The Beat Goes On

We are really in the swing of things now.  Time is flying by.  I led another trip into London last Saturday.  Again my group went to the V&A Museum, then down the road to Harrod's, but this time it was a gorgeous, sunny day!  Most of us spent our museum time outside in their beautiful courtyard.  They have a very shallow fountain/pool in the middle of the courtyard, and a lot of sweet little ones were enjoying wading around and splashing in the water.  

There are beautiful hydrangeas up and down the sides of the courtyard, and since I'm a sucker for hydrangeas, I had to get a few close-ups. 

Harrod's was the same as it always is...I spent a lot of time watching the puppies play.  There was an adorable French bulldog puppy for sale, but I couldn't bring myself to pay £2400 for it.  

Street view of Harrod's.  The store occupies a 5-acre site and has over a million square feet of selling space.

On Sunday, I took a group to Bicester Village, which is basically a nice outlet mall.  It was such a gorgeous, sunny day that I just sat at a table outside and read.  I actually ended up with a little bit of sunburn!  It was fantastic! 

Our company's main office has hired a new web development team to completely re-do the company branding and websites, and they stopped by for a visit on Monday.  Fortunately Mother Nature has been making up for all the rain we've had this month, so again we had a beautiful day.  I took the team to the Eagle and Child, a pub where writers like JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis used to meet regularly.  We had lunch and then walked around Oxford.  We met up with one of our groups of kids at the Botanic Garden, where I took a couple of pretty pictures.  You can see Magdalen College in the background of the first one:

We returned to Lady Margaret Hall and were able to go up to the roof of the bell tower, where I got to take some great pictures. 

The next few days will be pretty chaotic around here.  We are finalizing the kids' travel/transportation plans and getting ready to leave ourselves.  Our program director, Paul, has invited us to join he and his wife and daughter at their vacation home in France!  Right now Kellen, Emily, and I plan to stay with a friend for a couple of nights in London, then we will meet up with Paul here in Oxford, and we will be on our way.  Kellen and I were hoping to change our return flights so that we can stay in France a couple days longer, but it might not work out.  We'll see!  More updates soon.

Here Comes the Sun...sort of.

The past week has been pretty hectic around here.  A pipe burst under one of the buildings where most of our students live, wiping out their hot water for almost a week.  Most of them were really good sports about the whole thing, but we did have several angry phone calls/emails from parents to attend to.  The hot water is back now, so hopefully that mess is behind us.  We've also had a lot of students getting sick. There's a stomach bug going around, and then the beautiful garden that generates shocking amounts of pollen keeps everyone's allergies working overtime + constant rain + lots of people living in close quarters = colds/sore throats.  So we're all trying to stay well and keep the kids well.  Lots of visits to the nurse, and even one (completely unnecessary) trip to the hospital.  Long story...and not for the blog.  Everyone is fine now.  

Outside of all the drama, we had some fun activities for the kids.  We went to Stonehenge and Bath, and unlike last year, there was not a torrential downpour, so I actually got to take  a few pictures! 

Those tiny white dots are sheep!

I took a picture of this bird because he looks like he has a lot of secrets.

We also went on a bike tour around London, which was a blast.  We got to see some of the Olympic set up stuff in Hyde Park, which was great.  I am hoping to go back once the Olympics have started.  We also saw Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and some beautiful gardens.  

I had my day off today, and I was extremely fortunate to have had some sun!  I ventured into town and took a couple of photos of my favourite (I have to use the British spelling while I'm here...) house that we pass anytime we go into town:

It is just beautiful. It has been my favorite, even since last summer.  Some of the houses around us are student housing, and most of those actually have blue doors.  Since this one doesn't have a blue door, I think it is just a private residence.  I have no concept of how much a house like this costs, but the other private residences around us have Bentleys and Aston Martins in the driveway...so I can assume this house costs more than I will make in lifetime.  

Even though this is my second summer in Oxford, there is still a lot of the city I haven't explored.  Today I went to Christ Church and was planning to take a tour, but most of the  tour-able parts of campus were closed, so I settled for taking pictures around the outside.      I'm hoping to make it back for a tour before we leave, because the inside is supposed to be as fantastic as the outside.  Several scenes in the various Harry Potter movies were filmed in Christ Church, and their Great Hall was actually the inspiration for the dining hall in HP. 

That's all I've got for now...if we get more rain, I'll try my best to send it to Texas.  

Rainy Day in Oxford Town

Rainy doesn't quite describe it...there is a torrential downpour going on right now.  It has truly rained almost every day since  we have been here.  The first couple of days when staff arrived, it was gorgeous.  Picture perfect every day.  But ever since the kids have been here, it has rained at least once per day, every day.  Oxford weather is not unlike Texas weather in that it will go from one extreme to another in a matter of minutes, so hopefully we'll have a gorgeous afternoon once this storm passes.  

We got to see the Olympic Torch as it came through Oxford, and that was really cool.  We got there super early to make sure we would be close and have a good view, so there was a lot of standing around and waiting with about 140 teenagers, but they all had good attitudes and were really excited about seeing the Torch.  

Now that I can upload pictures, here are a few more I've taken since being here:

Hyde Park in London

More Hyde Park

The park near Lady Margaret Hall

We've got more exciting trips and activities coming up...this week, Sir Roger Bannister is coming to speak to our group, Stonehenge and Bath is on Saturday, and then we're doing a London Bike Tour on Sunday.  And then a new week begins...

More to come!