final post, see you tomorrow evening!

What a great way to end the trip! We had such a wonderful experience today. We started out at Hampton Court, a playground for Henry VIII, arguably our kids’ favorite monarch. We learned a lot about the time period and were in awe of the lives the monarchs lived. You will see pics of the gardens and a panoramic taken out there. We came back in to town and ate lunch before touring the Tower of London and viewing the Tower Bridge (London Bridge is pretty non descript, Tower Bridge is the one in the picture below). The kids really like the Tower of London, because it involved death and jewelry. Anne Boleyn and several other people were beheaded there and the Crown Jewels including the largest diamond in the world (530.2 karats) were there as well. We headed back to the hotel just long enough to head back out again for an early dinner together. Three groups dispersed from there, one group to see a musical, one to the “Jack the Ripper” walk, and my group went to the London Eye and to Piccadilly Circus (my group, of course, had the best time).

We had such an amazing experience on the trip, our guide, Paul, has been very gracious to put up with all of our requests and has done a great job. We have been so blessed to have the weather cooperate and have had near perfect conditions throughout the trip. We all learned a lot and have gained that experience that so few are lucky enough to get…the first-hand experience of travelling.

Thank you to all of our loved ones at home who sacrificed to pay for the trip, even though you did not get to partake. I heard several comments on the trip that solidified the fact that SCS kids are grateful for the opportunities they get. However, we are ready to come home! Our wakeup call is at 6:15am – which is just after midnight your time, and we will be travelling until we see you at 5:45pm at DFW, so give us a little grace if we are not jumping up and down for joy when we see you in the terminal! Thank you for reading the blog, I hope that you have enjoyed keeping up with us.

JRichards

The sadness is already starting to set in...

There is a vibe from the group, they can feel it coming to an end. We are having a wonderful experience, it is going to be tough to get on the plane! Today's tours included a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral, lunch at Covent Gardens, then a walking tour of Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is right up there with Caernarfon Castle as our best experience thus far on the trip. The architecture was just jaw-dropping, not to mention seeing the tombs of Mary, Queen of Scotts, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens,Jane Austen, as well as several kings and queens. This place was just amazing (pics weren't allowed inside, so I can't even give you a taste). Several members of the group are out watching the play "Wicked" tonight while others are doing a walking ghost tour of London. Here are a few shots from the day (and night).

the bard of avon...

We had the opportunity to see the cottage of Anne Hathaway as well as the birthplace and home of the most celebrated non-Biblical writer of all-time, William Shakespeare (there are two flower pics from the garden outside of the Hathaway Cottage). The neat looking photo is of Shakespeare's house, the technique is called HDR (high dynamic range) and is produced by software - not my talent! We left Chester early, drove down to Stratford-on-Avon, then on to London. We hopped on "The Tube" and went to the British Museum, gawked over mummies and the ROsetta Stone, ate dinner, then several of us took a walking night tour of Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square. I can tell that our time in London will go by quickly as it is a very fast-paced, exciting culture. Enjoy the pics!

Jolly ol' England!

We made the trek today from Ireland to Wales then on to England (we found out that the two are not the same, so I put it that way as to not offend anyone). We took a ferry across the Irish Sea which was a very neat experience, it was more like a cruise ship than a ferry. The kids had fun up on deck taking pictures, but as you can see, it was a bit windy! The highlight of the day for many was our trip to Caernarfon Castle. This castle is where the dubbing of the "Prince of Wales" comes from in history - Charles was dubbed the "Prince of Wales" on this very site back in 1969. It was truly an amazing experience! We moved on down to Chester and walked the city center learning the history of the town that was once a prize of the Roman Empire. The architecture is amazing and I am finding it hard to believe that we are here looking at buildings that have been around since more than 300 years before our our country even existed! I will check in with you tomorrow - and by the way, if your kids have not called...they are all just fine!

Last full day in Ireland...

As you can probably imagine, we had a good time today! I think that is going to be a recurring theme while "across the pond". We had a split group today as one group decided to make a trek across the country to Galway while the other stayed to do a little more touring in Dublin proper. I made the trek to Galway and was glad to be able to see a bit of the Irish countryside. The city of Galway is notable for two main things - it is the destination for Irish people that want to "go on holiday" during the summertime, and it is the site of the original Claddagh ring (we know them as promise rings, or at least I now know it as a promise ring since I hung out with 25 females all day long!). Galway is a coastal town and we had yet another wonderful day weather wise.

THe group that stayed back in Dublin was very impressed by their day touring the National Art Museum, as well as the Museum of Natural History. The kids were especially fond of he four "Bog Bodies" they had the privilege of viewing. THese bodies were found in the big and had been naturally mummified for over 2000 years! The most impressive site they toured today was the Kilmainham Jail which brought the story of Ireland into clear focus for our students and leaders. We are off bright and early tomorrow morning with a 6:00am wakeup call, followed by breakfast and a busride to the ferry which will take us on to England! Until next time...

Doors?

I am going to go ahead and tell you that I have taken several hundred pictures of doors while in Dublin. Yes, I know it sounds weird, and yes, I know we have plenty of doors in the States, but these are different. The locals say that the doors are all painted in such unique ways because the men repeatedly got "lost" on their way home from the local pubs. Wives responded by taking away their excuses through decorating and painting the doors on their Georgian-style homes in unmistakable ways...take a look.

Day 2 in the books!

Dear loved ones,
We have had a wonderful thus far, taking in so many sites! Today we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral (which was cool since his bug day is right around the corner), we also had the opportunity to see the extremely ornate Book of Kells today at Trinity College. I was stuck by the fact that I too often take God's word for granted, follow the link about the Book of Kells and see what I mean. It is a copy of the four Gospels that is equal parts art and God's love story. Beautiful! We stopped briefly at the Papal Cross in Phoenix Park (pic below) the Pope spoke on the site in 1979 to 1.25million followers - 1/4 of the entire Irish population at the time! A group also took the option to go out tonight to the Temple Bar area - it is named after a man named Temple that build his house on a series of sand bars off the River Liffey. Several students and parents are headed off for an excursion to Galway - which is located on the opposite coast from Dublin. It should be a wonderful adventure by "coach" across the country (just under 3 hours). You can do that in the U.S.! Here are some pics from the day.