memory lane. part 2.

In November 2007 I took a whirlwind trip to visit Nick for Thanksgiving in England.

I wouldn't generally suggest a trip to England for an American holiday like Thanksgiving considering no one celebrates Thanksgiving in England. Trust me, you can't find a pub in the whole city that will serve you a decent turkey meal! Haha, we ordered a "bacon" cheese burger and fries, what they served us was an unseasoned hamburger patty on toast with a piece of deli meat ham on it...

I had less than a week off from teaching for the holiday but didn't mind that it would be a short trip;

I just missed him so much!  

So here are a few of my favorite places and memories from that trip.

I took this picture of Hertford College (Thomas Hobbes and Jonathon Swifts alma mater) from a building across from the Bodleian Library (they, the library police, wouldn't let me in the "Bod" because I wasn't a student at Oxford-pretentious book snobs). Anyway, we didn't let that ruin our afternoon, (ya think I'm still bitter?) Back to the point, I thought the Church was so beautiful that later that night Nicholas took me to evensong at Christ Church which if you can believe it is even more magnificent!

Aren't those flats adorable? I love the yellow one! These are the spires of Oxford... simply gorgeous! (Did you know, Oxford is called the "city of dreaming spires", I didn't, but Nicholas did, he knows everything!)

To make the last night that I was in Oxford really special we went to The Trout which is a swanky pub way outside of the main city area. It was ridiculous trying to get to it--we literally took at least 3 buses and walked a mile through someones pasture (yes there were cows) to get to it--not atypical, I'm learning, for the way we generally find ourselves traveling (more about this later).

The night before I flew home we took a bus to London, so that years later I would have fun touristy picture like this one of us with Big Ben to show all of you!

 

We walked and walk and walked up and down the Thames River ("note to self: if i ever move to England I need to find boots that are cute AND practical for cobblestone roads").

Not only were we both really relieved to see each other that week, 

but while I was there we got a call from Nicholas' parents that his grandfather had passed away, which of course was devastating. 

I think we can only thank our Lord for his timing, 

he knew how difficult receiving that news would be and was so kind to provide a support to Nicholas while he was away from the rest of his family through me. 

When I got home, I started counting down the days until he would be back. My students and co-teachers even made me a paper link chain for each day and we hung it up in the classroom.
I couldn't wait until I would only have a 3 1/2 hour drive to see him as opposed to a 11 hour flight! Its funny how our perspectives change...