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| Saturday, 3-May-2008 13:19 |
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Stratford-upon-Avon... where the great Bard was born
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I've heard many tales from travellers who say that visiting the town is a major letdown... swarmed with tourists, too commercialised etc.
That was true... there were throngs of people when we arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon... what with it being Bank Holiday and all... the whole of England seemed to be there. And true... it was massively commercialised unabashedly. Every shop or cafe seem to be milking every opportunity to tie themselves to one of the greatest playright that ever graced the face of the earth.
But that didn't deter me... actually, more of, since I'm already in the vicinity... why not? I don't have high expectations anyway. His great work can't be evaluated with the town that he was born and lived, or the buildings that have some historical connection to him. To really appreciate his work, one must read or if given the opportunity watch the play.
I'm not a great Shakespeare fan... what little I know about his work were mainly from the readings I did at school or university and from being exposed to various plays during inter-form English drama competition in TKC.
Despite all the shortcomings, I think Stratford-upon-Avon is a nice town... with lots of tudor type buildings, the river Avon through it. Worth the 3 hour visit 
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| Saturday, 3-May-2008 10:29 |
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Warwick Castle
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This was the one and only castle that we visited while in England. And I'm glad we did
Unlike other castles yang semata2 tunjuk as display, Warwick Castle is like a living historical heritage site... ada people dressed in the garb of zaman dulu, buat benda2 macam zaman dulu.. and lucky us, that particular week ada *solving the crime* a la CSI theme going on. So they had events lined up through out the day to keep people intrigued.
The castle sits on a hill which required a bit of a walk from the parking spot. When we arrived, ramai orang dah sampai dah so we had to park quite a distance. Tapi since the air was cool, tak lah rasa penat bila jalan.
I actually took lots and lots of photos inside the castle with my IXUS, but as I mentioned earlier... all those are gone. Otherwise you'll see how the castle was decorated complete with mannequin dressed in original dresses of those who used to reside here. The decor was lavish and intricate.
You'll also otherwise see pictures of a room filled with pelbagai jenis senjata... pedang, arrow, baju besi etc etc
How I wish I could get all those back. A return trip perhaps?? 
So here you'll only see outdoor shots...
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| Saturday, 3-May-2008 09:20 |
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Home of British Motorsports
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Today we're heading towards Warwick Castle and Shakespeare's birthplace... Stratford-upon-Avon. The castle is about an hour's drive from Oxford.
Sambil tengah driving kat highway tu, I saw signboard which says "Silverstone"
Both Papa and I got excited. "Shall we?"
Yes we shall... and took the detour. Our Garmin went screaming saying "when possible make a u-turn"... "recalculating"... repeatedly that I had to turn the thing off.
I actually had more photos of this place but the SD card on my IXUS went kaput masa kat Berlin. And lost with it all photos taken from this point onwards 
I can just remember posing in front one of the grandstands, gambar dengan kereta, dan pelbagai lagi... tapi itu semua kini tinggal memori.... sob! sob!
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| Friday, 2-May-2008 13:53 |
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Final sights from Oxford
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| Friday, 2-May-2008 13:10 |
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Sheldonian Theatre and surrounds
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This is where the Oxford peeps go to get their scroll... after being paraded through town. Cool ain't it?
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| Friday, 2-May-2008 13:04 |
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Bridge of Sighs
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| Friday, 2-May-2008 12:42 |
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Bodleian Library
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| Friday, 2-May-2008 12:35 |
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Strolling through Oxford
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After Christ College we met up with Afidalina, my friend Peah's sister, who is currently doing her PhD in Oxford. I can't for the love of me recall her specialisation... something with genetics and engineering. Like sister, like sister...
She took us around and we sempat shopping kasut kat Clarks 
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| Friday, 2-May-2008 11:31 |
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Christ Church College - Part 2
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| Friday, 2-May-2008 11:07 |
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Christ Church College - Part 1
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This is by far the most famous of all the colleges in Oxford. The architecture, the sheer size and made even more popular by the Harry Potter films when some scenes were shot here.
As a result, now kena bayar admission, and quite mahal pulak tu. Nasib baik Mama & Papa dapat pensioners discount 
But it was worth it!!
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