After a luxurious night's sleep at The Randolf, we enjoyed another wonderful English breakfast before heading out in the brisk morning air to go see the Bodleian Library. After exploring a bit more, everyone was given the opportunity to purchase an Oxford sweatshirt because "we went to Oxford!" ;)
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| Receiving instruction in the front lobby of The Randolf |
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| The beautiful old hallways of the hotel |
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| A simple breakfast. A cooked one could be chosen as well. |
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| Enjoying breakfast |
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| Another view of the breakfast room |
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| The group in front of The Randolf, ready to head out. |
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| Inside the Bodleian Library |
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| This room was used as the hospital in the Harry Potter movies with this door being particular in the movies as well |
For lunch we went to the Eagle and Child restaurant which was the very spot J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would meet weekly to write, discuss and compare notes. We sat in groups, used props, and discussed a devotional we had each read and highlighted throughout, that was written by C.S. Lewis. Our own academic discussions like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis had done in their day,
compared our own notes about the truth of the "New Heaven" when this sinful
world has passed away.
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| We basically took up the entire back half of this quaint and popular little place |
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| In depth discussions of a convicting devotional that may have been written in this very room, was a highlight of this trip. |
For lunch, many of us ordered the Ultimate Burger... and the name of it was no joke. It was a feat to try and eat without having to disassemble at least some of it! It was delicious though!
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| They weren't kidding! |
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| Don't think so, Jake! |
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| Good Luck, Daniel! |
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| A door at the back of the restaurant |
Rubbing shoulders with some of the smartest people, bustling about these
streets, you can't help but feel as though some of the intelligence has
rubbed off on you. We next ventured out to a real palace called
Blenheim (the last Cinderella movie was filmed there). A family
currently resides as true Duke and Duchess over these lands. If we so
desired to venture through all of their grounds, we would need four days
to accomplish this task. For today, we took in a tour of the actual
palace (that looks like a castle), followed by a train ride towards the
spirited, speed race through an eight-foot high, hedge maze. Much fun
and madness ensued.
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| Just the center section of Blenheim Palace! It wouldn't all fit in one photo! |
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| The group on the front steps |
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| The actual working key to the palace |
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| This dining table can seat up to 42 guests at once |
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| Walking down one of the hallways, you can see a huge pipe organ at the end, into the next room |
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| The corner of the library |
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| More of the library |
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| The patio where you can sip on a cup of tea and enjoy the view |
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| Taking a little train to the "garden" |
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| AJ mimicking the statue in the middle of the maze |
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| A small panorama of part of the maze |
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| Sitting for a rest after running through the massive maze |
Again, God's face has shone brightly upon us, literally, as the weather is perfect! What an incredible blessing when we are exploring grounds during this spring season outdoors.
We boarded the bus and headed out to the city of Bath. The city is known for it's Roman-built bath and hot springs (which we will see tomorrow) but for tonight, we checked into the Bath Hilton and headed out for a nice dinner at Jamie's Italian. The restaurant is owned by Jamie Oliver, the British chef, known for his cooking shows on Food Network. It did not disappoint!
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| Huge trays of appetizers awaited our arrival so we could feed our hungry bellies right away |
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| The post-sunset, gorgeous view outside the back patio of this 2 story restaurant took many of us outside to get a few photos |
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