Sunday, 28 May 2000 Edinburgh
Not much today. We mainly traveled here to Edinburgh. We went through Manchester, and stopped there for a while. The whole trip took about six hours or so. The train was nice. We had a bit of a conflict between the train door and Sheryl’s suitcase and lost the pull handle to it. The ride was beautiful, though. This north country is extraordinarily gorgeous. The hills became much larger and more rolling. There were sheep and cows and streams and it really was everything I’d imagined.
Edinburgh seems nice. Our B&B, the Ardgarth House, is like being in someone’s home. We walked along the beach of the Firth of Forth. I still don’t know what a Firth is, but I don’t guess it really matters. I’m really looking forward to seeing the city for real.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Friday, April 29, 2005
England Scotland Travelogue - Day Seven
Saturday, 27 May 2000 Oxford
Forgot to write yesterday because of total exhaustion, so I’ll recap two days.
Friday. Let’s just say it rained. A lot. It basically rained all day. We caught the bus to head downtown and meet the guy who was going to be our guide to Blenheim Palace. Unfortunately he had to have four people to go to make any money and Sheryl and I were the only ones. He did give us solid directions to get there and we followed them, again by bus. We did have to walk the long driveway to the Palace. In the rain.
The Palace was beautiful and huge. It was where Winston Churchill was born unintentionally. There were many huge rooms and tapestries that covered two walls and a library that seemed to stretch on forever. We ended up having lunch there and headed back. In the rain.
We napped at the Dial and then headed out to find the Kilns, C. S. Lewis’ home and Holy Trinity Church where he worshipped. In the rain. We found Kiln Lane and walked up a drive but aren’t sure if we actually saw it, getting soaked the whole time. We did find Holy Trinity and his grave. The church was closed, so we didn’t get to see the Narnia Window, where there are paintings of characters and events from the Chronicles. We saw the back of it, but not the front, but oh well. We would have actually worshipped there Sunday, but our schedule wouldn’t permit it.
2005 note: We did not actually find Lewis' home. His house is on Lewis Close, which we passed, but did not walk up. We ended up walking all the way up Kiln Lane wondering where it was. Oh well, maybe next time.
We headed back in the rain and finally got back to the Dial and collapsed and bathed and warmed up and slept.
Saturday. No rain. We taxied to the rail station and went to Salisbury. We’d decided we really couldn’t get to Avesbury and Glastonbury, so although that was disappointed, we really wanted to see Stonehenge. In Salisbury we hooked up with a Californian named Keith. We ended up staying together most of the day.
We got tangled up some on how to get to Stonehenge and ended up spending a couple of unintentional hours in Salisbury. We finally got out to Stonehenge and it was a neat site. To think of four thousand years of history, even to the fact that we really don’t know exactly what it was built for and the preciseness of it was amazing.
Well, tomorrow we head to Edinburgh by train. I’m not looking forward to the trip as much as I am to being there in Scotland.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Forgot to write yesterday because of total exhaustion, so I’ll recap two days.
Friday. Let’s just say it rained. A lot. It basically rained all day. We caught the bus to head downtown and meet the guy who was going to be our guide to Blenheim Palace. Unfortunately he had to have four people to go to make any money and Sheryl and I were the only ones. He did give us solid directions to get there and we followed them, again by bus. We did have to walk the long driveway to the Palace. In the rain.
The Palace was beautiful and huge. It was where Winston Churchill was born unintentionally. There were many huge rooms and tapestries that covered two walls and a library that seemed to stretch on forever. We ended up having lunch there and headed back. In the rain.
We napped at the Dial and then headed out to find the Kilns, C. S. Lewis’ home and Holy Trinity Church where he worshipped. In the rain. We found Kiln Lane and walked up a drive but aren’t sure if we actually saw it, getting soaked the whole time. We did find Holy Trinity and his grave. The church was closed, so we didn’t get to see the Narnia Window, where there are paintings of characters and events from the Chronicles. We saw the back of it, but not the front, but oh well. We would have actually worshipped there Sunday, but our schedule wouldn’t permit it.
2005 note: We did not actually find Lewis' home. His house is on Lewis Close, which we passed, but did not walk up. We ended up walking all the way up Kiln Lane wondering where it was. Oh well, maybe next time.
We headed back in the rain and finally got back to the Dial and collapsed and bathed and warmed up and slept.
Saturday. No rain. We taxied to the rail station and went to Salisbury. We’d decided we really couldn’t get to Avesbury and Glastonbury, so although that was disappointed, we really wanted to see Stonehenge. In Salisbury we hooked up with a Californian named Keith. We ended up staying together most of the day.
We got tangled up some on how to get to Stonehenge and ended up spending a couple of unintentional hours in Salisbury. We finally got out to Stonehenge and it was a neat site. To think of four thousand years of history, even to the fact that we really don’t know exactly what it was built for and the preciseness of it was amazing.
Well, tomorrow we head to Edinburgh by train. I’m not looking forward to the trip as much as I am to being there in Scotland.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
England Scotland Travelogue - Day Five
Thursday, 25 May 2000 Oxford
A pretty good day today. We left London about 9:30 and reached Oxford about 10:30. We took a taxi to the Dial House and basically collapsed on our bed. We slept for an hour and a half which we really needed.
We headed into the town by bus and basically wandered the rest of the day. We ended up seeing a couple of nice places. Christ Church College was the first. It was huge and very formal. It had a walk thru tour and the whole deal. We then moved down to Magdalen College, pronounced "maudlin." It was where C. S. Lewis taught. It was much less formal and immensely more enjoyable. Sheryl and I would walk down the halls and the Quad and through the paths, as though we were students. It just felt right.
We also saw Blackwell’s Bookstore, which was huge. Four floors, the basement one stretching beneath Trinity College which was next door on the street. Kind of like a super Barnes and Noble. I got a book on Shakespeare and the movies, which I read bits of already. Seems good.
We got back to our room, which is much bigger and nicer than our Barry House room. We had Pizza Hut for dinner and stayed in. We’re shooting for Blenheim Palace tomorrow, then Glastonbury, Stonehenge and Avesbury on Saturday, possibly by car.
Uh-oh.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
A pretty good day today. We left London about 9:30 and reached Oxford about 10:30. We took a taxi to the Dial House and basically collapsed on our bed. We slept for an hour and a half which we really needed.
We headed into the town by bus and basically wandered the rest of the day. We ended up seeing a couple of nice places. Christ Church College was the first. It was huge and very formal. It had a walk thru tour and the whole deal. We then moved down to Magdalen College, pronounced "maudlin." It was where C. S. Lewis taught. It was much less formal and immensely more enjoyable. Sheryl and I would walk down the halls and the Quad and through the paths, as though we were students. It just felt right.
We also saw Blackwell’s Bookstore, which was huge. Four floors, the basement one stretching beneath Trinity College which was next door on the street. Kind of like a super Barnes and Noble. I got a book on Shakespeare and the movies, which I read bits of already. Seems good.
We got back to our room, which is much bigger and nicer than our Barry House room. We had Pizza Hut for dinner and stayed in. We’re shooting for Blenheim Palace tomorrow, then Glastonbury, Stonehenge and Avesbury on Saturday, possibly by car.
Uh-oh.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
England Scotland Travelogue - Day Four
Wednesday, 24 May 2000 London
Today Sheryl and I discovered the joys of train travel. We woke up early to catch a 7:55 from Charing Cross and when the train left at 7:48, we knew we were in trouble. Thankfully, we switched to the right train and were on our way.
Trains are a lot more… jouncy than I’d have thought. It was neat to see the English countryside, which actually reminded me a bunch of home, except for the sheep.
Dover was very nice. We walked a lot. We walked up to Dover Castle and got a great view of the town. Then we got a nice surprise, as they had opened up some tunnels which had been used as a hospital and Naval Base of Operations during WWII. Very neat. We got up to Henry II’s Keep and saw some great sights. I wish we’d have been able to stay longer up there; I’d have liked to have done more, but like Sheryl said then, we’re going to see several more castles.
We walked back down and got some nice pictures of the Dover Cliffs, which weren’t as white as some pictures I’ve seen, and headed back to the station. We rode to Canterbury and got to see the Cathedral which in many ways was as amazing as Westminster, although the latter was still more… deep? I don’t know, the sheer amount of history at the Abbey was astounding.
Canterbury was stellar and huge and beautiful. I had to pay two pounds to get to take pictures, but it was worth every pence. I shot a lot of stained glass windows and Henry IV’s grave, as well as Edward the Black Prince’s grave.
Sheryl and I then headed back on the hour and a half journey back, which seemed to take longer. We then vegged for the night, meaning Sheryl slept and wrote postcards, while I watched the UEFA Championship, where Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0. I wish Manchester United had been in it, but they lost in the Semis. Oh, well.
Tomorrow we move our base to Oxford, Inkling’s country, C. S. Lewis, Tolkein, Charles Williams. I’m looking very much forward to it.
Oh, two surprises I forgot to mention. 1) We saw a Hovercraft land at Dover and 2) we saw an exploded church, almost destroyed, in the Nazi attacks, at Dover. Old St. James. Very sobering.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Today Sheryl and I discovered the joys of train travel. We woke up early to catch a 7:55 from Charing Cross and when the train left at 7:48, we knew we were in trouble. Thankfully, we switched to the right train and were on our way.
Trains are a lot more… jouncy than I’d have thought. It was neat to see the English countryside, which actually reminded me a bunch of home, except for the sheep.
Dover was very nice. We walked a lot. We walked up to Dover Castle and got a great view of the town. Then we got a nice surprise, as they had opened up some tunnels which had been used as a hospital and Naval Base of Operations during WWII. Very neat. We got up to Henry II’s Keep and saw some great sights. I wish we’d have been able to stay longer up there; I’d have liked to have done more, but like Sheryl said then, we’re going to see several more castles.
We walked back down and got some nice pictures of the Dover Cliffs, which weren’t as white as some pictures I’ve seen, and headed back to the station. We rode to Canterbury and got to see the Cathedral which in many ways was as amazing as Westminster, although the latter was still more… deep? I don’t know, the sheer amount of history at the Abbey was astounding.
Canterbury was stellar and huge and beautiful. I had to pay two pounds to get to take pictures, but it was worth every pence. I shot a lot of stained glass windows and Henry IV’s grave, as well as Edward the Black Prince’s grave.
Sheryl and I then headed back on the hour and a half journey back, which seemed to take longer. We then vegged for the night, meaning Sheryl slept and wrote postcards, while I watched the UEFA Championship, where Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-0. I wish Manchester United had been in it, but they lost in the Semis. Oh, well.
Tomorrow we move our base to Oxford, Inkling’s country, C. S. Lewis, Tolkein, Charles Williams. I’m looking very much forward to it.
Oh, two surprises I forgot to mention. 1) We saw a Hovercraft land at Dover and 2) we saw an exploded church, almost destroyed, in the Nazi attacks, at Dover. Old St. James. Very sobering.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Monday, April 25, 2005
England Scotland Travelogue - Day Three
Tuesday, May 23, 2000 London
Today was another tiring one. We started off toward Hyde’s Park looking for a breakfast place, but never found one and ended up at Burger King, which made us wish we’d picked McDonald’s.
From there, we hit Paddington, then Charing Cross Station to get our tickets for the trips to Dover and Canterbury tomorrow, then Oxford on Thursday. It took awhile, but we finally got it all straight. Then back to Piccadilly for a gift, then to the British Museum.
We got badly turned around and were headed completely the wrong way on Oxford Circus, finally turned back, and eventually ended up at the Museum. It was neat, but there was a lot of construction going on so it wasn’t very nice looking. We saw Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Celtic treasures. Probably the best for me and Sheryl were the Parthenon pieces, an almost completely restored Naiad temple, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Rosetta Stone. There was more, but it got tiring after a while.
We made our way to Harrod’s. Tottenham Court Road Station was closed for some reason, so we walked to Leicester Square, then tubed to Harrod’s. This was amazing; a full London city block devoted to a store! 5 Stories! Unbelievable. I got some cigars and Sheryl wandered. We didn’t get to see the Diana memorial, but that wasn’t too disappointing.
We headed back to Barry, rested, then ate dinner at Aberdeen Steak House. It was good, and then we saw Les Miserables. Beautiful. Outstanding. The first half didn’t do much for me, and I almost fell asleep several times. It wasn’t that it was boring; it had merely been a long day. I got a drink and was much better. Then the relationship between Marius and Eponine came up and her unrequited love, then death to be with him nailed me. I was hooked from then on to the end. We came home, called some family, and retired.
Tomorrow to the White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury. Should be fun.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Today was another tiring one. We started off toward Hyde’s Park looking for a breakfast place, but never found one and ended up at Burger King, which made us wish we’d picked McDonald’s.
From there, we hit Paddington, then Charing Cross Station to get our tickets for the trips to Dover and Canterbury tomorrow, then Oxford on Thursday. It took awhile, but we finally got it all straight. Then back to Piccadilly for a gift, then to the British Museum.
We got badly turned around and were headed completely the wrong way on Oxford Circus, finally turned back, and eventually ended up at the Museum. It was neat, but there was a lot of construction going on so it wasn’t very nice looking. We saw Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Celtic treasures. Probably the best for me and Sheryl were the Parthenon pieces, an almost completely restored Naiad temple, part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Rosetta Stone. There was more, but it got tiring after a while.
We made our way to Harrod’s. Tottenham Court Road Station was closed for some reason, so we walked to Leicester Square, then tubed to Harrod’s. This was amazing; a full London city block devoted to a store! 5 Stories! Unbelievable. I got some cigars and Sheryl wandered. We didn’t get to see the Diana memorial, but that wasn’t too disappointing.
We headed back to Barry, rested, then ate dinner at Aberdeen Steak House. It was good, and then we saw Les Miserables. Beautiful. Outstanding. The first half didn’t do much for me, and I almost fell asleep several times. It wasn’t that it was boring; it had merely been a long day. I got a drink and was much better. Then the relationship between Marius and Eponine came up and her unrequited love, then death to be with him nailed me. I was hooked from then on to the end. We came home, called some family, and retired.
Tomorrow to the White Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury. Should be fun.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Sunday, April 24, 2005
England Scotland Travelogue - Day Two
Monday, May 22, 2000 London
Another full day today. We got up just in time for our breakfast today and got out on the town. We tubed to St. James Park and walked to Buckingham Palace, which was neat and all, but not too wonderful. We then walked down toward Westminster. On our way, Sheryl had to use a phone and as we looked up, we caught our first glimpse of Big Ben. It was very cool. We then walked to Westminster Abbey, which was amazing.
Westminster has this overwhelming sense of history that covers you. You see the graves of kings and queens and poets and politicians. It is a nearly thousand year old church built be Edward the Confessor. Even words don’t really contain it. Again for history buffs like me and Sheryl, every corner held another amazement.
Once we left, we crossed the Thames and walked down toward Big Ben and Parliament. We got some good video and hopefully some good pics as well. Those places are so big that pictures don’t really give a good sense of their size and stature.
We headed to Trafalgar Square and got some nice shots, then ate at a great restaurant called the Texas Embassy, which sells Tex Mex and was a nice taste of home.
We hit the National Gallery of Art and saw some wonderful paintings: DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Gainesborough, Turner, Van Gogh, Degas, Sweurat, and Manet. However, our favorite was a picture of Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and Parliament, by Monet, a favorite painter of Sheryl. Neither of us had known he’d painted London so it really pleasantly surprised us. We ended up buying a print for home to go above our bed.
We headed back to Barry and Sheryl slept, while I read the Evening Standard. We then went to Piccadilly Circus to see American Beauty. I really enjoyed it, although Sheryl didn’t seem to like it as much. We hung around Piccadilly for another little bit before heading back.
Tomorrow we have Hyde’s Park, Harrod’s, and the Brit Museum again. We’ll see what we get to.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Another full day today. We got up just in time for our breakfast today and got out on the town. We tubed to St. James Park and walked to Buckingham Palace, which was neat and all, but not too wonderful. We then walked down toward Westminster. On our way, Sheryl had to use a phone and as we looked up, we caught our first glimpse of Big Ben. It was very cool. We then walked to Westminster Abbey, which was amazing.
Westminster has this overwhelming sense of history that covers you. You see the graves of kings and queens and poets and politicians. It is a nearly thousand year old church built be Edward the Confessor. Even words don’t really contain it. Again for history buffs like me and Sheryl, every corner held another amazement.
Once we left, we crossed the Thames and walked down toward Big Ben and Parliament. We got some good video and hopefully some good pics as well. Those places are so big that pictures don’t really give a good sense of their size and stature.
We headed to Trafalgar Square and got some nice shots, then ate at a great restaurant called the Texas Embassy, which sells Tex Mex and was a nice taste of home.
We hit the National Gallery of Art and saw some wonderful paintings: DaVinci, Michaelangelo, Gainesborough, Turner, Van Gogh, Degas, Sweurat, and Manet. However, our favorite was a picture of Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, and Parliament, by Monet, a favorite painter of Sheryl. Neither of us had known he’d painted London so it really pleasantly surprised us. We ended up buying a print for home to go above our bed.
We headed back to Barry and Sheryl slept, while I read the Evening Standard. We then went to Piccadilly Circus to see American Beauty. I really enjoyed it, although Sheryl didn’t seem to like it as much. We hung around Piccadilly for another little bit before heading back.
Tomorrow we have Hyde’s Park, Harrod’s, and the Brit Museum again. We’ll see what we get to.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Saturday, April 23, 2005
England Scotland Travelogue - Day One
Sunday, May 21, 2000 London
This was a long day. It really started yesterday in Nashville on our flight to Toronto which was ok. Our layover in Toronto had good and bad points. Good: It was short. Bad: Pearson is a lousy airport. No gate notices, poorly designed. Lousy. The trip here wasn’t too bad. The flight was full and I honestly slept through most of it. Sheryl wasn’t able to, mainly because she’s such a light sleeper. This of course affected her throughout today.
We arrived in London about 6:30 AM GMT. Customs was no problem and we caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, which was great, since our B & B is only three blocks away, within sight of Paddington. No bears around though. We dropped our bags off at Barry House and headed out. We took the Tube out to Piccadilly Circus in search of the Tourist Info Center, but since it was only 8AM, it wasn’t open yet. So we ended up having breakfast at a traditional British restaurant, McDonald’s I think it’s called, and then decided to head to the Tower of London.
The Tower was pretty good. We did an audio tour, which was interesting to both me and Sheryl, but that was mainly because we both like history. It was mainly about prisoners and such. A minor problem perked up when rain started. I was ok, but Sheryl’s anorak wasn’t heavy duty enough for English rain and she got pretty wet.
We toured through the White Tower, seeing a lot of weaponry and an original copy of the Domesday Book. To see a 1000-year-old book was… amazing, even though that word hardly describes it. We saw the Crown Jewels as well, which made me wonder if such opulence is only for us, the paeans, since I would imagine that if someone were around it all the time, it would be old hat (no pun intended).
We left the Tower about 12:30 and had lunch, fish and chips. We decided to forgo the British Museum today, since we were exhausted, go get Sheryl a new jacket and head back to the B&B. We tubed to Piccadilly and wandered around for a bit. We found the TI and got some good info. The woman from Scotland was talky, but helpful. We found a sporting goods place, Lillywhites, and I found a great Manchester United jersey, but didn’t get it, yet. We found Sheryl a new jacket and finally Tubed back to Barry about 4.
Our room is small with a double only and a shower and toilet and desk. It’s functional and faces the street. We can hear a lot.
We slept from 5p to about 10p. We got up and put our stuff away and got organized for tomorrow, which should contain St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, and Westminster Abbey. Of course, today was supposed to contain the British Museum and we didn’t manage to get there, so we’ll see what happens.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
This was a long day. It really started yesterday in Nashville on our flight to Toronto which was ok. Our layover in Toronto had good and bad points. Good: It was short. Bad: Pearson is a lousy airport. No gate notices, poorly designed. Lousy. The trip here wasn’t too bad. The flight was full and I honestly slept through most of it. Sheryl wasn’t able to, mainly because she’s such a light sleeper. This of course affected her throughout today.
We arrived in London about 6:30 AM GMT. Customs was no problem and we caught the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, which was great, since our B & B is only three blocks away, within sight of Paddington. No bears around though. We dropped our bags off at Barry House and headed out. We took the Tube out to Piccadilly Circus in search of the Tourist Info Center, but since it was only 8AM, it wasn’t open yet. So we ended up having breakfast at a traditional British restaurant, McDonald’s I think it’s called, and then decided to head to the Tower of London.
The Tower was pretty good. We did an audio tour, which was interesting to both me and Sheryl, but that was mainly because we both like history. It was mainly about prisoners and such. A minor problem perked up when rain started. I was ok, but Sheryl’s anorak wasn’t heavy duty enough for English rain and she got pretty wet.
We toured through the White Tower, seeing a lot of weaponry and an original copy of the Domesday Book. To see a 1000-year-old book was… amazing, even though that word hardly describes it. We saw the Crown Jewels as well, which made me wonder if such opulence is only for us, the paeans, since I would imagine that if someone were around it all the time, it would be old hat (no pun intended).
We left the Tower about 12:30 and had lunch, fish and chips. We decided to forgo the British Museum today, since we were exhausted, go get Sheryl a new jacket and head back to the B&B. We tubed to Piccadilly and wandered around for a bit. We found the TI and got some good info. The woman from Scotland was talky, but helpful. We found a sporting goods place, Lillywhites, and I found a great Manchester United jersey, but didn’t get it, yet. We found Sheryl a new jacket and finally Tubed back to Barry about 4.
Our room is small with a double only and a shower and toilet and desk. It’s functional and faces the street. We can hear a lot.
We slept from 5p to about 10p. We got up and put our stuff away and got organized for tomorrow, which should contain St. James Park, Buckingham Palace, and Westminster Abbey. Of course, today was supposed to contain the British Museum and we didn’t manage to get there, so we’ll see what happens.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Friday, April 22, 2005
England Travelogue Intro
First things first. Please pray for Ira Hays, newborn son of Joe and Laura Hays in NYC.
I’m going to do something a little different with the blog for the next two weeks.
Five years ago, Sheryl and I took a two week trip to England and Scotland, May 20 through June 3, 2000. This was before Kinsey was born and I had decided to quit teaching (Did you know I taught high school English for six years?). One of our dreams before we started our family was to go to England and Scotland without the encumbrance of children, so we saved up for the entire year, asking only for money as gifts for birthdays and Christmases. We had a great time. Honestly, it’s one of my top three memories behind getting married and Kinsey’s birth. It was a trip that lived up to every expectation I had and exceeded them.
The reason this is in the forefront of my mind is that Sheryl and I have agreed to participate in a trip to Loughborough, England in October with some singles from Otter Creek. I hesitate to call it a mission trip, since I’m starting to believe that my entire life is a mission to expand the Kingdom of God. We’re going to work with the local Church of Christ there and help with their Holiday Bible Class (HBC), roughly analogous to our Vacation Bible School here in the states. We’re really looking forward to it and even embarking on the adventure of taking Kinsey with us. Here's another explanation for the trip.
So, starting tomorrow, I’m going to post a travelogue that I kept on our trip back in 2000. I'll post everyday for the next two weeks, except for one day that you'll understand on the next day.
I hope you enjoy experiencing a little of what we did and post your comments.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
I’m going to do something a little different with the blog for the next two weeks.
Five years ago, Sheryl and I took a two week trip to England and Scotland, May 20 through June 3, 2000. This was before Kinsey was born and I had decided to quit teaching (Did you know I taught high school English for six years?). One of our dreams before we started our family was to go to England and Scotland without the encumbrance of children, so we saved up for the entire year, asking only for money as gifts for birthdays and Christmases. We had a great time. Honestly, it’s one of my top three memories behind getting married and Kinsey’s birth. It was a trip that lived up to every expectation I had and exceeded them.
The reason this is in the forefront of my mind is that Sheryl and I have agreed to participate in a trip to Loughborough, England in October with some singles from Otter Creek. I hesitate to call it a mission trip, since I’m starting to believe that my entire life is a mission to expand the Kingdom of God. We’re going to work with the local Church of Christ there and help with their Holiday Bible Class (HBC), roughly analogous to our Vacation Bible School here in the states. We’re really looking forward to it and even embarking on the adventure of taking Kinsey with us. Here's another explanation for the trip.
So, starting tomorrow, I’m going to post a travelogue that I kept on our trip back in 2000. I'll post everyday for the next two weeks, except for one day that you'll understand on the next day.
I hope you enjoy experiencing a little of what we did and post your comments.
2005 Thoughts
Post Trip Thoughts
Day Thirteen
Day Twelve
Day Eleven
Day Ten
Day Nine
Day Eight
Day Seven
Day Five
Day Four
Day Three
Day Two
Day One of the trip
Intro
Friday, April 15, 2005
Faith Isn't an Intellectual Exercise
I listened yesterday to a sermon by Tony Campolo called "Would Jesus Drive a BMW?" and I’m also reading his latest book called Speaking My Mind. I really love the sermon itself and agree with a lot of what Campolo says in the book. Not all, but that’s a different subject.
At any rate, one of the things that hit me about Campolo’s talk was the passion he had about mission and about a life divorced from the conspicuous consumption of American life. This is something I’ve been thinking about some and still trying to figure out where I am on that and how far I want to go.
The other thing that really hit me was him talking about assenting to theological ideas about Jesus. That just believing things about Jesus isn’t what the Christian life is about. Now, many of you may be saying, "Well… duh." But for some reason this just hit me.
A lot of my faith over the last year or so and has been about trying to decide what I believe about Jesus and Christianity. What I don’t feel like is that I’ve done a great job of putting feet on my faith. I feel like I decided to believe certain things, but that’s the extent of it. I don’t feel like I have made any big changes in myself or how I act or even how I treat others. I still struggle with some of the same sins I’ve had my entire life.
Faith isn’t an intellectual exercise. It’s a life. As it’s called in Acts, The Way. It means a shift away from a world that values money over character, flash over substance. It’s a call to love the unlovable, to be more concerned for others than myself. These are things I agree with. What am I willing to do to make them happen in my life?
I listened to another talk the other day from the Mars Hill Bible Church (Easter Stories) in Grand Rapids. One lady was testifying about her struggles with eating disorders. She said that she finally truly felt freedom when she realized that the solution wasn’t turning her problems over to Jesus; it was turning herself over to Jesus. Only giving our problems says that the rest of our lives are ok. They’re not; they need resurrection, almost on a daily basis.
I want to be there, but I’m not sure I’m there yet. I want to live that way, but I think I’m scared of what that could mean.
At any rate, one of the things that hit me about Campolo’s talk was the passion he had about mission and about a life divorced from the conspicuous consumption of American life. This is something I’ve been thinking about some and still trying to figure out where I am on that and how far I want to go.
The other thing that really hit me was him talking about assenting to theological ideas about Jesus. That just believing things about Jesus isn’t what the Christian life is about. Now, many of you may be saying, "Well… duh." But for some reason this just hit me.
A lot of my faith over the last year or so and has been about trying to decide what I believe about Jesus and Christianity. What I don’t feel like is that I’ve done a great job of putting feet on my faith. I feel like I decided to believe certain things, but that’s the extent of it. I don’t feel like I have made any big changes in myself or how I act or even how I treat others. I still struggle with some of the same sins I’ve had my entire life.
Faith isn’t an intellectual exercise. It’s a life. As it’s called in Acts, The Way. It means a shift away from a world that values money over character, flash over substance. It’s a call to love the unlovable, to be more concerned for others than myself. These are things I agree with. What am I willing to do to make them happen in my life?
I listened to another talk the other day from the Mars Hill Bible Church (Easter Stories) in Grand Rapids. One lady was testifying about her struggles with eating disorders. She said that she finally truly felt freedom when she realized that the solution wasn’t turning her problems over to Jesus; it was turning herself over to Jesus. Only giving our problems says that the rest of our lives are ok. They’re not; they need resurrection, almost on a daily basis.
I want to be there, but I’m not sure I’m there yet. I want to live that way, but I think I’m scared of what that could mean.
Friday, April 08, 2005
The Challenge of Jesus
I finished reading NT Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus the other night. From a theological point of view, I really like what Wright does with Jesus as the Christ and especially placing him in the context of the Jewish religion and the absolute scandal of him proposing that he would be the one to replace the Temple.
However, my favorite part of the whole thing was in the next to last chapter. Wright does an amazing synthesis of Psalms 42 and 43, Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach, and the Emmaus Road story, which Wright retells. The context for all of this was a discussion of Christianity’s response to postmodernism, a study that I’ve been interested in for the past year or so. Note that this chapter was originally a lecture given in 1998 (which you can read here), so Wright was well ahead of the Emerging Church trend.
At any rate, the crux of the whole thing is that Jesus appears to two postmoderns and begins discussing religion with them and basically reshapes the gospel story for these two. Note that the story doesn’t change, the gospel doesn’t change, the telling of it changes.
Wright says:
This is an issue that churches have to deal with. Are we going to keep doing the same things in the same ways, or are we going to get creative? Are we going to write the poems, make the movies, talk to our neighbors or are we going to wait for people to walk into the church doors before we say anything to them about the hope in Christ?
Now, I’m not advocating rushing out on door knocking campaigns (who wants their door knocked on?) or writing tripe (Roses are red/Violets are blue/Jesus loves me/And He loves you too!) or making schlocky movies (Left Behind [I apologize if any of my readers liked that movie]).
It’s about letting our faith seep through the pores of our being. It’s about being friends of our neighbors, or having our faith come out through writing or painting or whatever. People don’t want a 2x4 over the head. They want a friend, a shoulder to cry on. They want a good story, a story of redemption, a story of hope.
We have that! We’ve got it! But we’ve become so freaking insular that we forget that Jesus didn’t tell us to navel gaze while we sing nice songs. He said go, make disciples. Two commands there, not one. “Go.” “Make disciples.”
So go. Be a friend. Write a poem. Paint a picture. Make a movie or TV show. Tell the story. Live the story. Be Jesus.
However, my favorite part of the whole thing was in the next to last chapter. Wright does an amazing synthesis of Psalms 42 and 43, Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach, and the Emmaus Road story, which Wright retells. The context for all of this was a discussion of Christianity’s response to postmodernism, a study that I’ve been interested in for the past year or so. Note that this chapter was originally a lecture given in 1998 (which you can read here), so Wright was well ahead of the Emerging Church trend.
At any rate, the crux of the whole thing is that Jesus appears to two postmoderns and begins discussing religion with them and basically reshapes the gospel story for these two. Note that the story doesn’t change, the gospel doesn’t change, the telling of it changes.
Wright says:
“We have a chance, as this century draws to a close, to announce this message to the world that so badly needs it. I believe we have this as our vocation: to tell the story, to live by the symbols, to act out the praxis, and to answer the questions in such a way as to become, in ourselves and our mission in God’s world, the answer to the prayer that now rises, not just from one puzzled psalmist, but from the whole human race and indeed the whole of God’s creation: O send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. And when we ourselves are grasped by that light and that truth by the strange glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we, from within the crisis of truth in the contemporary world, can say to those parts of our world that are still dismayed: Why are you cast down? Why so disquieted? Was it not necessary that these things should happen? Hope in God; for we shall again praise him, our help and our God.”
This is an issue that churches have to deal with. Are we going to keep doing the same things in the same ways, or are we going to get creative? Are we going to write the poems, make the movies, talk to our neighbors or are we going to wait for people to walk into the church doors before we say anything to them about the hope in Christ?
Now, I’m not advocating rushing out on door knocking campaigns (who wants their door knocked on?) or writing tripe (Roses are red/Violets are blue/Jesus loves me/And He loves you too!) or making schlocky movies (Left Behind [I apologize if any of my readers liked that movie]).
It’s about letting our faith seep through the pores of our being. It’s about being friends of our neighbors, or having our faith come out through writing or painting or whatever. People don’t want a 2x4 over the head. They want a friend, a shoulder to cry on. They want a good story, a story of redemption, a story of hope.
We have that! We’ve got it! But we’ve become so freaking insular that we forget that Jesus didn’t tell us to navel gaze while we sing nice songs. He said go, make disciples. Two commands there, not one. “Go.” “Make disciples.”
So go. Be a friend. Write a poem. Paint a picture. Make a movie or TV show. Tell the story. Live the story. Be Jesus.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Pondering the Imponderable
A few weeks ago, the National Association of Evangelicals met and issued the following document, "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" http://nae.net/images/civic_responsibility2.pdf (New York Times report on it - http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=4522) Ron Sider, author of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger is a part of this group for some theological context.
Thankfully, it's not a down the line following of Republican principles, as it has statements like:
And
In the reading that I've been doing both in Scripture and out of it (NT Wright, Tony Campolo, some guy named Lee Camp, etc.) it's striking me that the Gospel is truly a political statement. Not political only certainly, and probably not political in the way we think about it, but that when Jesus talks about the "Kingdom of God," he's making an overt political statement about the condition of Palestine at that point that is completely counterposed to the Roman Empire of the time, particularly in the fact that it is a Kingdom of the heart that would have social and political ramifications. When Paul says that there's neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew, etc. that is a huge statement in a culture where your external identity dominated how others treated you.
I think the Gospel is political and I think it call for orthopraxy (practice) as well as orthodoxy (belief), but the question I want to pose is this: What are the political responsibilities of Christians? Do we affect change for the Kingdom through actions? Do we take to the streets to fight injustice? Do we run for political office?
What do you think?
Thankfully, it's not a down the line following of Republican principles, as it has statements like:
The peaceful settling of disputes is a gift of common grace. We urge governments to pursue thoroughly nonviolent paths to peace before resorting to military force. We believe that if governments are going to use military force, they must use it in the service of peace and not merely in their national interest. Military force must be guided by the classical just-war principles, which are designed to restrain violence by establishing the right conditions for and right conduct in fighting a war. In an age of nuclear and biological terrorism, such principles are more important than ever.
And
We further believe that care for the vulnerable should extend beyond our national borders. American foreign policy and trade policies often have an impact on the poor. We should try to persuade our leaders to change patterns of trade that harm the poor and to make the reduction of global poverty a central concern of American foreign policy. We must support policies that encourage honesty in government, correct unfair socioeconomic structures, generously support effective programs that empower the poor, and foster economic development and prosperity. Christians should also encourage continued government support of international aid agencies, including those that are faith based.
In the reading that I've been doing both in Scripture and out of it (NT Wright, Tony Campolo, some guy named Lee Camp, etc.) it's striking me that the Gospel is truly a political statement. Not political only certainly, and probably not political in the way we think about it, but that when Jesus talks about the "Kingdom of God," he's making an overt political statement about the condition of Palestine at that point that is completely counterposed to the Roman Empire of the time, particularly in the fact that it is a Kingdom of the heart that would have social and political ramifications. When Paul says that there's neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew, etc. that is a huge statement in a culture where your external identity dominated how others treated you.
I think the Gospel is political and I think it call for orthopraxy (practice) as well as orthodoxy (belief), but the question I want to pose is this: What are the political responsibilities of Christians? Do we affect change for the Kingdom through actions? Do we take to the streets to fight injustice? Do we run for political office?
What do you think?
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