England:London

We headed into London today to see some of the sights. We started at Trafalgar square and went to the National Gallery. We were able to see some famous paintings. I loved being able to see one of my favorite paintings - Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio, along with some other classics that I learned about back in school.


We walked past the Household Calvary Museum on our way to Westminster Abbey.
Westminster Abbey.Another door I just had to take a picture of...

Somaliland demonstration looking to be "recognized as a nation by Britain".
Houses of Parliament.
Big Ben.
London Eye.
Saint James Palace.
Buckingham Palace.
Where we got our souvenirs!
Harrods! We had some delicious chocolate from their candy room, so fun!

England: Henley-on-Thames

Heather and Jamie live in a really cute quaint town called Henley-on-Thames. It sits right on the river Thames and you are greeted as you enter the city with this beautiful scene...






A Tribute to Front Doors:
There are so many cute front doors here in England, so I decided to start taking pictures of them. I think I might make a set of cards with photos only of English front doors when I get home.

England: Oxford

On Monday we headed over to Oxford on the train. We hopped on the train at Henley then to Twyford to Reading to Oxford and were able to spend the day in Oxford. Oxford was a beautiful college town with lots of cute little restaurants and incredible historical buildings. Several of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed at Oxford and we were able to see most of those. We started the morning off with a traditional English breakfast at the Grand Cafe on High Street. Spencer had scones with hot chocolate and I had eggs, sausage, toast and freshly squeezed orange juice, it was delicious! We then went to the Christ Church college which had absolutely beautiful grounds.





Church official saying the Lord's prayer while we were there.

In front of the Science Museum, it was closed on Monday so we weren't able to go in, but they had some pretty interesting faces on the gate...
Bodleian Library: we were able to attend an exhibit for the 400 year anniversary of the first publication of the King James Bible. It was really interesting to see all of the different versions. We were able to see notes made by translators as they attempted to make corrections. We were able to see the "Wicked Bible" which is the name given to the KJV published in 1631. This version was given this name because of a typo in the seventh commandment which resulted in the verse reading: Though shalt commit adultery.
On our way to New College.

Inside New College in the quad from Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire.

Large Oak tree from Harry Potter movie.



This is The University Church Of St Mary The Virgin and is supposedly where John Wesley gave his last sermon on Oxford campus.


Dining Hall in Christ Church College where the Harry Potter movies film dining hall scenes.
Alice in Wonderland references in the stained glass in the dining hall in Christ Church. Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, taught Mathematics here.

England: Stonehenge

We were able to go to Stonehenge on Sunday after church. Jamie drove us over after church. It was very cool to see such an interesting world landmark.

London: Les Miserables

Jim was in London for a couple days while on his EMBA Europe trip and his group ended up having a couple extra tickets to Les Mis on Friday night. So we were really excited to get a chance to see it while we were here. We sat in row R seat 27 and 28. The play was absolutely beautiful and we were able to grab some ice cream afterward and have a nice chat with Jim.