The last day.  We depart at 6:45 a.m. for Heathrow tomorrow morning, and there will be no blog posting about that event.  So this is it.  The final posting for our busy three weeks.
     I am pleased to report that Groundhog Day was a huge hit with all of us, and we are all expecting it to become a hit when it moves to Broadway.  I will spare the non-theater fans the details of why the show works so well, but in brief we might credit the cleverness of the book, the brilliance of the staging, and the winning chemistry between cast and audience, starting with the letter-perfect performance in the lead by Andy Karl.  You'll be hearing more about Groundhog Day when it comes to the States.  See it if you can.
     Before the theater--an evening performance--we filled in a major hole in our London experience.  We had been to the city on three earlier occasions, but we had never been to Piccadilly Circus.  Now we have:

      These days, of course, Piccadilly Circus isn't even a real circus--a traffic circle--any more.  The pedestrian area where we are posing was once swirling with cars and buses, but now it's a pedestrian (in every sense of the term) strolling area.  From there we walked up Shaftesbury Avenue for a couple blocks, turned right for a walk through Chinatown, which looks rather seedy, and paused for a view of Leicester Square, which could also use a facelift, before we ended up at the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery.  At that point we broke into smaller groups to visit the museums as we wished.  I ran into a few Woodberry students in my own rounds.  Below, Edward stands beside a new acquisition at the National Gallery, a lifesize portrait of a horse commissioned by the owner and painted by George Stubbs:  

At the National Portrait Gallery I was happy to introduce Jackson and Charles to the Bronte sisters:

And to catch John C. in communion with our Tintern Abbey poet, Wordsworth, depicted in the large canvas to his left:

The group opted to walk from Trafalgar Square to the Old Vic Theatre, which is on the south bank just at the southern corner of Waterloo Station, and we found the opportunity for one more group photo on the Hungerford Bridge.  At the time I didn't realize that Thomas was getting blocked by Edward.  In the distance you can see the dome of our beloved St. Paul's Cathedral standing in contrast to some of the newer buildings on the London skyline:  

Tonight the college gave us a special gala banquet.  We had three superb courses punctuated by toasts from everyone.  

They even gave us the high table and the entire hall all to ourselves:

Here almost ends a great adventure.  I will relax once we're all back home safely.  Until then, thank you, readers, for your interest.  

     Today we're taking an afternoon train to London, visiting the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, and then heading to the estimable Old Vic Theatre to see a brand new musical version of Groundhog Day, created by the same team that gave us Matilda, the Musical.  The show is just now starting its previews, so there's no way of knowing whether we're in for a treat or not.  Stay tuned.
       Yesterday we had our final academic activities, including our final class, our final afternoon newspaper readings (everybody starts with either The Guardian or The Daily Telegraph, reads for 20-25 minutes, and then swaps papers to read for another 20-25), and our final two college tours, one of Balliol, led by Michael and Patrick:

And one of Balliol's neighbor and rival, Trinity, led by Dawson and George:

We thought that Balliol had the more impressive dining hall, but that the gardens of Trinity were superior:

We also visited the stately Ashmolean Museum in Oxford:

         And we did our best to keep away from the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream taking place in our quad.  You would think that an English teacher would be all over that, but this production, set in the 1920's with Theseus played as a gangster, Puck as a drug pusher, and the fairies as vampire zombies, all to the accompaniment of frequent musical interludes from a rock band with a loudly amplified electric guitar, has driven me far, far away from the confines of the college.  The three-hour-plus running time does not help.  Here they are rehearsing:

     Speaking of drama, those of you who watch "Endeavor" on PBS may enjoy knowing that they've been filming the new season in our neighborhood.  One day it was right outside the gates of Brasenose, and another it was right down the road at New College.  If you are able to zoom in on the photo below, you will recognize Shaun Evans, center of the frame in a black suit, who plays the title role:

As I walked into the porter's lodge at New College to see if I might glimpse some filming, a figure appeared in the doorway just two feet away from me.  "Come through, friend," he said.  "Come through."  It took me a second to realize that the speaker was Shaun Evans.  He was talking to me.  Did I get flustered?  Was I the least bit tongue-tied?  Did I fail to fire back with a response witty enough to put him at ease and simultaneously establish myself as a clever modern American version of Noel Coward?  Yes, I'm afraid so, for all three questions.  "Come through, friend," said Shaun Evans, the young Inspector Morse to me, and I replied, "I haven't paid to get in yet."

     From Michael Warren:
    As I sit here on a bench beside a graveyard, I cannot help but think about what it means to have a lasting impact on the world. This weekend we have been privileged to go and see some of the most time-worn places in all of Great Britain: the Roman baths at Bath, the prehistoric stones and long barrow grave at Avebury, and the near-thousand-year-old Winchester Cathedral. And now, on Sunday evening sitting in the shadow of an old country church dating back to the 1160s, I am wondering how I can do something that will last as long as these things have. This weekend I have observed architectural feats that have blown my mind; I cannot fathom how the people who built them were able to do so so many years ago. Yet, they succeeded, and the structures remain there today, thousands of years later.

      From Patrick Scruggs:
      A few days ago we drove to Winchester to visit the cathedral and college. The cathedral was massive and beautiful. It is really breathtaking to think that people in the 11th century could make such an amazing building with such great architecture similarly to my amazement with the Roman Coliseum and other famous structures. I thought the best part of the cathedral was the wall behind the altar that was surrounded by wooden boards. The wall had so many precise details and fine marks that it's hard to comprehend how they could do it. I think the cathedral is one of the coolest places we've seen here so far, but it's hard to say though because we have seen so many great places.

      From Dawson Duckworth:
      During our last morning trip to London we went to the Tower of London. The main exhibit I had been looking forward to seeing was the Royal Crown jewels. I made my way into the queue that was supposed to take half an hour but instead took five minutes. We entered the building and roamed through the dark corridors. We saw mighty staffs and swords in massive glass cases and turned the corner to enter into the main room. The room was astonishing with all of the gold plates and decorative items shining at me. A spoon several centuries old was the first item I walked past. The all-gold utensil had jewels decorating the handle and sides. Along with the spoon we walked onto the conveyor that sent us past the royal crowns. Each crown's jewels shone brightly through the glass casings. About eight crowns were lined up, and before I had time to really look at them all I was sent off the conveyor belt and left the building. I had left seeing some of the most beautiful crowns in the world, making the searing hot trip worth it.
 

     It's official:  London today was hotter than Cancun.  And we were there.  It was a beautiful day all day long, but, remember that part about the heat?  Noticeable.  Still, we had another good day in London, and here are a few highlights.
     We started at the Tower of London, a place that I had not visited since 1974.  After today, I think that once every 42 years is plenty.  It's like the London Eye, only older.  Actually, that's not entirely fair.  I told John C. that I would have enjoyed visiting the Tower if I had not entered any buildings.  The complex itself is quite stirring to see, but once you start inside the White Tower or the queue for the Crown Jewels, you're trapped.  You're on a course there's no escaping and must see it through to the end of the sinuous, shuffling line.

     From the Tower we schlepped over to the British Museum, which we all enjoyed much more than the Tower.  Why?  Because, in the words of my fellow travelers, the British Museum is more legit.  The masterpieces in the museum are breathtakingly real, and we all got a charge out of wandering among them, starting with the Rosetta Stone:

Below: two works of art.  Can you tell which is the statue?

I ran into Charles and Jack in the gallery that once held literary autographs before the British Library moved out of the museum and up to Euston Road:

Below, left to right: John C., Robert Boyle (I think), Jack, Charles.

     From the Museum we walked over to Doughty Street and the Dickens House Museum.  Along the way we posed in front of the gate of a place that should be on the short list for every Woodberry senior applying to postsecondary educational institutions.  I hope you can make out the name in metal letters across the middle of the vertical bars:  GOODENOUGH COLLEGE.

The informative and relatively modest Dickens House offered a nice respite from the more grandiose places we had visited earlier in the day.  Michael was sitting in a chair made available to guests; please don't think that we just plopped down in the 19th Century furniture:

In case you're wondering, half of the group left the British Museum a bit earlier than we did.  They and John C. went to the Dickens House and then came back to Oxford in time for dinner.  The rest of us stayed in London a bit longer, took the tube to Harrods, and had dinner at a creperie near the South Kensington tube station.  We got back to Oxford around 9:00 p.m.  

From: Jake Cooper
     When Mr. Blain described the town of Bath, I thought the town itself was going to be similar to a museum which focused on the ancient Roman civilization that came to Britain. I found out quickly that wasn't the case. The town was very similar to the crowded Tysons mall, a place I know too well. Hordes of people lined the middle walkway of this outdoor mall. There were a ton of fashion stores and fancy places to eat, many of which seemed American, making me feel like I was back in the US. I couldn't picture an ancient Roman bath house and centuries of storied history incorporated into this overpopulated tourist hot spot.



From: Riley Buettner
    The day of very old landmarks continued as we traveled to Avebury, the oldest known man made site in England. What I enjoyed about Avebury was the lack of the touristy feel. It felt like we were just walking through the countryside of England looking at randomly placed rocks. There weren't any signs saying do not touch or ropes separating us from the rocks. We were able to get as close as we wanted, and could even sit on some of them. We did find out, however, that it is frowned upon to attempt to climb the rocks, as some of us were yelled at by an old Scottish man. We traveled from field to field as sheep and other animals grazed around us. The rocks appeared to be in no set pattern or formation, and no one knows who put them there or why. That just adds to the mystery of the place.




From: Edward Laney
       I used to think Woodberry was an old school. However, after visiting Winchester College, my view has changed. Established in the 14th century, Winchester has been educating boys for nearly 700 years, whereas Woodberry has only been a school for 128 years. Our tour guide took us through all of the medieval buildings of the school, none of which really resembled any of Woodberry's. Our trip through England has made me realize how young our country is when compared to the rest of the world.

    


    One of the highlights of the trip was watching a game of real tennis at Merton College. A Woodberry alumnus was able to get our whole group into the Merton courts where two friendly Englishmen played a game. I never thought a game could be so complicated.

     At the moment (5:30 p.m. British time) some members of the group are watching the conclusion of the British Open, but we have not spent this beautiful day lounging about.  On the contrary, we hopped into our 16-seat minibus, driven again by trusty Paul, and made our way to the ancient city of Winchester, just an hour away.  We do have a good time on the bus:

     The cathedral, the oldest parts of which date to 1079, not long after the Normans arrived, is one of the great treasures of Gothic architecture.  We were casual out front but awed once we got inside.

     From there we took a five-minute walk to Winchester College, the school highest-rated for academics in the country, and had a private tour from a very proper British woman named Jennifer. Photographs were not permitted inside.  We all enjoyed the tour of this venerable school, which is only 507 years older than Woodberry.  

(Later in the day; 10:10 p.m. British time).  I'm attaching this brief coda to the posting for today so that you can see how our day ended.  After dinner we walked the Thames Path for 2.5 miles out to St. Mary's Church in the village of Iffley.  By coincidence the oldest part of this small country church is contemporary with that of Winchester Cathedral, the late 11th Century.  So we got out our journals and mused on the day, after which we walked back to Brasenose.  Here we are in the churchyard:

     Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed the chance to visit Merton College on a tour led by Riley and Edward.  

It's one of the oldest and most beautiful of colleges, and we all appreciated the chance to see it even in drizzling rain.  The chapel was particularly impressive with its ornately decorated ceiling.  

But we also enjoyed the opportunity to see the "real" tennis court at Merton, thanks to an introduction to the tennis pro by WFS alumnus Temple Grassi.  We sat in the "dedans" to watch a match between two friendly Englishmen:

After a break we were back at Brasenose, where Dawson told us what we should look for on today's visit to Bath and Avebury.  Jake did the same for our coming visit to Winchester tomorrow.  

      Here are a few images from today's road trip.  Paul, our driver, picked us up at 8:30 and got us to Bath less than two hours later.  Our first stop was the Roman baths, of course.  

From the baths it was an easy walk up to see the Royal Crescent:

When we were satisfied with our visit to Bath, we proceeded on to Avebury, the largest stone circle in the world, and much, much larger than Stonehenge. You should be able to distinguish Paul, our driver, from the rest of the group:  

And our final stop was the nearby West Kennet Long Barrow, a prehistoric burial site reached from Avebury by following an avenue of stones by foot or, in our case, by asking Paul to drive us over.  Here we are standing atop the barrow, which is open for public inspection and is as dumbfounding as you would expect.