A Breather...

Saturday evening and Sunday we slowed our paced a little - whew! We've been having a great time, but our pace had been a little on the fast side. I have a little time to catch up the blog.

We left London Friday morning via a hike, Tube ride, train ride and taxi to Oxford. Oxford is a beautiful, historic college town northwest of London. Regrettably, I did not plan enough time here (we felt the same way about London - only so much time and so much money - same for us all!). Anyway, we did get to visit several of the spots we really wanted to see in Oxford. First we had lunch at a historic pub, a favorite of one of our favorite authors - C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (Narnia and Lord of The Rings among others).

Next we visited Martyr's Memorial where the reformers Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and later Thomas Cranmer were all burned at the stake. They were all heroes of the faith who bravely spoke out about the error and corruption of the State Church in their day. They stood on the authority of the Bible and against man-made traditions.

Next we visited St. Mary the Virgin's church which was responsible for the founding of Oxford and location of the hearing for the above martyrs. The Wesley brothers worshipped here as students and John preached 44 sermons here.

Oxford and its many colleges was home to many other heroes of the faith including: John Wycliffe, John Owen, and William Tyndale. Albert Einstein was also a "fellow" here. We spent 3 hours in Oxford - enough to whet our appetites, but then we need to be off further north to our destination for the night - the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds are a quaint English country-side famous from the time of the Romans and before for its wool. We found a bed and breakfast in the middle of a small village called Stanton via Rick Steves' material. However, the big reason for the rush was that Emily and I had reservations for a "hack" - the English word for trail ride!

We had a wonderful 1 hour ride while Joanna and Jordan (allergic to horses) went for a hike.

After a ride and shower we all headed up the hill to the only pub in the village (don't think primarily a drinking establishment - more like a restaurant - that's what their pubs are like). We met a really nice local family - the O'Sullivan's (see Joanna talking with them). After a wonderful meal and a nice visit Mike O'Sullivan kindly offered to drive us the next day to our next destination - Warwick. This was a godsend as we discovered there is no good way to get from where we were in Stanton to Warwick by rail.

By the way, Stanton's village church was really cool - 12th Century or before as my memory recalls. Notice that the grave yards in these historic churches surround the church. There was some interesting history that I haven't time to get into a present, but here are some pictures of it.

Mike drove us to our B&B in Warwick and then back to the entry to Warwick Castle - what a kind man!

Warwick Castle is arguable and reputed as one of the best preserved Medieval castles in the UK and even all of Europe. There is a great deal of history there and though it is somewhat touristy - it is well done. They have actors, programs and really good displays. Some of the walls and towers date back to 914 AD and pre-date the English monarchy. This place is way cool!

After a long day we hiked back to our B&B but not before we stopped at a grocery to pick up some food and enjoy a more quite and restful evening. After breakfast morning Sunday we had a brief consideration of the first few Proverbs in chapter 15, and how "a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" -the wisdom of the Lord. Next, we took a brief taxi ride to the train station for a long day's ride up into Scotland. As I typed this we were about 15 minutes from our destination of Edinburg. We'll enjoy another more restful evening and then off for a tour of another grand and historic castle - Edinburg and some great Reformation history with John Knox.

One last thought - we have been blessed with unusually nice weather (according to locals) the whole time we've been here - thanks Lord - and thanks for your prayers.

Bye for now and Lord bless!

Brett

Ps. 111:2

 

 

Drinking from a fire hose...

Drinking from a fire hose is the expression/illustration that comes to mind to describe our experiences the first 6 days of our European adventures! (Thus the first posting in this amount of time - sorry.)

We drove to Chicago last Sunday with a rental, spent the night near O'Hare airport and flew out at 9am. We arrived in London about 7 1/2 hours later (10:45pm local time). After an overnight at a hotel near Heathrow airport, we took a train and then "the Tube" to central London to our hotel for 3 nights. After dropping our bags we went for a brief walk and to look for lunch and here were some of our first real sites of London:

Big Ben, Parliament!

London Eye - see more below

I wish I had more time for commentary at present, but I do not. However, I wanted to get some pictures posted. I'll comment more when time allows. All of the photos on this post were taken in London. We traveled to Oxford yesterday and had a brief, whirlwind tour of some highlights, then on the train again to the Cotswold region. I will show and tell more about that next time.

We rode lots of these!

Hello?

John Bunyan - writer of Pilgrim's Progress - godly hero of the faith - not to be confused with Paul Bunyan!

Wesley Chapel and memorial to John Wesley

Tower Bridge - not to be confused with London Bridge says Jordan

Tower of London - the official residency of the British Monarchy for about a 500 year period. This whole castle complex was amazing and included the Crown Jewels.

Stairs coming up through "Traitor's gate" at the Tower of London castle. These original steps go back centuries (as does most of the complex). These steps mark some of the last few steps of many famed individuals who were condemned as being guilty of treason. The Tower of London was used to imprison or as the place of execution for many famous or infamous people in history including William Wallace (Braveheart) who walked up these stairs. William Penn who founded Pennsylvania was imprisoned here a time as well. Many more stories to tell on this place!

Top of St. Paul's Cathedral. One of the most famous churches in the world rebuilt by Christopher Wren. The Nazis specifically wanted to destroy it during their WWII bombing. However, despite that it was one of the largest targets and I think we were told over 1,700 bombs targeted it, none ever hit it - what a coincidence!

What a view!

World class, World travelers

Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard

Westminster Abbey - this place is amazing! No pictures allowed inside, we'll get a book - many stories.

Inside Parliament - we were able to get into the House of Lords while they were in session, debating - very cool - again no pictures once in the chamber.

Rosetta Stone - British Museum

Assyrian display - some of the exiled Jews from Old Testament times beheld a view of these Assyrian sculptures thousands of years ago. Then the Lord humbled the mighty Assyrians. He raises one and lowers another - His will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Until next time, thank you for your prayers - we have been blessed in so many detailed ways that we look forward to sharing.

Lord bless,

Brett

Ps. 111:2