Artifacts & Texts

It's certainly been a long weekend! London was lovely, but we left Oxford at 7:00 and didn't make it back until 1:30 the next morning. I think there were tired eyes and sore feet all around.

We began the day with a visit to Shakespeare's Globe. Our guide was hilarious and made the tour very amusing. Fun fact from that stop? Fermented urine can be used as a stain remover. I don't think I'll try that one out.

We then took the tube over to the British Library and lunch. I had a tasty Cornish Pasty. Yummm! After a short rain shower, we walked over to the British Library. Entering the Treasure Room of the British Library, I cannot help but be amazed at the immense collection of treasures. Everything from the Lindisfarne Gospels to handwritten Beatles' lyrics are displayed in this room. My eyes were soon drawn to the significant Codex Sinaiticus, which dates to the 4th century. Here before me lay one of the two earliest surviving copies of the complete New Testament. Other Christian manuscripts include the Gutenberg Bible and a papyrus copy of Hebrews, and Tyndale's New Testament (the first Bible printed in English). Also fascinating was a letter from Jane Austen on her writing desk, Handel's Messiah and the only surviving manuscript of Beowulf.

If you've ever been down in a subway, you know those places are crazy. The London Underground is no different. Several of us got on heading to Tottenham Court Road. For some reason, all but ten of us got off and came a little later. But I am proud to say that I led my group valiantly and we had absolutely no problems. We even minded the gap!

We eventually moved on to the British Museum. This place just blows my mind as it is so large and chalk-full of history. One of the most important items on display here is the Rosetta Stone, which made the translation of Egyptian hieroglyphics possible. One room is set up to the exact dimensions of the Parthenon and contains the Elgin Marbles, brought from the Parthenon in Greece. Walking through this vast hall enthused me even more about my potential trip to Athens.

After this our group split up and I went off with my family for the evening. The restaurant we wanted to go to had been closed, so we ended up at a Pizza Hut (limited time, limited budget). It was some of the best pizza that I have ever had. Next up for the night was Wicked. I have to admit, I was a bit unsure of this show (it's not established, it's American, etc...). However, I was pleasantly surprised and I even woke up the next morning singing songs from the show. I'm glad I went, even if I was too short to see over the bars.

This morning I went to church at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It was a fascinating service. The church is Anglican, but have a fairly relaxed style. They actually had a baptism this morning and the entire service was centered on this. I had never witnessed an infant baptism before and it was very interesting. In fact, the lesson was on the merit of infant baptism and I don't think that I've ever heard a lesson on that before!

The rest of today has been spent writing papers, reading for my classes and feeding the ducks in University Parks. The day was long, but beautiful as the sun shone the whole day through. Tomorrow it's back to the daily grind of classes and I now I'm off to read Gregory of Nyssa.