England II

(Southern England)
1. London
Lodging: St. Christopher's Inn - Greenwich
Activity: Fat Tire Bike Tours
(Pictures)
2. Canterbury
Category: Small Town
Attraction: Cathedral
Activity: Canterbury Cathedral
(Pictures)
3. Saint Albans
Category: Small Town
Attraction: Pubs
Pubs: http://stonch.blogspot.com/2007/01/st-albans-pub-crawl-in-camras-home-town.html
(Pictures)
4. Arundel
Category: Small Town
Attraction: Castles, Steep hillside, restaurants
(Pictures)
5. Porlock
Category: Small Town/Village
Attraction: Naturally beautiful, thatched houses, near coast, lots of cheap, pretty accommodation Activity: Near Exmoor National Park
(Pictures)
6. Bath
We're going here.
(Pictures)
7. Cambridge
Attraction: Tyndale Library - supposed to be one of the best theological libraries in Europe. Maybe check out Trinity College?
(Pictures)
8. Oxford
Area: Oxfordshire
University dates back 750 years, has 39 colleges making up the university. Plenty of restaurants, shops, accommodation.
Warning: Looks expensive (accommodation)
(Pictures)
9. Woodstock
Area: Oxfordshire
Category: Village
Attraction: Near Oxford, very charming, cheaper, Blenheim Palace - Churchill residence
(Pictures)
10. Wells
Category: Another small town
(Pictures)
11. Salisbury
Category: City
Attraction: Near Stonehenge, strong history, modern, many cafes, restaurants, lively.
(Pictures)

(The Cotswolds, England)
12a. Winchcombe
Category: Cotswolds Town Attraction: Unspoiled, central in Cotswolds territory, maybe more affordable accommodation.
(Pictures)
12b. Burford
Category: Cotswolds Town
Warning: Busy in summer
(Pictures)
12c. Chipping Campden
Category: Cotswolds Town
Attraction: Of the Cotswolds, supposedly less visited, more 'unspoiled'.
(Pictures)
12d. Cirenchester
Category: Cotswolds Town
Attraction: Doesn't appear to get too busy; also the largest of Cotswolds towns.
(Pictures)
12e. Tetbury
Category: Cotswolds Town
Attraction: Similar to Painswick.
(Pictures)
12f. Painswick
Category: Cotswolds Town
Attraction: Supposed to have unspoiled beauty, uncommercialized, and non-touristy.
(Pictures)

(Herefordshire, England)
13a. Ross-on-Wye
Category: Small Herefordshire town
Attraction: Charming, on a river, seems a little larger than other Herefordshire towns
(Pictures)
13b. Ledbury
Category: Small Herefordshire town
Attraction: Charming, cool little marketplace, "Ledbury loop" 17 mile bike loop
(Pictures)
13c. Hereford
Category: Small Herefordshire town
Attraction: Charming, Cathedral
(Pictures)

Shropshire, England
14a. Ludlow
Category: Shropshire town
Attraction: Supposedly famous for it's restaurants, castle, large church, variety of accommodation, camping available on a hill overlooking the town as well.
(Accommodations)
(Pictures)
14b. Shrewsbury
Category: Small Shropshire town
Attraction: Near the Rail, 70k residents, near Wales, Tudor architecture
(Pictures)

Derbyshire
15a. Buxton
Category: Mid-sized city, slightly upscale
Attraction: Right on the border of the Peak District, compared to Bath, tons of cafes, restaurants, architecture
(Pictures)
15b. Derby
Attraction: Pretty countryside, lots of surrounding natural beauty, River Derwent
(Pictures)
16c. Nottingham
Attraction: Pretty, lots of history
Warning: Lots of history adjacent to lots of modernity
(Pictures)


Wales
1. Llangollen
Category: Village/Vale
Area: North Wales
Attraction: Stunning village in a green, hilly valley on a river, restaurants, accommodations, architecture, abbey, castle on a hill
Warning: In July, the town swells from 3000 people to 120,000 people for a music festival.
(Pictures)

2. Beddgelert
Category: Village
Area: North Wales
Attraction: In Snowdonia, near Caernarfon
(Pictures)

3. Caernarfon
Category: Town
Area: North Wales
Attraction: In Snowdonia, Wales' largest castle (on the water), charming town
Warning: Lonely Planet says it seems to be closing down a bit; on the decline.
(Pictures)

4. Tenby
Category: Seaside Town
Area: South Wales
Attraction: Multicolored pastel Georgian houses/architecture, lively
Warning: Busy in the summer
(Pictures)

5. Betws-y-coed
Category: Town
Area: North Wales/Snowdonia
Attraction: Good base for hiking in Snowdonia, described as having an 'Alpine feel', on 2 rivers
(Pictures)

6. Llandudno
Category: Seaside Resort town (Wales' largest)
Area: North Wales
Attraction: More activities, restaurants, bars, pubs, accommodation; Victorian architecture.
Warning: Seems big; resort-ish.
(Pictures)

England Activities

Fat Tire Bike Tours in London: http://fattirebiketours.com/london/tours/london-day-bike

Internet Options

T-mobile, my best friend on the road in california, apparently may become my best English friend: http://t-mobile.hotspot-directory.co.uk/search.php. Not sure what the difference is between that one and: https://selfcare.hotspot.t-mobile.com/locations/retrieveGlobalLocationByCountry.do?country=UK

BTOpenzone.com - British Telecom Openzone. Wifi Hotspots throughout cafes, and in some instances, available simply outdoors. http://www.btopenzone.com/

myhotspots.co.uk - http://www.myhotspots.co.uk/

England

Places in England we want to go to..

Brent:
* Bath - river avon, abbey, famous roman baths, architecture
Kent - countryside
Devon/Exeter - cathedrals, coast, countryside
* Dorset - castles, coast, countryside
* Cambridge - bridges, friendly
* Cornwall - beautiful coast
* The Lake District - lakes, mountains, country
* Derbyshire - country, rivers
- Isle of Wight - cottages, country
* Lancashire - nightlife, pier, castle, river
* Newcastle - rivers, beer
** Liverpool - city, cathedrals, waterfront
* London
- Oxford - college
- Warwickshire - rivers, castle, country
* West Sussex - castle, river
- Worcestershire - country, hilly
* York - historic, castles

Sights

I imagine this will grow to be quite a large list. This will include any sights we intend to see, also based on your suggestions.

Amsterdam

• Rijksmuseum Amsterdam - A museum containing a large number of Rembrant's paintings.


• Rembrandt House Museum - A house in Amsterdam where Rembrandt lived and painted for some years. Still standing today, and houses many of his works.

Austria

• OBERAMMERGAU - A town in Austria recommended by Ceci (thanks Cess).

Blogs

Here we will keep track of any travel blogs we've found or that have been sent to us that can provide any insight or useful tools.

• www.getjealous.com/pritchard - A family and 3 kids that took a full year to travel across the world. as 10/7/2008

Lodging

We have a general idea of how we want to move about the countries with regards to lodging. We don't want to spend a lot of dough. We don't really want to stay in hotels for money reasons, plus it's a bit isolating from the real community. Ideally we'd like to stay with local families as much as possible. It's much cheaper, and it would allow us to get to know some locals that are eager to boast of their town or country. On the other hand, we aren't necessarily interested in staying at the party-central type of hostels.

Europe:

• HomestayWeb - http://www.homestayweb.com/euhome.html - Families that have registered to provide lodging for fellow travellers as ourselves for a fee. as 10/8/2008
• HospitalityClub - http://www.hospitalityclub.org/ - 400,000+ members across the world registered to meet up with you in their city for a brew, some to show you around the city, and some to provide lodging at their place. bcl 10/7/2008
• http://www.exchangezones.com/

Switzerland:

• http://www.ferienzentrum.de/fotos/ferienwohnung-unterseeblick.html - Stephan and Hester's apartment in Switzerland. Our friends apparently rent out an apartment of theirs in Switzerland; this one is right on the lake. Note: only available for weekly rental between June and September, long-term any other months. bcl 10/9/2008
• Valley Hostel - http://www.valleyhostel.ch/. This hostel appears ok. I'd read good things about it elsewhere. bcl 10/7/2008