Friday July 25 - High Tea and Great Foods!

What a great day is has been! I have not done much of anything...worked on 2 writing assignments...read...took a walk around Christ Church park.

In England, people live in small houses, so they utilize parks for sitting, recreation, family and friend gatherings...

Their parks are gorgeous. Today I walked for a long, long way around and through the parks. I saw the river, boating, punting (ask me about this later). What a refreshing day. Here are a few pictures of me here in Oxford.

The first picture is of me holding up a rugby jersey. Yeah right!!!!

The picture to the right is my "group" project team. In the center is Esther Huh and to her right is KaRon Coleman. KaRon is now a pastor is Houston and a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. KaRon also played football as a running back in the NFL! He played for the Denver Broncos...but his favorite team remains the Dallas Cowboys. He tells me that his favorite game was playing the Cowboys in Dallas. He played football in 2000-2003.

In the third picture, I am involved in a theological discussion...which happens here 24/7...

In the last picture...we are having in "High Tea" which consists of a heavy cream, fresh fruit, jams, and scones (biscuits to you and I)...of course served with tea!

Speaking of foods...here are a few of the great foods that I have experienced since being in England.

First - Bangers and Mash! (Sausage and Mashed potatoes)

Second - Toad in the Hole! (Sausages covered in batter and roasted)

Third - Yorkshire Pudding! (made of flour and eggs and moistened with gravy - not a desert)

Fourth - Fish and Chips! (fried fish and french fries)

Fifth - Ploughman's Lunch! (a cutting board with cheeses, veggie's, bread, a generous portion of ham, a good lunch)

Sixth - Spotted Dog! ( a great desert- also known as Spotted Dick - a sponge pudding with sultanas and raisins)

Friday July 25

We have another day off today. On Saturday we are heading back to London for a wrap up of the Oxford trip...then Sunday we are attending church...then on Monday we are on an airplane to Texas!

Take a look at what lives outside of my window in the dormitory! This college has kept this turtle for 40 years! When we first arrived...the turtle lived about 20 yards to my left...but since I keep my window open a lot...he has moved his spot to right outside of my window!

I guess he likes the company...and I do too! We have a good friendship going. Hope you enjoy!

London - Second Visit - July 24

Today was one of the few free days that Oxford has given us. Another student and I decided to hop on the tube (bus service) and travel to London for another look at the Westminster Abbey and the British national Museum. We had a great day...and we topped it off by shopping at Harrods department store.

Westminster Abbey

We started off by visiting the inside of Westminster Abbey. Notice the Martyr Memorial above the doorway...in the center is Martin Luther King, Jr.

Incredible...Westminster Abbey is steeped in more than a thousand years of history. Benedictine monks first came to this site in the middle of the tenth century, establishing a tradition of daily worship which continues to this day.

The present church, begun by Henry III in 1245, is one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country, with the medieval shrine of an Anglo-Saxon saint still at its heart.

Westminster Abbey is famous for its many tombs and memorials. Ranging in date from the eleventh to the twenty-first centuries and displaying a corresponding variety of artistic styles they form the most important single collection of monumental sculpture in the country.

There are around 600 monuments and memorial statues together with many gravestones and commemorative floor slabs, though these represent only a small proportion of the 3,300 people who are actually buried in the church and its cloisters. As well as the shrine of St Edward the Confessor, the tombs of kings and queens, and important military memorials, the Abbey has been for several centuries the place where the nation commemorates those who have achieved greatness in many different walks of life, including literature, science, music, religion and politics.

British National Museum

Harrods Department Store

Sharon, I've decided that since I love you so much...that I would let you shop there...and anything that your eye falls upon...you may have! NOT!!!! VERY EXPENSIVE!!! Well...the I love you part is true...are you sorry you married a poor preacher?

I also thought it was interesting that there is a memorial to Princess Diana and to Dodi Fahad in Harrods. Dodi Fahad's father owns Harrods department store.