We're Going to England!

Do you believe it? We're going to England! As far as I can remember, it's the only country I have had on my ‘places I want to see in my lifetime’ list. We will catch a bus after we arrive at Heathrow, and oh happy day, we're to meet Sam in Oxford! We'll spend three nights there while he finishes up with his last class, and then we are going to do things that we could never have planned because we would never dare to dream that we would be making this trip!

We pick up a car in Oxford and then the three of us will visit:

Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford upon Avon.

Bath, which was once a Roman Bath, and the setting of a lot of wonderful British literature (Especially exciting to me because of the Jane Austen connection) I hope we can fit a spa visit into our budget!

We will visit Stonehenge! Really, truly, Stonehenge!

Next we head to Winchester, of Winchester Cathedral fame! Once it was the capital of the British Empire, before London, if I’m correct! And besides the wonderful cathedral, Jane Austen is buried there. Near Winchester is her home, and the town where she lived for the last part of her life, Chawton. The house is a Jane Austen Museum. Is this beginning to sound like a Jane Austen literary pilgrimage? There is more to that than I'm letting on!

There are so many wonderful, historical, theologically significant sites for us to visit. After Winchester we will drive to Canterbury, whose cathedral is one of those wonderful theologically significant sites that I mentioned. Also the setting for the Canterbury Tales, which, I understand were actually Chaucer's tales of the early pilgrims who visited the cathedral. There, we have reservations at a hotel that was built in 1438, to house those pilgrims. It is next door to the cathedral. It sounds rustic and wonderful. Especially rustic. We are, after all, looking for an adventure.

We will turn our car in after our night in Canterbury, and take the train on to London where we will stay for the last two nights of our English Odyssey. We will be staying very near Hyde Park, which appears to be a very few blocks from Buckingham Palace. According to our guide book, we will be staying there during a celebration at the Park for the Queen’s birthday.

And if I’m lucky my explanation may come true! The one that I offer to anyone who will ask why we're going to England, "Why, we're going to London to look at the Queen."