Michelle Travels the Globe: Marwell Zoo/Old Sarum/Oxford

On May 23, 2013, I joined my friend Susanna and her mother Mickey on a school field trip to Marwell Wildlife. Mickey is a teacher and Susanna is a Chemistry technician. I was on a bus with 40 eleven year old British kids just thrilled to get a day out of the classroom. This zoo was a lot different than the ones I am used to back in the United States. There weren't as many animals, but there was a lot more space for the animals they had to roam. I prefer this kind of zoo because the animals don't look as miserable, they have space to wander around as if they were in the wild. Very nice day walking around spending time with my friend and seeing all the creatures.

On May 25, 2013, it was an absolutely beautiful sunny day in Salisbury, England. There also happened to be a Viking event going on at Old Sarum which is about a 15 minute walk from Susanna's house. Old Sarum has evidence of human habitation as early as 3000 BC and contains remains of a castle built around 1075 AD. The people putting on the event were staying there in period time tents and tried to make everything as realistic as possible. It was great to walk around, see some history and enjoy the sunshine!

English Style (Gate)

Later that day, I took a train to Oxford because I was advised that it was a beautiful city and the university was worth seeing. I got in a bit too late to see anything the first evening, but went to a BBQ with Rick, a friend and met a lot of great people from all over the world. One guy I met named Diego offered to show me around the colleges in the morning for free because he works for them. It was another sunny day and so we walked around and went through a very beautiful park. Diego needed to go back to work and I went to the Pitts River Museum. This is a great museum that had a bunch of artifacts from all over the world. The most famous display is the shrunken heads.