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Location: Blogs Simon and Melody's Blog |
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| Posted by: supersi |
Wednesday, August 02, 2006 |
After last weekend’s adventure to Eastbourne, we decided this Saturday to skip the trains and take a journey to the heart of England’s brain power: Oxford University. We safely arrived after ignoring all GPS suggestions to go anywhere near a route through central London. Upon arriving we did the typical tourist thing and headed straight for the “Hop-on, Hop-off” bus, which is an excellent way to see the sites and hear some commentary.
Oxford is a very beautiful campus and university town, but what will never cease to amaze me about this country is the history. The university was founded somewhere near the end of the 11th century. It is divided up into 39 colleges, and most of the ones we saw were built in the 1400’s to 1600’s. That is, like, OLD! I mean, while Europe was building castles, advancing in science and education, what on earth was going on in North America?? Whatever it was, I imagine it involved smoking too many peace pipes.
One highlight in Oxford was walking by the Eagle and Child pub (known locally as the “bird and baby”). This is where Oxford students C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien used to meet weekly to discuss mighty issues over a pint of, uh, tea? There have been many other great minds and moral thinkers that studied at Oxford in addition to Lewis and Tolkien. Among whom are: Bill Clinton – oh, sorry, let me start again… Among whom are: 47 Nobel prize winners, four British and at least eight foreign kings, and 25 British prime ministers, among others.
After Oxford we made a quick stop at Blenheim Palace, and we definitely plan to go back for a closer look. We then headed up to Bicester as Eugene Higgins is holding tent meetings there. It was great to see a familiar face. Actually, make that *two* familiar faces! Amy (Fuller) is on a graduation world tour of sorts, and had just arrived for a stay there. Nice to see you again Amy, and to hear a solid Canadian accent!
On our way home that night, we did the GPS-recommended through-central-London-very-bad-idea route, thinking it would be a neat way to see the city. Turns out that sitting in traffic here is about as enjoyable as in Toronto. But, as we drove down one stretch of road, it did suddenly feel oddly familiar. As it happens we drove right past the hotel in Paddington where we stayed during our house hunting trip (Sept '05). Funny the memories that came back. I remember looking out the hotel room window onto that very stretch of highway, feeling like a complete stranger in a foreign city, having no idea what the future months would hold. Kindof scary, really. But, we can look back now and thank the Lord for all His goodness. We have so much to be thankful for. |
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