Avebury

Moving west from Stonehenge, we came to a small little English village called Avebury.  It is a beautiful little town in its own right.  It just has the feel of an English village.  Most of the roads are blocked from traffic; walking down small lanes is called for; rock walls create separation in town.  It's really very pretty.

What's amazing though is that this little town is also the site of one of the oldest rock circles in the world--dating about 500 years before Stonehenge.  And the neat thing about it is that you can walk close to the stones, climb on them and get just a bit of a feel for what it would have been like almost 5000 years ago.  It's really not possible to get a good grasp of the circle just walking through.  For that, you have to see it by air.  See the pics at this link: Avebury Ring  That's the full circle.  The town is actually built inside the circle.  Scholars believe that this may have once been the most important religious site in Britain, or possibly even in Europe.

Stonehenge

On Friday morning we loaded up the coach and headed southwest out of London to see Stonehenge.  To get to Stonehenge expect to see lush, rolling hills with sheep...and the occasional group of white pigs. This past summer we watched a video about Stonehenge and it really is out in the middle of nowhere.   Some things to know - you don't get to walk in between the stones or climb on them or...even touch them, but you can take great photos and there is a path all the way around them.  If you are unable to make it at the summer or winter solstice or sunrise or sunset, don't worry-- there is a gift shop with charming photos you can purchase.  

(This stop had everything you might need -a snack shop, gift shop and clean restrooms.)

        One of my favorite things to do on the bus is sit right up front so I can listen to the conversations our bus driver takes part in. He is a charming Irishman who will set you straight on all things English.  His optimism makes light work of a three hour drive. 

 

It is believed that Stonehenge was built around 2500 BC.  To give some perspective, that's about 500 years before Abraham and roughly the same time as the Great Pyramid of Giza.  The amazing thing about the site is that these huge stones (about 4 tons) are from an area about 150 miles away.  We still don't know exactly how they were moved or how the builders erected the site with very early bronze age (or even late stone age) tools.  We also don't really know why other than that it was almost certainly some form of religious site and that it does serve as a kind of primitive calendar.

Stonehenge in February

Jack the Ripper Walk (the Prof)

There's been a lot going on, but I wanted to get a note out about this while it was fresh in my mind.  We're heading off to Stonehenge tomorrow so we'll want to write up other things over the weekend.  Tonight we went with Donald Rumbalow on a tour of the area where Jack the Ripper worked.

Donald is one of our "British Life and Culture" teachers.  He's also a former police officer with the London Police and one of the foremost experts on Jack the Ripper in the world.  That made the tour pretty cool.  You can check out his book at this link:  Don's book  Learned all kinds of interesting things tonight.  This is Donald talking to the students.

Since Jack "only" killed five women, I've always wondered why it was such a big deal in London of the late 1800s.  After all, Sherlock Holmes was having to solve murders all the time, right?  Actually, the murder rate at the time was amazingly low (about 200 a year in the whole country).  That had to make a series of five killings (plus two more than happened just before he got started) pretty sensational.  Since they were spread over several months, the fear in East London must have been horrible.

In the movies, there's always a Scotland Yard detective looking for the killer.  In truth, the City of London and the outer city (served by Scotland Yard) had separate and competing forces at the time.  There was no cooperation and a lot of rivalry.  That was part of the complication of the search--the killings happened in both jurisdictions.  The head of the Metro Police even willfully destroyed evidence at one point in the investigation.

The other thing that I didn't realize is how often he was seen, at a distance, with his victims--usually seen just minutes before he killed them.  I'll spare you any details of the killings.  They were pretty gruesome.

All of the victims were prostitutes who worked in the East End area.  They all frequented the pub in the picture below.  It's quite likely that Jack did as well.

Hillsong London (the Prof)

Sunday was our first free Sunday and we decided to visit Hillsong London.  The church meets in the Dominion Theatre, which is currently hosting the musical We Will Rock You based on Queen's music.  I thought the contrast was pretty amusing.  Hillsong is a very large church.  The theatre appears to hold about 1500 people and it was crowded--and they have four services a Sunday.

One of the more surprising things was that we actually ran into the greeters for the church before we even left the subway station.  We were trying to figure out which exit to go out when I noticed two guys with jackets that said "Hillsong."  So I walked up and said "where are you guys"?  They started to explain where they were from and then realized that we were wanting to find the church.  They seemed a bit surprised, but one quickly volunteered to lead us in, and led us into the building to our seats.  That's probably the furthest away I've ever met an escort into a worship service.

The church is definitely aimed at the younger crowd.  A significant % were under 30, but there were families and even a 70-102 class (102 being the age of the oldest member).  Though I noticed that they met separately rather than joining the rather loud, rock concert feel of the worship service.  Somewhat ironically, I didn't know any more of the music than I have at some of the older churches.  It was just probably newer than I keep up with.

I was impressed that Hillsong was just as diverse culturally as All Souls.  Granted, London is a diverse town, but it's clear that no one ever told these churches about target grouping.  And that's a good thing.  The church should bring people together rather than accept or encourage separation.

The Wizard of Oz (Tink)

Last night we saw The Wizard of Oz.(Today is Sunday.) It was performed at the London Palladium Theater.

Million Dollar Quartet (the Prof)

I'm sure some of you wonder if we've actually been doing any work at all, but we have a long weekend break starting today (Thursday).  We're taking advantage of it to see a couple of shows.  Last night we went to see "Million Dollar Quartet".  The show is about the day when Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis all ended up at the Sun recording studios on the same day--and started to play together.  The sound man recognized that something special was happening and recorded a lot of it.

The show isn't exactly great drama nor is it especially accurate on the music (the original includes a lot of hymns and country that the guys seem to just enjoy doing together, and they rarely finish a song).  BUT the show is just a heck of a lot of fun with great music.  20 songs ranging from classics by the four guys to gospel greats to some covers of Chuck Berry and Little Richard.  What they do a great job of is capturing the essence of these young singers.  The guys playing Elvis and Jerry Lee were incredible, but all four were very good.  And the music had that raw, less produced sound that characterized early rock and roll.  And the songs were just fun.  It was all I could do not to get up and start dancing.  Hope's response was classic--about 3/4 of the way through she said "I guess you know I'm not going to be able to go to sleep tonight"  In truth, it wasn't easy for any of us.

Tonight is Mama Mia, so I'll probably let Teach write that up.

Cambridge from our view - Tink and the Teach

This is a distant relative of the tree that Isaac Newton saw apples fall from which made him think about his theory of gravitation.

We went on a treasure hunt of sorts to find A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh manuscripts.   They are kept in a special viewing box at Wren Library.  No photography or loud voices allowed.  You get a peek at the courtyard from Chariots of Fire.

King's College Chapel - when Oliver Cromwell was in charge he didn't like  the decorative style of churches like this one.  This church was used as a stable and someone even drew on the walls. See the reddish outline of a horse?

King's College

This is an angel in the King's College Chapel.

flowers are starting to peek out at Cambridge

All Souls Church (the Prof)

We made the last of the "required" church visits with the students on Sunday.  This was All Souls Church here in London.  All Souls is an evangelical church in the Anglican communion.  If you read theology, you may recognize the name of John Stott.  Stott was the pastor of All Souls for a long time.  The church feels much more familiar to us than the more traditional Anglican churches.

I really love All Souls.  It looks like a church should look to me.  There are almost literally people from every tribe and tongue blended together.  They talk about having 99 different nations represented in their congregation.  Looking around it's obvious that everyone is welcome.  And they have a vision for reaching the world for Christ--in fact, that was the theme of this past Sunday's service.

All Souls mixes a lot of things together.  They seem very interested in reaching out to those who are interested or "seeking" faith, but they don't come across with quite the same level of slick polish that many seeker-sensitive churches do.  There's more of an informal, old-home feel to the way people go about the service.  They are high tech (monitor screens for the lyrics, etc.), but they also still work in liturgy, the Lord's Prayer and some responsive reading.  They are welcoming to all, committed to social justice and bold about the mission of evangelism all at the same time.

Cambridge

Punting on the Cam

This picture should make you feel like running in slow motion, especially if a bit of Vangelis is playing










Why is Henry VIII holding a chair leg?

Multiple choice question:

The group is standing in front of:
A) A house with a compelling ghost story (note the window open at the top center)
B) A hallowed place where RAF pilots wrote their names before heading off to fight the Battle of Britain
C) The location of the announcement of one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century
D) All of the above




And the answer is D -- In case you're wondering, the "C" discovery was DNA.

The writing on the ceiling below is from inside the pub.  Pilots would write their names, squadrons, or sweetheart's names on the ceiling before going off to fly.

The chapel at King's College.  Begun by Henry VI, completed by the Tudors

Supposedly, the Cambridge Bookstore is the oldest  continually running bookstore in the world.

Cambridge American Cemetery (the Prof)

 We began our trip on Friday with a visit to the American Cemetery at Cambridge.  There are a bit more than 3000 American men and women buried at Cambridge.  There's also a long wall with the names of the more than 5000 soldiers who went missing and were never found.  One of the more classic examples (below) was Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.  Kennedy, the son that dad actually was grooming to run for president, did two tours flying combat missions (you could go home after one) and was then killed when the experimental plane he was flying blew up just before he was supposed to bail out.

 The trip was a sobering experience for all of us.  Our guide took us around the cemetery and told the story of 4-5 of the soldiers buried there--as representatives of the larger group.  Here "Tink" is reading one of his quick explanations of the war objectives.  He would then explain how the soldier at whose grave we were standing contributed to that objective.

Hearing their stories and thinking about how these men and women were mostly volunteers who simply believed their country needed them was a memorable experience.  There were so many who gave their lives, convinced that freedom was worth defending even at great cost.  We their descendants (and really the world) owe them more than we could repay.  It's hard to see when it's small, but the American flag is the small dot near the center of the pic below.  The sun came out just in time and washed it out.  Click on the picture to see better.

Chinese New Year

We sort of stumbled into the celebration of the Chinese New Year (it's the year of the rabbit if you're interested) this past Sunday.  We were too late to get close to the performance stage, but wandered through Chinatown a bit.  I love the contrast between the very London/British buildings and the Chinese decorations.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle (the Prof)

Our theatre visit on Tuesday night took us out to Greenwich to see the Caucasian Chalk Circle.  I've been struggling with what to say about it.  It's an engrossing story that was done by a very talented five member ensemble (there are actually about 20-30 characters in the play).  The primary story (there's an introductory story that sets up telling the main story) is set in Russia.  It involves a young peasant girl who takes custody of the governor's young son when he is killed and his wife (very selfishly) runs away (there's a rebellion going on) and abandons the child.  A couple of years pass and the governor's wife comes to claim the child (because the rebellion has been put down and the child is now the heir to a fortune).

A very corrupt judge presides over the trial, but he is somewhat touched by the peasant girl's honesty.  The basic struggle is who is the real mother--the biological mother or the one who has given great care at great expense to herself.  The judge's solution is a variation of Solomon's strategy called the "caucasian chalk circle"  They put the boy in the middle of the circle and the one who can pull her out is the obvious mother.  However, the peasant girl twice lets go because she can't bear to see the child hurt.  The judge pronounces her the mother.

It's a fairly powerful morality play that addresses questions of justice and fairness.  It was occasionally crude (more than it needed to be) but generally a compelling story.  The cast was fabulous.  Using masks and variations of their body language to change characters and also playing various musical instruments in the musical elements of the story.

The trip to Greenwich was interesting in that we traveled on an elevated train (the DLR) for the first time.  I like the tube, but the El helped in seeing something of what southeast London looks like.

Westminster Abbey (the Prof)

Today was our class visit to Westminster Abbey.   Westminster is something of the state-church of England.  It's where the monarchs are crowned and where many of them are buried.  I wish I could post pictures, but they aren't allowed.  Apparently, there were too many people climbing on statues, etc. for pictures and the ministers decided to restrict those things to move the focus back to prayer and reverence.  You can still do tours (though a guide has to know exactly where he can or cannot go) but no pictures.

Westminster is a combination of 13th, 14th, 15th and 18th century architecture.  That part is odd.  There doesn't seem to have been much consideration that it all needed to go together perfectly, though it isn't obvious where the breaks are either.  It's a working church but it's also a memorial to those who have served the church, the nation and the world.

The church includes the graves of many kings and queens, Samuel Johnson (first English dictionary), Charles Dickens, Tennyson, and--possibly most honored today--the grave of the unknown warrior.  Possibly the most surprising grave is that of Charles Darwin.  There are also statues and memorials to many others.  One thing that struck me as odd was the mix.  Queen Elizabeth I is buried in a side chapel.  Next to her are the bones of the two young princes murdered by Richard III (way before her time) and 2-3 people of much lesser rank who weren't even contemporaries.  It was hard to figure how things like that were decided.

We got a very special and unusual treat.  Today was the anniversary of the consecration of Edward the Confessor as a Saint in 1161.  Edward was the last Saxon king of England and was instrumental in the development of the Abbey.  His chapel is immediately behind the altar in the church and is generally not open--because the wood has become fragile.  We were able to join one of the priests for a very brief prayer service in front of Edward's grave and shrine.  Very few people get to go there.  The priest himself said he hadn't been there since the 1990s.  It was pretty cool.

Church at Canterbury and St. Paul's (the Prof)

We attended an Evensong service last Friday at Canterbury Cathedral and then a Mattins service on Sunday at St. Paul's Cathedral.  If you're unaware, those are basically evening prayers and morning prayers, respectively.  They were similar experiences, though the Sunday Mattins service included a sermon--whereas there was only scripture and prayer at the Evensong.

It was quite an experience visiting worship at two of the most significant (and beautiful) cathedrals in Britain.  Canterbury is beautiful (The picture above is inside; Teacher's last post included a view of the outside at night) but St. Paul's is in a class by itself--an incredible building inside.  I hope we'll be able to take pictures when we return for the tour of St. Paul's (I was very disappointed that we couldn't at the tour of Westminster today).

A lot of the service at both places centered around the choir.  Both churches had a combined men's/boy's choir that sang much of the service.  They sang some of the prayer and response, they sang from the Psalms, and they sang a hymn or two.  Actually, it might be more accurately described as chanting.  Very talented singers and they know what they're doing, but the combination of the huge buildings and the fact that they were facing sideways from us made it difficult to understand.  I was happy for the printed worship guide that included the words of the songs.

I'm left a bit uncertain about the experiences.  There is an awe-inspiring beauty about the services and the buildings, but they clearly aren't moving many people to worship.  I have a hard time seeing a contemporary service in those buildings :) but I have to wonder when a group of 25 college students dramatically increases the attendance in one of those large buildings.

Dover and Canterbury by the Teacher

By the white cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle

 Friday was a blustery, cold winter day in Dover, England. We travelled to the coast to see where the little sailing vessels of England set sail to rescue soldiers in Dunkirk. Despite the high winds and low temperatures we had a great time trekking through the castle and peeking into towers and tunnels. Down by the cliffs we popped into a little shop for tea and scones before heading on to Canterbury.

Canterbury Cathedral - This was taken as we left the evening prayer service.  We toured the cathedral earlier in the afternoon and learned all about Saint Thomas a Becket and how he became a martyr.