Sister City Oxford, Cotswolds English Countryside & Guy Fawkes Day

This weekend we continued our travels and headed to the English countryside.  JJ picked up the rental car (a little Vauxhall - very European and I forgot to take pictures!) early Saturday morning and we were on our way.  This was the first time that we had driven over here and it felt very strange for both of us.  JJ did an excellent job maneuvering the crazy narrow roads and being on the other side.  He said it was so strange to look to the left to the rearview mirror but I think he got used to it by the end.  I was the navigator and did a pretty poor job!  The roads are so confusing here and the roundabouts definitely take some getting used to.  A lot of the road markings are actually written on the street so it was impossible to see in the rain.  At least we had GPS on our phones.   I also went to the drivers side to enter the car a million times instead of the passenger side.  Driving will definitely take a while to get used to here!

We stopped in Oxford on the way and planned to have lunch there.  It is really a beautiful college town.  There were some graduations this weekend and there were tons of people everywhere.   It is huge - it felt about 10x the size of Ann Arbor.  It was just a quick stop this time, I think we will definitely be back to do more exploring.  We had to take some pictures for the folks at home in Oxford since it is the sister city!

Then we were back on the road and headed to the country.  The fall colors were beautiful.  I feel like the leaves change a little slower here since it is a more mild climate.  The whole drive was beautiful with the colors and the sheep and the rolling hills.  It was exactly how I pictured the countryside to be.  We arrived at our B&B around 5pm.  It is a small B&B in a farmhouse built in the 1700s in a tiny little town.  The owners live there and they only have 2 guest rooms.  We were the only guests there so we had it all to ourselves.  Our host, Rosemary, greeted us with the best tasting tea we had ever had and these delicious brownie cakes.  Tyler enjoyed playing with their cat and dog and we enjoyed relaxing with our tea by the fire.  It was perfect!  There is only one restaurant in town so we headed to there for dinner.  We were the only people there as well and the owners were super nice to us.  Autumn - if you are reading it was very reminiscent of the Hometown Tavern, except no dog named Potato.  The owners lived there and they cooked all the meals from scratch.  After dinner we headed back to the B&B to put Tyler to bed.  There was a great sitting room by the fire so JJ and I took advantage of that we enjoyed the relaxation!  And the bed was incredibly comfortable and much appreciated after our couple weeks on the air mattress.

In the morning Rosemary cooked a wonderful English breakfast for us that consisted of fresh pressed apple juice from their orchard, homemade applesauce, scrambled eggs, toast, sausage and bacon.  It was completely delicious.  Tyler enjoyed his fresh apples and yogurt and Rosemary took Tyler to their side of the house to play with him so JJ and I could eat our breakfast in peace.  We hadn't had a meal without Tyler basically since we got here so that was so nice!  On our way out, they gave us some great recommendations of things to see in the Cotswolds on Sunday.  We loved it there and would love to go back and stay for a longer time in the summer.

We headed up to the town of Great Malvern which is perched on top of a huge hill.  Again, the colors were amazing and on the hill you could see the whole countryside.  There are a bunch of little old towns in the Cotswolds.  They are all adorable and all the buildings are made out of stone and look like they have been there for hundreds of years (which I'm sure they have).  We stopped in a town called Broadway for lunch and shopping and enjoyed both.  Then we headed back east to London but had one more stop on the way - Costco!

JJ found a Costco on the way home and they accept our US membership too.  It seems stupid but this was incredibly exciting for us.  We picked up a lot of the old favorites that they have in the US.  They even had the same baby wipes that we love and Pampers diapers.  Sadly for JJ they did not have Cheez-its so that will need to be something that he really savors back in the states.  We loaded up on good old bulk goods and then came home.

Now for this week the great news is that our sea shipment has cleared customs and we are set to have our things delivered on Friday!  This is so exciting we can't wait!  It's been a long 5 weeks and we are really looking forward to having this place feel like home.  Also we will be closely watching tomorrow on Election Day and JJ has his absentee vote cast (I'm ashamed to say that I had a slight issue when trying to vote in that I hadn't changed my name to Kern yet and it was too late - I realize this makes me a horrible American and pretty much a waste of space).  As for local happenings, for 3 straight nights there have been fireworks displays all over.  When we were at the restaurant in Cotswolds the owners said that they were empty because everyone was at the fireworks and bonfires.  She noticed us giving her blank stares and said, "It's close to the 5th of November if you know what I mean."  We kind of shrugged it off and thought it was a strange time of year to have fireworks.   Again tonight there are fireworks all over so I googled it and found out that it is Guy Fawkes Day.  According to Wikipedia here is the explanation:
Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.

So that is the explanation.  And the Brits are loving their fireworks displays right about now! 

Oxford, England

Fight on, Wildcats fight!  Found Oxford High School and had to take a picture :)

Sister city Oxford, England.  I was disappointed to see that sadly Oxford, MI was not recognized on the sign...

Tyler enjoying his dinner with the restaurant to ourselves!

The breakfast room at the B&B

The huge fireplace in the sitting room at the B&B

Teddy, resident at the B&B

Downtown Broadway

Tyler enjoying the cozy bed in his English sweater :)