Thursday 25 June 09

It seems only appropriate, since we started this trip - and this blog - with the day that never ended to finish up with one of the longest days any of us will ever have had.

Our Airport Transfer vans are set to pick us up at the hotel at 5AM (even though I had checked in and let them know that we were going to Terminal 4, not Terminal 5). Ah well, if John Wesley could get up at 4AM each day to be ready to preach at a 5AM worship service, then we can probably do it once in order to go home. Of course, some of us had to get up before that, in order to wake the others, but that's mere quibbling, right? Right.

So, at 3:30AM the alarm chirped in my ear and it was up, shower, dress, and get ready to knock on doors. I was surprised at how quickly the doors were answered at 4AM given how much more trouble I usually had at times like 7AM or even 8AM (perhaps it really is time to go home).

Our final packing was completed, so about 4:30 I thought I'd ring the boys' rooms to make sure they really were up and about. Great idea, but no answer in either room, this could be trouble. The whole point of phoning this time was to avoid all the stairs (as I may have mentioned, Heidi and I were in a room down a level from the ground floor, while the boys were on the third floor, or what we would call the fourth floor in the States, as they start with ground, then 1, then 2, etc.). Well, there's nothing for it but to head up all those flights. Wait, what's this? They're all in the lounge off the hotel lobby (except Matt, who was still in the shower when the rest of them came down). Brilliant.

In fact, everyone was down with all their luggage well ahead of 5, so then it was simply down to waiting for our vans. At a few minutes before 5, I took a look out to see if they were there, and to see what the weather was like (probably 10C / 50F and partly cloudy, just fyi), and I saw two VW Transport vans go by on the other side of the road with the drivers looking at addresses on the buildings. Most likely they're ours, so we get ourselves ready, grab all the luggage and head out on the porch. I went all the way down to the street just to be able to flag them down if they weren't coming along the small access road directly in front of the hotel.

They weren't.

In fact, they had the wrong address (89 rather than 86) and had been circling the block for a little while before seeing me and stopping to ask if we were their passengers. We were, and we quickly loaded up and headed off for Heathrow.

We had a very quick ride, as there was almost no traffic on the roads yet, but our driver told us that if we had waited another hour, it would have added yet another hour to our driving time. We arrived just before 6AM for our 850AM departure.

All of us made it through the kiosks to get our boarding passes - except Heidi and Chris, so we went to the regular line and everything was fine. No telling why it didn't work, but we all got our boarding passes, so no harm, no foul as they say.

Next up: Security, where Chris once again set off the metal detector with the plate in his collarbone. Ian, standing directly behind him in line, watched with some angst the whole wanding and patting down that might well await him as well (after all, he had nearly the identical plate holding a nearly identical break). It was not to be. Ian cruised through without a beep, so I followed happily, only to be stopped and frisked as something set off the detector. I opined that it must be my magnetic personality, and the security guard actually chuckled and said it was quite likely. Take that, TSA!

At any rate, given our early arrival, a gate had yet to be assigned for our flight, so it was time to find food and drink. Not much of a variety in Terminal 4, sadly. We had Costa Coffee, Starbucks, and Garfunkel's Restaurant as our options. At least there was caffeine available!

Once they had announced our gate (#7), we headed down there to chill until boarding. I grabbed a few pounds ( not weight) and headed back to where we had seen some PCs with internet access and blogged up the activities of Wednesday, my time running out as I checked to be sure the blog had really posted (it had), and then returned to the gate to wait.

And wait.

Yes, another "slight" delay. Boarding was scheduled for 7:50AM (an hour before departure), but didn't really start until 8:20. It's not looking good for an on-time arrival. Still, boarding went quickly, and we were on the plane with doors closed just about at our scheduled departure time.

By my calculations, our takeoff was at 9:45AM - less than an hour after scheduled departure, but that's really the time for leaving the gate, so we're well under an hour behind at this point.

The only real trouble there was on the flight back was that they had to reboot the entertainment system 3 times. The announcement covering that last reboot told us that if that didn't fix the problems, it was something that simply couldn't be handled at 38,000 feet, and they'd have to apologise. I didn't notice any real complaints, so it must have worked - at least for the most part.

We made up a lot of time - looking at the moving map of our flight, we noticed that we had taken a significantly more Northern route than we had on the way over, perhaps that avoided some stronger headwinds. At any rate, after a quite uneventful flight we landed safe and sound back in tropical Detroit (and there was no doubt it was tropical when we exited the plane and felt the air in the tunnel to the airport proper).

Items of interest at this point included: kids noting that suddenly their cell phones had service again; Judy informing us that she had sat next to the same guy as she had on the flight to London ten days earlier - and that he had slept the whole way both times; no one having much trouble filling out their landing cards; well you get the idea, there wasn't much of moment at that moment beyond getting out of that airport and back to our families.

So, we all got through the second security checkpoint with our newly-reclaimed luggage with no trouble and headed for the exit. Wait, where are Matt and Greg? They got pulled off into the secondary inspection room, so I stayed back to make sure they got through. It looked to me as though there was a tip that someone tall was doing something bad on that flight, as everyone I had noted as being tall on our plane was either coming out from or going in to that secondary inspection room.

Finally, both of them were out, and we got our group photo taken (thanks, Paul!) and off we went to be picked up and whisked away back into the bosoms of our various families. There's no place like home, you know, even if it's not in Kansas, and you don't have any ruby slippers.

Well, there's the story. Or rather, there's the bare bones of what we did and where we went. Now it's up to you to find one or more of us and get the details, to get the bird's eye lowdown on this caper, to get the inside story, to ... well, you get the idea. Ask us about it, but don't be surprised if we talk a lot longer than you had expected.

This was a great trip, and we all want to thank you for your support, and I want to thank all the travellers for being so great the whole time, and to thank their parents for letting them come along with us on this great adventure.

Grace, Peace, and Love,
Charlie

Wednesday 24 June 09

Not everyone broke their fasts this morning (probably not a great idea, but they chose extra sleep instead), but all were ready to head out shortly after our planned 8:30. The tubes were extremely slow this morning, but we finally made it to Tower Hill, bought three families' worth of tickets, and in we went to the Tower of London.

The plan was to meet back at the entrance at 12:30, but we saw all the kids arrive early, so we joined them and headed out along the Thames (just above Tower Bridge) and back around to the tube station. We caught the tube to Westminster, coming out just at the tower of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament where many excellent photos were taken. We then walked along past Parliament, past Westminster Abbey and the church of St. Margaret (with a surprise pastor listed on the sign!), and on up the road to Methodist Central Hall. One million Methodists donated a guinea each to build this building way back when a million pounds was enough to build huge church structures.

Down to the basement we went for lunch at Wesley's Cafe - everyone had good food and a nice respite from all the walking we've been doing these past few days.

Once we were finished, it was a shortish walk up to Trafalgar Square to see Nelson's column, the various fountains, the lions, and all the pigeons. Sadly, there were no bird seed vendors, so we couldn't cover anyone with seed and watch the pigeons land and eat. Ah well.

So - up to St Martin in the Fields church where the London brass rubbings centre is now located. Many of the travellers made rubbings (I'm not telling who did them, as they may be secret gifts for a later date - don't even bother asking.) while others watched, shopped, or visited the spectacular sanctuary above. Very much worth visiting if you're in London.

Next up was shopping in Picadilly Circus. Some of our crowd wanted Wimbeldon shirts, and we had been told that Lilywhite's was the last word in sports stores, so there we were. Sadly, so was the heat, as their A/C seemed to have died. It was upwards of 35C in the store, and it's 6 storeys tall, so there was plenty of sprinting up and down the stairs trying to gather everyone.

Eventually the shopping was done and it was time to go back to the hotel. Or was it? No, not for everyone. How could one go shopping in London, and not get to Harrodd's, after all? We certainly couldn't, so a group of 10 or so headed off for the famed store. All were stunned at the store, and even more stunned at the prices. Still a (very) few things were bought, and now we can say we shopped at Harrodd's.

I did receive an interesting text message whilst I was buying a book for the trip home, but that's another story.

Once back at the hotel, it was time to figure out dinner. The lads were all for a quick trip to Burger King, while the lasses were a bit put off by the thought of American fast food for their last dinner in England (and that's quite understandable). Accordingly, we headed for a Pasta and Pizza restaurant called Garfunkel's. The food was excellent, although the service left something to be desired at a couple of our tables. Still, it was a good meal.

After dinner, I hit the Internet Cafe to catch up the blog a bit more, then it was home and everyone packing and actually sleeping before the 4AM wake up calls for our 5AM pickup.

Good grief - it's really nearly over!

Tuesday 23 June 09

Well, time to see if everyone can get up and around on their own - we are quite spread out through the hotel. Some in the basement, some on the ground floor, some on the third, and the rest on the fourth. Of course, they're in two different stairwells, which don't connect, other than on the ground floor, so it's set up for great convenience. Oh well, what's a few stairs among friends?

At any rate, most of us made it down for breakfast - English or cornflakes - and we all got there in time for our appointed departure. And depart we did, heading for the tubes and our appointment with destiny, or rather with a guide at John Wesley's Chapel in City Road. In a surprise move, we actually arrived early for our 10AM appointment - ahead of our scheduled guide, in fact.

The upside to that was that one of the two ministers of the chapel - Rev. Jill Potter - gave us an interesting talk about the history of that building, but more importantly, the history of Methodism as a separate denomination. Very cool information here that none of us had previously encountered. Once the guides had arrived on site, we got a quick finish to the chapel introduction, and then moved on to the Foundery chapel and John Wesley's grave in the back. Following that, we split into two groups to tackle the house attached to the chapel, and both groups got excellent tours of the place.

Next up was the Bunhill fields across the street. This is a famous cemetery for dissenters or non-conformists - including Susannah Wesley (the mother of John and Charles), Isaac Watts, Daniel Defoe, and many other luminaries. Unfortunately, most of the graves were inaccessible, as the gates to the footpaths through the fields were padlocked. Interestingly, we were "heckled" about Methodism by a chap walking through to have his lunch in the fields. He found Methodism unacceptable, as it was founded by the man who "invented electroshock therapy, and that's evil." We had a very civil discussion, and parted, while not friends, certainly not opponents. One can hope that he might reconsider - we'll be praying for that.

Walking back up City Road, we stopped at the food court in the Marks & Spencer store and bought sandwiches, drinks, salads, all that kind of stuff for a picnic lunch at the Aldersgate Memorial site by the entrance to the Museum of London. In spite of the fact that I misinterpreted the placement of the 5 items or less signs, the checkout ladies let us all go through so I could buy all the lunches; it was very kind of them, and we didn't really inconvenience anyone. Not only was the food welcome (& good), but we had a pretty significant devotional period there, right in front of random Londoners and visitors. I think it was a good witness that there really is something to all this Christianity stuff. Check 2 Corinthians 3:3.

Now it's time to head back to the hotel to get ready for our matinée of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. Unfortunately, we ended up at the wrong end of Paddington station, and had to really run and push through things to get to the theatre. Not only did we have a bit of a late start, but the two lines that made the quickest connexion were both down. We still made it a couple minutes after the curtain rose, and the ticket folks asked - are you the group of 14? We were, and they gave us a quick recap of those couple missed minutes and got us in our seats in time to enjoy the play - which we all did, but we can't tell you who it was, as they have sworn us to secrecy!

At least we now had plenty of time to head back to the hotel and relax a bit before our dinner at The Albert, a public carvery in Victoria Street, not far from Methodist Central Hall. We arrived in two slightly separated groups, but all sat down at the same time to a wonderful, traditional carvery dinner (turkey, roast beef, roast pork, and all the sides!) with starters and/or desserts for all. To get a full picture of the dinner, you really should ask one of the travellers who had the chocolate fudge chocolate cake how the dessert was - the looks on their faces almost made me want to have something sweet (but only almost!).

After dinner, we had a fun tube ride home, talking about the various places we could visit tomorrow - our last day in London. We put together some options, and we'll finalise the schedules in the morning, once everyone has slept off their sugar rush- and sleep deprivation-fed anxiousness. The great thing was that everyone realised that they were getting a bit snippy with one another, and that it was because they needed rest.

We're scheduled to meet at 8:30 AM to head out on our last London adventure, so stay tuned!

Monday 22 June 09

Another glorious day in sunny England. We've decided that the tourist bureau of England should pay us to be here - we've completely rearranged the weather patterns of this sceptred isle, and that all for the good, mind you.

At any rate, we were up, broke our fast, took one last walk around the top of the hill, and headed into town to the train station, where we found that everyone had arrived right on time. Unfortunately, the train had other ideas, and arrived about 10-15 minutes late.

We all got on after some very heartfelt good-byes, "stowed" our luggage, and found our reserved(!) seats for the ride to London. It was a bit of a slow one with many stops, but the scenery was good, and many bracelets were created en route.

Part of the entertainment consisted of a group of schoolchildren at the other end of our car. One particular lad, Charlie by name, seemed completely incapable of listening to answers and instruction, so we heard his name quite often. "It's a good job you're not in charge, Charlie, or we'd have been off this train an hour ago," was one of my personal favourites. At any rate, we eventually pulled into Paddington station and found our way to the exit. Of course, that exit was blocked by turnstiles asking for cards which we didn't have. Oh, it was actually a request to show our train ticket, just to make sure we had really paid for our journey - no worries - and off we went.

Our hotel, the Orchard Hotel in Sussex Gardens, is mere blocks from the train and tube station, so we dragged our suitcases and checked in. We settled in briefly, and then gathered for a trip to Subway - the restaurant, not the tubes - for a late lunch, then on to Hyde Park to wander and explore.

The chap at the front desk told us which corner of Hyde Park was near the Hard Rock Café (our dinner destination for the evening), and though it was not the corner I had remembered, we went along with it. More on that in a moment.

We hit Hyde Park with a will, and found all the people watching to be brilliant. We saw the statue of Peter Pan, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, all kinds of stuff, and were headed for Speakers' Corner when a slight miscalculation found us in the opposite corner - near Buckingham Palace. We thought we might as well just have a look, so we did, and got as much as we needed there. Then it was off across the park for Speakers' Corner - it was mostly fenced so we couldn't get there, but Jeff gave us a rousing speech on why Manchester United is overrated, and how it's all about Liverpool Football Club, then we walked out to find the Hard Rock Café.

Well, you're probably expecting to read that the fellow at the desk was wrong, and that I was right. That's exactly the case. We had another long walk to get to the restaurant - and there was a fairly major queue outside when we arrived. As we had told the travellers, it's always been an hour to an hour and a half wait, so this wasn't unexpected. They all headed over to the shop and museum while I put my name in for some tables. "What, fourteen now, with no booking?" Yep, that's it. "Hold on please." "OK, how about ten minutes?" Good grief, God is watching over me again!

Of course, it wasn't really a ten minute wait, more like six.

Everyone had a great meal, and off they went for the shop again. Once that was done, we started to walk home. Started to, I say, because at this point I revealed the wonders of the London Travel Card! Each of us had unlimited tube travel within Zones 1 and 2 for three full days. Who could ask for anything more?

We sat down to a meeting shortly after returning to set the rules for London and assign buddies to watch out for each other at every travel junction. Once all that was well and truly understood, the boys and I all headed to the Internet Café for a half hour of email, Facebook, and blogging.

We also sent a message to Andrea Deck, who's living here in London, to try to connect while we're here too. We shall see. The café closed at 11, so back we went for some sleep so we could head out at 9 for our first London excursion - Wesley's Chapel in City Road. Everyone was so excited that they hardly slept (or so it seemed to us).

More next time.

Saturday+Sunday 20-21 June 09 + comments

Well, folks, thanks for all the traffic and all the comments - it helps us to feel connected to home as well as to each other as we roam through jolly old England.

Just a note to parents and others who might be involved in picking up travellers on Thursday. My parents will be in the North Cell Phone Lot, and we'll call them when we get to wherever we finish with the customs and TSA folks. It sounds like that's the best place to be, so I thought I'd pass that on. You can check with Jack Van Becelaere if you want info on that lot.

OK, as I said in the last post, there is just too much to tell about the weekend to make a coherent blog - even with Heidi steering the tale. So ... I'm going to give a quick thumbnail and make you find out more when we're back. As to a Second Sunday, I know we'll do something like that - although it may be a thank you tea with a presentation; that's all to be decided yet.

On Saturday, everyone was up smartly and packing had been done as requested, so after breakfast it was a quick matter of settling the bill and getting on the bus. This time, our driver had come early by accident, but we didn't leave until our appointed time.

The departure was a bit tear-filled, I'm afraid. Your travellers really made an impression on Kate and John, and she didn't let us go without a photo on her lawn (and she got an impressive number of hugs along the way). We'll be back there next time if at all possible.

This was a long ride - about 3.5 hours - so we had a quiet trip until we got near to Newton Abbot and stopped at the Services to eat our lunches and stretch our legs. A quick call to our friends Sydney and Dorothy arranged for the host families to meet us as the coach stop across from the train station near the church. There was a wedding going on at the church, and we thought it would be bad form to interrupt.

We pulled in and there they were awaiting us. We hadn't really worked out which travellers would be with which families, but that sorted itself out beautifully. "Who's interested in cricket?" Up went two hands. "Who's interested in golf?" up went two more. "Who are the three girls together?" off they went. All was done that easily, and everyone went off - most with smiles, a few apprehensive looks, but excitement was the order of the day.

Next morning at church we got the run-down. Everyone had had a wonderful time, and thought they had the best place to stay. We did get one complaint from the Dad of one family, though. He said his biggest problem was that they weren't going to be with him nearly long enough. I think all the travellers felt the same way.

Sunday afternoon was as different as Saturday evening, then we met for the evening service.

You can be more than proud of your travellers as they led in a wonderful worship service which was appreciated by all.

Then it was time for more varied activities until we were to meet at 10AM Monday at the train station. But that's another day, so it has to wait for the next post.

Sorry about that, church. (Yes, that was a somewhat obscure old TV reference.)

More tomorrow!

Friday 19 June 09

Everyone awoke promptly and we all broke our fast (well, Matt continued fasting until lunch, but that's another story).

Very interestingly, Emma's room seems to be haunted - the doors open and close themselves from time to time, so we asked Kate if the place were haunted. She said that she used to think so, but it had been years since anything had happened. Still, there had been some ghost hunters who had stayed in the place when they were investigating another Stratford site. Kind of spooky, eh?

Interestingly, today's site is the Old Rectory, which is the subject of a small book by John Wesley which details the haunting of his father's house. Very cool.

At any rate, it's an early start, and we have yet another flawless pickup by Johnsons - with yet another Malcolm, who is also a Yorkshireman, so he even knows where Epworth is! Nice.

Our anticipated 3 hour drive is accomplished in a somewhat sleepy 2.5, and we pulled in with the kids still trying to wake up to see a bus with a sign in the windscreen reading "MPUMC" - a North Carolina church was just finishing a tour as we arrived.
Oh, and our arrival was earlier than expected so we had our tour before lunch rather than after lunch. Peter Brown took us through the place, trying valiantly to engage the kids with his stories, and getting some real participation.

We'll be happy to tell you about the rectory, but since we're heading toward closing time here in the café, let me just say that both Peter and I were disappointed that the hymn Samuel Wesley had written was no longer displayed - along with the copy of the musical setting our church had provided them - and Peter shared the story that Charles Wesley had sung that hymn (Behold the Saviour of Mankind) when visiting prisons in the early Holy Club days.

Next was a nice lunch of sandwiches and spring vegetables soup with tea and coffee. Very nicely done, and everyone enjoyed it.
After a quick tour of the physic garden, we were off for St Andrew's church, which was under renovation. Fortunately, the side with the main entrance and Samuel's tomb was still accessible.

We had a bit of devotional reading in the sanctuary, then the kids got Judy to stand on the tomb, where John had preached when the pulpit of the church was denied him. Quite a thrill all around.

Walked back to the coach and headed home through much more traffic, but we still made decent time, even with a little stop at a services for some drinks.

We got home and updated the blog for the prior day just before that place closed - great to see all the traffic and comments: please keep them coming!


Heidi and I got a few photos of the Shakespeare sites that hadn't been much visited, then it was time to go over Sunday's worship service. That was handled quickly, and then it was off to Garrick's Inn for dinner with Kate and John (our hosts).

Dinner was great, and Kate and John were thrilled to have been asked along (as were we that they would come with us). Once again, had a bit of trouble with the American MasterCard in the British system, but the phone was able to handle it and all was well. We had a great talk with John and Kate on the way home, and everyone retired for the night - after they finished packing, because come morning, it's off to Newton Abbot to stay with our host families of the congregation of the Avenue Church.

It's all very exciting, but some of us are a bit nervous to go stay with strangers. I try to explain that these are all our friends, whether we know them yet or not, and there is more anticipation than angst, so it seems to be working.

Oh, by the way - we've confounded the weatherman at every turn. Each day we've had dire forecasts of rain, cold, clouds, etc. Nonetheless, it looks like I'm coming home with a tan - yes, I had to go to England to get a tan. Bizarre, no?

OK, we may have more time tomorrow to catch up on the weekend, but let me tell you, it was simply fantastic. You're all in store for more stories than you can shake a stick at, and they're all going to be great. You can't wait!

Thursday 18 June 09

Well, I awoke in a panic at 8AM - late for everything! Oh, it's only 6AM. Never mind (sorry, Heidi).

Stunningly, our driver's name didn't start with "S" - his name was Malcolm, and he's a Yorkshireman now living in Warwickshire. Perfect that, as his task was to get us to Warwick Castle in the middle of Warwickshire, and that he did perfectly.

For some reason, the folks at the ticket office didn't know anything about our pre-paid vouchers, but after trying to get them to work, they sent us in free of charge (we don't want you to have a bad time, so in you go), asking us to follow up with the vendor when we return to the States. Bravo, Warwick, Bravo.

Once in, our lads were accosted by a medieval looking fellow with a clipboard (?) who asked them if they wanted to help to wind the world's largest trebuchet for a public firing about an hour later. Three of them signed up (Greg, Jon, and Chris) and it was spectacular. They even received a huge round of applause from the assembled masses once the shot had gone off.

We then had our lunch in the Undercroft restaurant, finishing just in time to catch the falconry exhibition - including a bald eagle - which was also quite spectacular.

Then it was time for everyone to climb the towers, visit the armoury, perhaps tour the dungeon, all that great castle kind of stuff.

At 2PM, we had seen most of the place, and returned to our coach for the ride back via Kenilworth Castle. It was a most impressive place, although Cromwell and his boys had wrecked it at the end of the Civil War (yes, they had one first - look it up!).

Once home (about 3:30) we hit the internet café for yesterday's update, then met to head down to the river front for a dinner of fish and chips (or chicken and chips in several cases). It was a traditional English dinner, and it was a hit.

Then, it was time for our Shakespeare play - As You Like It - and we did, we did indeed. This was a very enjoyable play, and the production was excellent - acting, staging, singing, fighting, everything. You know it's good when no one complained at all, and everyone even followed what was going on, and that was the case tonight.

Sadly, the café is about to close, so I'm going to have to close for today (didn't think I'd even get here in time for anything, so I'm feeling lucky right now). Probably won't have a chance for a day or two, but please, keep leaving your comments, they are much appreciated.

Cheers!

Wednesday 17 June 09

Today's a day of two sites - Coventry Cathedral in Coventry, and Lincoln College Oxford.

Breakfast was, of course, brilliant, and all are having a great time signing up for the next day's meal just after finishing that day's. Still, we did finish a bit late, and had kept seeing a Johnsons coach circling the block - probably ours, waiting for the correct pickup time. Once we had grabbed our bagged lunches, we found out that we were correct - it was Sam in the coach (today's driver brought to you again by the letter "S") and off we went.

The sky was threatening, but we ignored it and went right outside into the ruins when Sam dropped us off right in front (one benefit of a smaller group, and thus a smaller coach - they can get into places the big busses can't).

Charlie gave a brief intro to the cathedral, then found our tour guide - Barbara Smith, a WWII bombing survivor herself. Ms. Smith led us on a spectacular tour of one of the most moving sites we'll see all trip. The idea of asking God to forgive the people who bombed your church right as the cleanup is under weigh is quite astounding, and all the travellers seemed quite affected.

Directly adjoining the ruins of the old cathedral is the new cathedral, which opened in 1962. The amazing artwork and design of each and every detail were breathtaking. Jon noted that he'd seen lots of stained glass windows in his day, but the baptismal window was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
The back window of the sanctuary is sort of a knock-off of the windows in our sanctuary, having angels and saints etched into the glass, but no colours there - extremely cool.


We learned more about this place in the hour or so that Barbara took us around than we have in the previous three trips combined. Just brilliant.

You all need to ask us about it, because there will have been very little forgotten, I'm sure.

Next up was a trip to Oxford to see Lincoln College - the college where Charles Wesley was a student and big brother John was a fellow (that's a teacher / tutor), and where Charles started the Holy Club, and John took it over upon joining it.

The steward of the college, Dr. Andrew Beaumont, or "Beau" took us on a rollicking tour of the college, even sharing some of the deepest, darkest secrets and traditions involving red hot coins, poisoned beer, and lingerie departments. You can ask, but we'd have to kill you. Oh, a polar bear paw played a part in the history of the college, but no one seemed to know why.

He showed us the college chapel, and let us have some devotional time in that space (the John Wesley Memorial Chapel) where we read from John's journal and talked about the relationship between the activities of the Holy Club and our very own Workcampers; we're really just carrying on a long, Methodist tradition.

Next, Beau took us to the rooms where John lived and taught - which are still in use today, and even contain a portion of Wesley's library, where he regaled us with various other tales, and even tried to interest some of the travellers in applying for admission to Lincoln College to play on the various sports teams.

After a bit of shopping for souvenirs, a quick trip past Christ Church (where Jeff discovered an office chair in the middle of the path - he always seems to find chairs, that Jeff), we met up with Sam and off we went for a quick trip back to Stratford.

In fact, we were even home early enough to hit the internet café and post a couple updates.
Today will have to wait for tomorrow, I'm afraid - it's time to head out for dinner and a play. We're hoping the fish and chips will be As You Like It (get it? that was kind of like a joke).

Cheers.

Tuesday 16 June 09 (a day of normal length)

By now fully acclimated to the time change (?) breakfast was handled with ease. Your travellers were introduced to the wonders of the cooked English breakfast (although only two have dared the baked beans for breakfast thus far!)

Matt's major complaint was that the birds here are much more annoying than those at home - especially since they begin singing when the sky brightens, somewhere around 4AM.

Once breakfast was done and cleaned up, our lunches were laid out and grabbed, and our coach awaited - perfect timing once again. Clearly nothing can go wrong on this trip (apart from hail storms on the wrong side of the river). Another difference we've noted is that drives that seem normal to us, seem quite long to our English friends. "This will be up to an hour and a half - do we need to schedule a break along the way?" We thanked Simon (our driver) and politely declined.

Nicely, Simon was able to drop us right across from the New Room and in we went to be greeted by Charles Wesley, in all his bronze glory. A sign at the door told us that Tibetan monks would be making butter sculptures and sand mandalas there in the chapel. Bonus.

The director of the New Room gave us a great tour of the chapel, the museum, and then across to Charles Wesley's house. It even seemed as though everyone was interested, paying attention, and having a good time. And well they might - it was excellent.

After the tour, we took time to eat our lunches, stop in a few shops, and buy some football jerseys (oh, you Yanks call it soccer, don't you?).

Simon picked us up right where he had dropped us, and off we went back to Stratford (or "home" as we like to call it for now).

On the way back, we even saw the summer home of the driver we had last time we were here (inside joke alert for any HT04 members who might be reading here). At any rate, the weather was beautiful all the way, all day. Perhaps this would be a better night for a trip across the river...?

Dinner was again great. This time it was shepherd's pie and sweet corn. For sweets there was a kind of banana cream pie that had been made by one of Kate's friends - everything was excellent, and not nearly as much went back on plates as had gone the night before.

This time, Judy, Heidi, and Charlie braved the far bank - and made it back completely dry! In fact, we found not only the church where Shakespeare is buried, but directly across the lane, we found the Straford Methodist Church (they're in the middle of a building project, so Judy doesn't want the appointment, thank you very much). They had a lovely (huge) rosemary bush outside the entrance - it was quite a stress reliever, in fact. Quite ironic.

All that walking was accompanied by someone trying to learn how to play the carillon in the church tower, not terribly successfully, but quite persistently - it went on for hours.

Charlie had a bit of a hankering for some caffeine, so he strode off to the Shell station down the road. Some of the girls saw him going, so when he came back they asked where they could get some snacks and such.
Rather than risking the roundabout again, they headed for good old Sainsbury's down by the river. Imagine the joy at finding that everyone else we knew was already there, also buying snackage.

Oh, by the way, just before all that snack seeking, I had made it to the internet café to update this blog. Sadly, they're only open until 6PM (that's 1PM your time, folks), so the update had to wait. Sorry about that, but now we know.

Before everyone retired, a package of beautiful pink earplugs was opened, and the birds would have to sing much more fiercely to do their worst to us come Wednesday morning!


That's about it for Tuesday. Wednesday will have to wait, as they're about to kick us out of the café - it's closing time. We don't have to go home, but we can't stay here, apparently.

Check back tomorrow - we'll try to have an update then.

Sunday 14 June 09 (the day that never ends)

As we all know, everyone made it to the airport in plenty of time, and all went well with checking in. Oh, except for Chris Thomas and his bionic collarbone. Fortunately, he had a card telling the TSA that he had a medical device (a metal plate) in his body. Unfortunately, the TSA didn't care one whit, and wanded and frisked him with glee (at least it looked like glee to me).

At any rate, we all made it to the gate where we found seats and got the good news that our flight was delayed - about 40 minutes in all - but don't worry, we'll catch all that time up en route.

Right.

We had a variety of neighbours on the flight, as we were somewhat spread out around the plane, and an amazing number of films and TV shows were viewed. Dinner was "fine" for the most part, and sunrise came surprisingly quickly after sunset.

Then we landed and went through immigration, baggage claim, and customs with simply no problems - even Alex got her luggage, so there's apparently no genetic trait involved there.

Our Johnsons Luxury Coach was waiting right where we expected it, Steve loaded the luggage aboard, and off we went for Stratford-upon-Avon, via Bourton-on-the-Water (the Venice of the Cotswolds).

We arrived at the Forget-Me-Not guesthouse (and a bit at the Royalyn next door) where we were greeted excitedly by Kate Morris - our friend and the proprietor, who actually remembers us and our previous groups, and was awaiting our arrival with great anticipation.

With everything stowed in rooms, the week's schedule gone over for meal times and such, and people oriented a bit, we set off to explore Stratford before dinner was served.

Please note that by this time, it was no longer Sunday - not by a long shot! This really was the day that never ended. A long Sunday (43 hours or so) with no real Monday as a companion. The thing that cemented this perception was the near-total lack of sleep accomplished by nearly every one of our travellers. Brilliant, but in an ironic kind of way.

Speaking of brilliant, the weather seemed to be in our favour for a change. England is not, by nature, a sunny clime, but whenever a Heritage Tour is in residence, that changes for the better.

Usually.

Acting on that knowledge, Heidi, Charlie, Megan, Emma, and Jaime set out to circumnavigate the Avon River. Once we were on the far side of the river, almost perfectly equidistant from all possible crossings, the heavens let loose. Oh, and not just with rain - we have learnt that Emma's hair looks quite nice with a dusting of hail. It was cold, to say the least.

Bravely struggling on through the English monsoon, your intrepid travellers managed finally to cross the river and find their way home. Again ironically, we passed a laundromat with a sign in the window extolling the virtues of their dryers.

Despite the weather, everyone made it back to their rooms on time, and settled in for some well-deserved sleep. And sleep they did (after a good game of euchre, of course).

We made it!

Sorry for the long silence here, but there hasn't been much opportunity to get to a computer here.

We had a great, if somewhat delayed flight, and everyone has been excellent.
I'll start putting things in order in posts for each day, but this is just to let you all know that we're all here, safe and sound, and having a wonderful time. Wish you were here!

Here we go!

Yep, it's time to get that last item (perhaps a fabulous polo shirt?) packed away and head to the airport! Next stop, Heathrow in Jolly Old England!
Ta, all.

Wesley World News

Dateline Grosse Pointe
We're right down to it now, folks. The members of your Heritage Tour 2009 are getting ready to wing their way across the pond in search of the history of Methodism (and perhaps a few new friends and some great experiences along the way).

Now that all the preparations are nearly complete, what do we expect? What can we expect? Well, our expectations are as varied as we are:

• Some of us are looking forward to seeing our friends again.
• One traveller is looking forward to seeing what it's like in England - no expectations, just curiosity, while another is looking forward to flying across the ocean for the first time.
• One traveller is actually looking forward to seeing the places where John and Charles Wesley grew up and where Methodism was born (imagine that), while another wants to see if his brother's stories are true.

Whatever the hopes and expectations, what this trip holds for your travellers is a set of memories that will last for years and years - memories that will enrich their lives, in and out of worship, in ways they can't even imagine yet.

We'd like to thank you all for your support, both financial and prayerful, as we head across the Atlantic for our ten-day adventure. When we return, we'll share our experiences with the rest of the congregation, and we hope you will all be able to be a part of that once it's scheduled.

While we're gone, though, you can keep track of our trip by reading our blog here at heritagetour09.blogspot.com - we'll be posting updates as often as we can.

Here's a list of the travellers:
Ian Ashbury, Emma Baker, Greg Blunden, Matt Blunden, Alex Bracci, Jaime Leineke, Jeff Leineke, Jon Lorenz, Julia Solecki, Megan Stowell, and Chris Thomas, all accompanied by three intrepid adults: Heidi & Charlie van Becelaere and Rev. Judy May.

Please keep us all in your prayers, now, on to England!