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