| Up we got, and again we got our wonderful double-dose of morning fare: first the Big Breakfast in our rooms and in the TV Lounge, then our cooked breakfast in the dining hall, all together. |
| Wonderfully, David has latched upon our family Grace as the shared prayer of our Tour: "Come, Thou, Lord Jesus, Be our Guest. Let everything we have be blest. Amen." |
| Finishing breakfast and gathering our lunches, we headed for the coach - today driven by Dave (no, not our Dave!) and it's off to Coventry to see the cathedral. It was another pretty drive, but quite long. |
| We arrived at the cathedral after taking the
pedestrian underpass. On the way, a few kids were nearly hit by a bus,
as they were following other kids who were following other, none of whom
were thinking clearly enough to look the correct direction before crossing
the street (it's all backwards here, you know!). In fact, some of
us never got the hang of it, to the point of marching blithely across a
street in London looking both wrong ways. Anyway ...
|
| We got to the cathedral, and the new building
was to close soon for a rehearsal, so we did the new part first.
It is magnificent and moving, but a bit too modern for my current taste
- I believe I enjoyed it more in high school. We moved out to the
bombed remains of the old cathedral, and I found myself remembering Perry,
explaining the meanings of various sculptures and features. It felt
wonderful to be able to pass that experience to my kids, just as he had
to us.
|
| After we were done with the cathedral, it was off to Oxford where John and Charles had both studied, and founded the Holy Club. |
| We gave the kids a little free time before
Lincoln College opened, and it worked out fine. Unfortunately, they
didn't know we were coming, so we were left to our own devices. It
was a lovely college, but we didn't get much of anything out of our visit.
|
| Next, we thought to visit Magdalen (= maudlin)
College, former home of C.S. Lewis and the Inklings. Alas, the College
is closed today. So - we added a quick tour of Christ Church (at
Christ Church College), based on David's assumption that Wesley would have
worshipped there - apparently an unfounded one.
It was kind of a nice church, but nothing special. |
| The kids stayed outside, and had a wonderful
encounter with an English panhandler who extracted £1 from them,
with directions on how to get even more back from some guy in a bar in
London.
|
| Then, back on the bus and home to Nando's
for dinner. To the kids, they found a mysterious sauce on the table,
and a mystery meat on their plates. What's this?! Why, it's
a wonderful mint sauce (with some bite!) and Welsh lamb.
Pat thought se would try to give us some real English food while we were staying with her - it was great, and the gesture greatly appreciated. |
| After diner, a quick change, then the stroll to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for a performance of "Twelfth Night." |
| We should have packed our noses with cotton
and our trousers with ice, as we had tickets in the Nose-Bleed section
(up against the wall) in a stifling hall with temperature somewhere around
37C: I was sweating like a stuck pig (and I'm sure you're happy to know
that).
|
| The play was good, the performance was good,
and the production was good, despite some kids' claims to the contrary.
|
| Many of the group headed off to Pizza Hut
after the show, while the rest strolled Nando's-ward.
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