Michael and Becky

Michael and Becky came to visit in mid-April and caught the prime of Oxford's spring. We had 10 days of uncharacteristically beautiful weather in which we explored Oxford, Bath, the Cotswolds, and London. I gave them a tour of my lab to show off my micrscope,
and we took a tour of the city, where they got to see the insides of a couple of colleges, followed by a picnic lunch in the quad of Balliol, where you can see the chapel and library behind us.
We walked around Christ Church meadow along the Isis (the Thames, as it flows through Oxford),

and we visited the Eagle and Child, where the Inklings (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and others) did much of there writing in this very corner. We stayed for a couple of pints and a Sunday Roast.
We also hit the History of Science Museum, where Michael posed with a chalkboard Einstein used in a lecture he gave at Oxford,
and the Natural History Museum (where Michael continued his photoshoot).
Just outside Oxford lies Blenheim Palace, built around 1705, residence of the dukes of Marlborough, and birthplace of Winston Churchill.
Exploring the gardens behind the palace we found a Blenheim pheasant,

and a Blenheim Becky.
On a side note, closely related to the Blenheim Becky is the Bath Becky, with a boar, seen below.
After Blenheim we ventured further into the Cotswolds to a small town called Chipping Norton, where we stopped for a cream tea before hiking a small hill overlooking the town.
In Bath we visited the Roman Baths, situated directly adjacent to the Abbey, seen below.

The Roman baths and the accompanying museum was incredibly interesting, and well worth the visit.
We also took a bus-top tour of the city, which was first established as a spa resort by the Romans, and is now a World Heritage Site.
Walking along the river,
and looking across at the Abbey, which was founded in the 7th century and was most recently rebuilt in the 16th century.

Next, we headed to London, where we became super-tourists. We hit numerous tourist destinations in and around London, a few of which:
Hampton Court,
and the surrounding gardens,
a riverboat tour of the Thames (the London Eye in the background),
Buckingham Palace (again, with the Eye in the background here),
Kew Royal Botanical gardens, Westminster Abbey, the Tower Bridge and Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Churchill War Rooms, Greenwich, and Hyde Park. I've posted just a random smattering of pictures here; for the full experience, I refer you to Becky's Picassa album, an impressive, and thoroughly annotated version of their trip, including 1092 pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/scoutsadie
Overall, it was such a fun trip, and absolutely wonderful to get a chance to explore the area with them. I'm already planning their next trip to come see me!