"You Must Go to Bath"

It is like stepping into another world. Jane Austen's world. The city of Bath took me by surprise. It is quaint, unique, and has a feeling of being isolated. But it's just a feeling. Known for its Roman baths and Jane Austen museum, Bath was a fun day trip - only 1-1/2 hours from Oxford. So glad we didn't miss it.







Alan & Anna are fun to traipse across the country with!

Paris

We took a train from Frankfurt, Germany to Paris, France through some of the most beautiful country in the world.





If you have seen the Bourne trilogy movies, a couple of these things might look familiar to you.



Notre Dame cathedral. What an amazing example of gothic architecture.




The Louvre Museum. It was closed the day we were there, so we just walked around and took photos of the outside. It is amazingly HUGE!

An Evening with C.S. Lewis

While in Oxford today, we realized we had missed the C.S. Lewis walking tour. So we bought the little book and decided to learn on our own. Alan & Anna had been to his house in Headington and remembered how to get there. So Alan drove their new, used car and took us! "The Kilns" is in the middle of neighborhood now. When it was built it was all by itself. The C.S. Lewis Society has a natural preserve just beyond it, trying to preserve a bit of the land and huge pond of Lewis' time. The house next to The Kilns was named Narnia!







After seeing Lewis' house, Alan drove us to Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry. Buried in the churchyard is C.S. Lewis. His tombstone is so humble that it took us awhile to find his grave. What a peaceful place.






Can you see the Narnia illustrations on this window? It is probably beautiful from inside, but we weren't allowed inside the church.

A Day in Oxford

We began the day with lunch at The Eagle and The Child, the pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings met every Tuesday night. They would sit in this very corner and critique each other's work. We were lucky to sit there!



We visited St. Mary the virgin Church. In the photo below the church you can see the podium where John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon have spoken. After Spurgeon taught from the Bible, he said he would probably never be invited back. That was true.




Bikes, bikes and more bikes. The ads say "If you were bicycling you would be there by now!" And it's true! Biking is the fastest way around the city. We walked from Alan & Anna's flat (apartment) because it is impossible to park in the center of town. Biking would have been faster!



We walked the 99 steps up the Carfax Tower to see the city from the top.



The Bridge of Sigh's at Hertford College. The students walk across the bridge to go from their dorm rooms to their class rooms. They don't even have to go outside! It is one of the most beautiful attractions in Oxford in my opinion.

A day or two in Paris

A little more of Germany

Marburg, Germany. Ollie and Becky took us there on Saturday after the worship conference. We walked around for a little while and ate Italian food for dinner. A beautiful ending to the conference.



Ollie is the worship leader at Calvary Chapel Siegen in Germany. His cute wife, Becky, is fun and a gracious hostess. We enjoyed them so much.



Jonathan Allen is from Grace Chapel in Franklin, Tennessee. What are the chances of that? Both guest speakers/worship leaders are from Grace Chapel on opposite ends of the country!



Duane had a blast driving the rental car. They upgraded us about 8 levels since they didn't have the car we requested. Bummer...



McDonalds always had a sign that said "McCafe". We finally found out that it was a very nice pastry and coffee shop inside the restaurant. It was as nice as Starbucks, amazingly.




After each evening service at the conference, there was a short concert. Duane gave a concert one night. Thomas and Donjella played the other night. Cool way to end the night.

The first few days in Germany

The conference in Siegen has been awesome. Duane and Jonathan Allen have done most of the teaching and worship-leading. It has been great to see people we've known from the past and meet new people. Today Ollie and Becky took us to Marburg, a little German town that has a castle and is 'very German.' The walk UP the hill to the castle was rough, but the view was awesome.





On the drive from the Frankfurt airport, Duane took me to Heidelberg to see the beautiful city. It has a castle, which I never actually saw from a distance, but we climbed the road and saw the view from it, which was breathtaking.



I was smitten the moment we drove into the city.

Another graduation!

Nici graduated from Antelope Valley College yesterday on a blustery day at Marie Kerr Park. Yay! Graduating AVC makes her bachelor's degree from Eternity Bible College official too. She is finally finished! Well, until she goes back for another degree... We're proud of her. She's worked really hard, and finished well. Nana took us out to Black Angus afterward, celebrating her graduation and my and Duane's 30th anniversary. We're headed for Europe on Monday, June 8 - our anniversary - for Duane to teach at a worship conference, then to celebrate our anniversary and visit friends.

Nici and Dr. Fisher, president of AVC



Doesn't she look pretty?



Jason and Nici with their Nana. She said, "This is why I moved to California." We're so glad she did.