London Closing

We’re in our last day of London time – We fly out tonight on our way to South Africa! We’ve had a wonderful time with Grandpa Roger and Grandma Fran adventuring in London. We have walked miles and miles while we’ve been here. And with the extensive nature of the London Underground (subway or “tube” – pronounced “chube”), if we get too far out for a return walk, we can always catch the Underground.

Since the boys’ last update, we’ve continued to explore in and out of London:

We headed out to the Cotswolds – a cozy little countryside full of sheep and beautiful old things. We took the train to Moreton-in-Marsh, and wandered through their weekly market (folks from all over the area selling things from fabulous local food – cheese, meat, scones… - to used books, new clothes, tools). It was a great place to see the real, working aspects of the area. We then took a local bus to Stow-in-the-Wold, an even cozier town. One of the highlights there was walking around and through St. Edwards Church (built in the 1400s). It’s quite an amazing structure, and for you Lord of the Rings fans, lore has it that JRR Tolkien got the inspiration for his door to Moria from the Yew-tree-straddled church door here.

We’ve also hit lots of museums and historical places. A few days ago we took a good wander through the British Library and the British Museum. The library holds many of the museums old manuscripts, and has a very cool exhibit displaying beautiful old bibles and other books of faith, original manuscripts from folks like Sylvia Plath, William Blake, the Brontes, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, the Beatles, the Magna Carta … quite amazing. The British Museum has an incredible collection of things “gathered” from around the world – especially some amazing ancient Greek and Egyptian relics. I suppose this is related to ruling much of the world at a point, though I imagine Greece and Egypt might want some of their things back. You’ll notice Matt getting punched by Rameses II.

Last night, being our final one in London, we lived it up and went to see Mary Poppins. The London theatre scene is over-the-top grand, and the show was fabulous. We’re still all humming along with Mary and Bert today.

I’m not sure what our internet access will be in South Africa, but we’ll update as we can. We’re very excited for this next part of the journey. The first two weeks will be with a school principal and his colleagues in Port Elizabeth, where we’ll be able to connect and hang out with educators in one of the townships of PE, as it’s called. Andy and Matt will be able to go to school during this time, so they don’t have to keep following their parents to museums. They’re looking forward to this. While we’ll still be visitors, we are looking forward to the relationships we all will make in this chance to settle in to a place more deeply.

Cheers!