Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Oxford

Oxford is awesome. We absolutely loved it. We only had a day though and that's by far not enough. It's a good thing for you though because you might have been overwhelmed by all the pictures I would have been compelled to post!


Had lunch at The Eagle and Child. This is where Tolkien, Lewis and their friends met. Really cool to be here. The food was great too!


You'll have to click on the picture to get it big enough to read, but this was in the menu.

This is a plaque that's in the room of where they would meet. There was a not so friendly looking man sitting right underneath so this was a close as I could get. I snapped the picture and ran out as he looked up annoyed at the flash of my camera. :)

This is the Martyrs' Memorial. The inscription reads,
"To the Glory of God, and in grateful commemoration of His servants, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Prelates of the Church of England, who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of the Church of Rome, and rejoicing that to them it was given not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake; this monument was erected by public subscription in the year of our Lord God, MDCCCXLI".

The actual site of the burnings. It was right in the middle of a big street. People were riding their bikes over it and walking right past it. I wanted to shout, "Don't you know what happened here?!?!"

The boys wanted to say hi to these policemen. They were taking pictures of the protesting that was happening across the street.You can't see the sign on the left, but it says, "Welcome to Oxford, City of Animal Abuse."
We were glad to be informed though because we had a COMPLETELY different impression. :)

Famous bookstore that started in Oxford. Miles of books... and I do mean MILES!





This is the Methodist church. John Wesley when to Christ Church College and he met with a Methodist group here.

I took this picture because I was amazed at how one vine could cover the whole front of this building. If you look close, you can see the lone stem coming up behind the car.

Hudson and Elliot thought this "Waldo" was funny.

Christ Church College






Cathedral in Christ Church College.


Tomb of a knight from the early 1300's.

Coffee break in a yummy coffee shop. The boys enjoyed hot chocolate and a chocolate muffin.




Elliot spied this fire station from afar and wanted to go take a look. A fireman was walking past and we ended up with a full tour! Unexpected, but lots of fun. The boys loved it!


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Saturday in Bristol City Centre

We spent the day seeing things around the city centre. Some intentional, some not, you don't have to walk far to stumble upon something historical or interesting. Even found some good Mexican food or Latin food as they call it here.

Wills Memorial Building from a distance. We haven't decided if we'll go in yet. This is where Mark will graduate and he's kind of thinking he'd like to wait until then.
Two random pictures of old stuff. It's everywhere if you haven't gathered by now.


Central Public Library
Bristol Cathedral






There are some cool fountains and wading pools in Millennium Square.

Posers

Bristol Aquarium



3D glasses at IMAX theater waiting to see a shark movie.


Nate really liked the shark.


Obviously not a fish, but beautiful none the less!

I don't know if you can tell, but this lobster was huge.