful but very touristy. To escape a lot of the tourism, the first day we spent about an hour walking along the canal, which had numerous hand-cranked lochs for the many boats that travel through.



The houses along the canal are beautiful but not ostentatious like much of the rest of Bath...





Here are some of my two favorite dorks enjoying themselves on this particular walk:



We broke down and took one of those tacky open-top tourist buses. We had less than two full days there and so wanted to make sure we saw the highlights of the town. The bus tour helped even though it rained on the open top a bit. Here's one of the famous views of Bath, of Pulteny Bridge:




This morning we visited the beautiful Bath Abbey built in the 16th century (I loved its ceiling!):








And of course we couldn't leave the city without visiting the famous Roman baths. Too bad they're not open to the public for bathing - due to the lead pipes and something about a strange bacteria growing in the water (?!):






Now we're back home in Oxford for the evening. We've got a tour set up on Sunday to visit Stonehenge, and tomorrow we may head into London, depending on our energy level.

I hope to write up a more substantive update on the past couple of weeks sometime next week after Norman leaves. Things are not going to get less hectic, though, as the starting date for Nathan's program draws more near and preparations for my Kenya departure kick into high gear (I leave a week from this Sunday).