This morning we made the short walk to Oxford University. Oxford is a collection of several colleges including Christ Church College. Christ Church is one of the many colleges of Oxford. Famous people who attended Christ Church are Lewis Carroll (author of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”) as well as Charles and John Wesley. Famous people of Oxford are J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Margaret Thatcher, and Bill Clinton. There were also several scenes of the “Harry Potter” movie series that were filmed there.
From there we paid tribute by visiting the the grave of Winston Churchill. Winston was buried with his beloved wife Clementine near the graves of his father and mother. From there we drove through the Cotswolds (“cot” = sheep pen, “wold” = wood, wooded area), a beautiful scenic route, and stopped at the village Bourton-on-the-Water for lunch.
When we arrived we found the little village packed with people along the road – we could tell that something big was happening. It just so happened that we arrived at the perfect time to watch the corresponding part of Stage 7 of the Tour of Britain. It is a week long bike race across Great Britain and we were there to see them do a sprint section through the town!
After that we were off to Stratford-on-Avon to visit the birthplace of William Shakespeare. We walked through a museum and gardens as well as his childhood birthplace. We were also able to see actors giving mini-performances of famous scenes from his plays. We then drove to dinner at The Pudding Club in the Cotswolds. They are famous for having weekly meetings for people to come have a light dinner and then sample 7 different English puddings for dessert and vote on their favorite.
Last night’s favorite was the Sticky Toffee Pudding and it was one of three puddings that they offered to us as part of a “Pudding Bar”. There was the Sticky Toffee pudding, a Chocolate pudding, and a Summer pudding with fruit. There were several available toppings: chocolate sauce, toffee sauce, whipped cream, and custard sauce. They were all amazing! It was a great evening to end a wonderful day together.
Tomorrow we will visit Bristol and Bath before heading to London! – Rev. Wendy Lambert
