TheSecondTimeAroundEngland

 Seven miles!!!!! That was seven miles on my shoes. SK logged 8, and E&E logged 9 or more! We started out driving an hour north to visit Warwick Castle, a spectacular medieval fortress. We returned to Oxford and had a grand walking tour on our own. Starting out with Afternoon Tea on High Street, then a walk to an Alice in Wonderland shop, walking around the Christ Church Meadow - past the Oxford boathouses, back up to High Street, past many stately old buildings, down long narrow alleys, into the twelfth -century Turf Tavern - where we shared two plates of fish and chips, back home, stopping to visit Kristin Westenscow, a dear friend from the ward, with her son Beckham. Past the town square, through the mall, through shops, past Bill’s hangout to say hello. (He wasn’t there.) and home again. Now in bed with heating pad! Cheers.

It is said that C.S. Lewis walked to work along this narrow lane. His office was just around the corner. See the lamp post? One of the doorways has a lion carved into it, and fauns carved into the sides. Walking into Christ Church Meadow.  Yesterday - throughout the day, protesters pounded drums outside of the Science Museum, which is coincidentally across the street from Hyde Park Chapel and the apartment we stayed in. There were police everywhere, even though they were peaceful. Erin and Ethan waded through them last night to go on a walk.  Today they were gone… but only from that street. They turned up at the London Bridge and the London Tower Bridge…places we passed by on our Hop On/Hop Off buses, but not at the same time - thankfully. We took the bus ride, toured Westminster and by the time we finished a light lunch, it was time to leave for Oxford. On the way home, we pulled into a super grocery store, kind of like a small Walmart. E&E walked up and down the aisles j...

 Melissa…there is only one solution…we’ll have to come back with you! I am wondered if it will be difficult - going home. It was an odd Sabbath. I didn’t feel like a missionary. Is that how it happens? One day you are deeply involved as a representative of the Savior and the next, you are touring around in pants and a sweatshirt and just doing normal tourist things. I found myself feeling a little guilty - as though I were playing hookey. It would never really be like that, but I do feel like I ought to be serving in some capacity…especially since it is Sunday. We tuned into Zoom sacrament meeting. It was our own cute eighteen-year-old elders! They both did a wonderful job. They are still so young and both so young in the time they’ve been on missions, but they’re doing very well. We love those guys! We watched from our hotel…nice enough on the surface but very poorly run. We drove into London and while SK and I got the car settled in the church/mission parking lot - that holds 12,...

 8.5 Kilometres on these old feet is a LOT!  But then we saw a lot today. We returned to the Cliffs of Dover - where we began at the bottom. I stayed on the bottom on a comfortable bench but Erin and Ethan found a hike up to a better vantage point. If you look really carefully, you will see Erin and Ethan on the beach, two tiny specks in the vast sea and landscape. SK kind of wandered along the water exploring. We drove through some incredible countryside stopping very briefly in a beautiful little village named Rye to walk the cobblestone streets. We pushed on to the city Battle to walk the historic site of the Battle of Hastings, the victory the changed everything for the destiny of UK - and the western world. We drove to Brighton - a city bursting with activity. We walked from a parking spot to see the Pavilion.  Awesome. By 10, we were checked into a hotel room. I’m exhausted.

 I am typing on an obstreperous iPad and hoping it will cooperate with me this evening. We have put quite a day in, and I may not be able to stay awake long enough to write about the events of the day. That old old old hotel was so quirky and so fun that we all have talked about it on and off throughout the day. We were served breakfast in our rooms. And it was absolutely lovely. For people who never eat breakfast, we indulged way beyond what we should have done. But it was worth it. We started out the day walking a short distance to the Canterbury Cathedral, a building that goes back to 597 when. That was when the Pope sent Augustine as a missionary to reintroduce Christianity to England. The cathedral was magnificent and so rich with history that it boggles the mind. Everything from the martyrdom and subsequent sainthood of Thomas Becket to the fire watchers of World War II who saved the cathedral from being destroyed during the bombing raids. We spent a few hours there talking t...