Oxford Peeps

Here is the oldest pub in Oxford, the place where Bill Clinton allegedly smoked but did not inhale. Casey, Mandy, Jack, Nathan and I scored a warm spot by the fire on the back patio.

I love Jack's lips! He almost always had them pursed like this...

Taylor University people may recognize our student body president from 2001-2002, Andrew Fennig. With him is his wife, Kristen, and their daughter, Lucy Kate. We saw them at Casey and Mandy's church. I was so thrilled to get one up on Allison, who sees Taylor people everywhere.

Not satisfied with just one TU grad, I found Chris Jones in the lobby, who graduated in 2004. Both Chris and Andrew are studying at Oxford (Mandy and Kristen are making silly faces in the background). While I don't think anything will top Allison's chance meeting with Drs. Russelow-Winquist and Winquist at the Grand Canyon, I think this one's at least in the running.

Go Trojans!

Oxford

While Nathan and I aren't thinking of moving to Oxford, Nathan had some friends there that he wanted to visit. Since several lines on the Tube were closed in London for construction, we walked to the bus stop and caught a ride to the Paddington train station. While we waited for the bus, and older English woman waited with us. All of a sudden, two younger people (a guy and a girl in their late teens or early twenties) sailed by us on their bicycles. This Englishwoman called out after them, "You know the rules! You're not supposed to ride on the pavement!" The girl called back, "So sorry madam!" Nathan and I just laughed. That definitely would never have happened in the ATL. If you see Nathan, ask him to impersonate the elderly Englishwoman. It's awesome!

We made it to Oxford in about an hour by train, and walked to the car rental place. A young Englishman and a German (?) sales person at Europecar were hashing out the details about insurance on the rental. I think there was some misunderstanding, so the Englishman just blurted, "Say some Oxford bus prangs into me. Am I covered?" I thought that was funny too. Nathan and I took to writing these funny little sayings in my journal. We got the rental car and the precious GPS (a definite marriage saver) and maneuvered our way to our B&B.

Wait! That's the wrong side for the steering wheel to be on!

Nathan likes to read his Guiness Book of World Records, and he recognized this sign as being one of the amazing feats he read about. The first person to run a mile under four minutes did so on the track on the other side of this fence.

Some old looking Oxford buildings...

Radcliffe Camera

I can't remember the name of this college, but it was pretty!

All Souls College

Christ Church College, where our friend Casey is getting his PhD

The Harry Potter-esque dining hall. I think they actually filmed the movie here.

Portraits in the dining hall.

Kristi, this is for you. X marks the spot where Ridley and Latimer were martyred for the faith. The other dude with Nathan is Casey.

Here is the memorial for Ridley and Latimer. I couldn't tell which statue was who, so I'm saying this one is Latimer.

Lewis, Tolkien, et al hangout, the Eagle and Child pub.

London Round 1

After our afternoon walk around London, we needed some grub! We popped into a pub, but it was really crowded and the first sign we saw said, "Beware! Thieves about! Do not give money to anyone except the person delivering your food." I just couldn't do it, so instead we stopped in a grocery store to get some dinner. Little did we know that the Whole Foods mecca was right off of our Tube station. It was three stories high, with restaurants and cafeteria style dining on the top floor. Holy smokes!

Here we are about to eat the best burritos ever.

AND they had Italian gelato, made in house. Boy, do I look beat tired or what? We'd been up for about 36 hours at this point.

Back at the hotel, I couldn't figure out how to wash my hands without either burning them or freezing them because the hot water and cold water ran out of two different taps. Nathan and I resorted to turning them both on and whipping our hands back and forth as fast as we could to make it even. :)

Here's our first hotel room. Nathan was busy flossing.

Here's the outside of our first hotel. It was just one skinny part of this row of establishments. We were on the tippy top floor.

A Little Sightseeing

After Nathan's first interview, we both felt a burden lifted and were just so happy to be together in London on HOLIDAY! We walked a loop around the Thames River, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Enjoy the pictures from our afternoon!

200 Posts

Weird... this is my 200th post. Some people I know give away prizes to celebrate, but I know that can't come up with something clever, so I'll just blow you a kiss if you comment at the end of this post.

On with the show.

We arrived at London Gatwick at 6:45 a.m., took the Gatwick Express train to Victoria station in central London, then the Tube to High Street Kensington, near our hotel. We hit the morning rush hour, so it was very crowded. Our hotel was just a few blocks away. We arrived during some renovation (new wallpaper was being hung) and during housekeeping hours, so it was hard to sleep, even though we were exhausted. Our room was on the top floor (no elevator!) and it was 102 steps from our room to the bottom. After napping for a while, we freshened up and got on our way.

The first university we visited was King's College, a branch of the University of London. The building was very modern looking, but the chapel inside was very old. The professor there was very kind, and he led us up to his office through quite the labyrinth of hallways, doors, and stairs. While he and Nathan met about his Ph.D. proposal, I waited outside in what looked to be a time-out chair on a narrow ledge overlooking several flights of stairs.

See? It totally looks like a time out chair, doesn't it?

Back in the USA

Hello friends!

We're back home safe and sound. We had an adventurous time in England, and I'm excited to share more with you... as soon as I finish grading my mounds of papers. :) I'll leave you with the beginning of the story.

Thanks to some very generous "buddies" of ours, we flew on buddy passes but were blessed enough to fly business class directly to London-Gatwick. We were seated next to the lovely Beth Redman (wife of Matt Redman) and two of their five kids, their oldest Maisey, and their youngest, 6 week-old Samuel. When I figured out who she was, I just wanted to gush about how she and her husband wrote the soundtrack to my college years, but I played it cool. :) Nathan and I ate like royalty, watched movies (Twine, I finally saw "This Is It"), and slept with plush pillows and blankets. Ahhh... I could definitely get used to flying in luxury.

If it weren't for the rogue hair, this could have been our Christmas card picture this year. :)

More to come!

Cheerio

First of all, I'm sorry that the last post was in such a small and unreadable type. I've tried fixing it every day, but it's been no use. Anyway...

Nathan and I leave for England this afternoon for Spring Break! I finally took matters in my own hands and bought a camera last night at Wal-Mart. Now you can look forward to at last having pictures of other things besides my beautiful niece, not than anyone's been complaining. :)

Cheerio chaps.