United Kingdom (London and Edinburgh)

[hangchoi]

We had organized a trip to UK and the significant part was in Edinburgh where we would had a whisky tour. I posted some pictures here in accordance with our schedule and would my friend please feel free to add up your pictures here.

I reduced the file size of photo for easy browsing.

[hangchoi]

Flying to London is a long-haul flight but to me it is ok. This is because the flight is usually at late night so that you can sleep in the plane and arrive in the early morning.

We arrived in Heathrow T5 at 5:30am......London was having a heat-wave attack......

[hangchoi]

Due to our arrival at early morning, we decided to change our plan to activate the rail pass on the first day as we all were in good condition to start our out-bound trip to Oxford. It also made us arrived at our hotel earlier as we can take the Heathrow express by rail pass.

We took about 20 minutes from Heathrow to Paddington station, where our hotel was just 50 meter away from it. I don't want to mention which hotel we stayed, anyway the location is very convenient, that's it.  

Paddington station is an old station and a big exchange point, which fits our schedule very much.

[hangchoi]

After settling down our luggages at hotel, we headed to Oxford. It took about an hour by train to this classic city. The third picture is the town hall of Oxford.

[hangchoi]

One of the famous spots is the Christ Church. Was Harry Potter filmed here?

[hangchoi]

Oxford is a university city, which means the university buildings scattered in the town. It has a college system and you can see different colleges at different places. These are the university-related buildings, library of Lincoln college, student dorm, and a study centre. Each has its own building style.

[hangchoi]

Other than university, Oxford has its own museum, and some architectures for memorial. The first one is the oldest building in Oxford, the second one is the oxford canal and the third is a tower in memory of 3 Protestants being burnt dead there by Queen Mary.

[hangchoi]

Previously we had no plan to visit Oxford. One day, a friend told me that there was a shopping outlet close to Oxford which stimulated the interest of the ladies of our group. This shopping outlet, Bicester Village, can be reached by 15 minute rail. Hence, the ladies can spend a whole afternoon there for shopping.

The village is nicely built and a lot of shops there, but I am not interested in it.....

[hangchoi]

Day 2, we planned to go to Cambridge. Before that, we noticed that Kate, wife of Prince William, got into hospital in preparing her first child and the hospital was just 1-block away from our hotel. Then we had another spot for visiting. We walked to the hospital and found lots of reporters......

We saw road block, police, and lots of reporters from all around the world. Each of them had their own area for reporting.....

[hangchoi]

To go to Cambridge, we had to take train at King's Cross station. What is famous there is the platform 9 3/4  now. We saw a long queue there for taking pictures and some station staff there will help putting a neckerchief of any one of the four colleges in Harry Potter. They can take a picture for you and you can buy at their visitor center, a good business maybe.