To get out of London and see some rural English landscape, we went on an all-day bus tour of Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace), and Oxford.
Warwick Castle was built by William the Conquerer after he defeated the Brits in 1066. Since then it has played an important role in English history, especially during the War of the Roses. The king of England died with no direct heir, so two branches of his family decided to go to war over who should be the next king. One faction chose the red rose as their symbol and the other chose a white rose. Thus it became known as the War of the Roses. Richard Neville, the 16 Earl of Warwick was so powerful at the time that whichever side he decided to support held the throne. Apparently he was an indecisive fellow and frequently switched sides, changing who was king. This earned him the unofficial title of "Kingmaker." Anyway, it's a huge castle with ramparts, turrets, dungeons, a huge trebuchet, large halls for social parties, tons of armaments, and several birds of prey. An interesting stop on the tour.
Stratford-upon-Avon is interesting with plenty of history (primarily known as William Shakespeare's birthplace, but also the birthplace of John Harvard who moved to the Americas and founded Harvard University). Literary sorts seem to be the most taken by this visit.
Oxford University is actually 39 separate colleges, with the most famous one being Christ Church. Older folks connect Christ Church with Charles Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland), but our students all love it because it is where many of the interior shots of the Harry Potter movies are taken. We walked through their dining area, which our students all recognized as the Hogwarts' dining hall.
All in all a good day, but when we got back we heard on BBC news that the main airport in Iceland is closed due to a volcanic eruption. Uh-oh. And the plume is expected to reach the UK by the end of the week. We're supposed to fly to Reykjavik on Tuesday and then from there to MSP on Friday. We're in touch with Concordia's Global Education Office and will consult with them on what will be our best course of action. We will post whatever we find out as soon as we find out. Maybe tomorrow the volcano will stop erupting and the problem will go away.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I've got a lousy internet connection right now and they would upload way too slowly.
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