Arrival in Oxford

It feels great to be back in Oxford.  I quite enjoyed our time here three years ago when Beth and I visited the first time - now we are here for 6 days as I take in a conference at Wycliffe Hall.  First let me back up a couple of days, and explain how we got here.

Sunday morning we woke up early and did our final packing and organizing.  Then Gio showed up to check on things and say goodbye (he is certainly a friendly guy).  Then he walked with us to the tube station (a different one than we usually used, but a little closer as it turned out).  We must have looked a sight, 5 of us walking down the streets pulling our luggage.  Thankfully the tube was not nearly as busy the night before and we all managed to get on and off the subway with our luggage without incident.  Then a couple more blocks of walking to where the bus to Oxford did pickups.  We decided on the bus because we could get a return ticket for way cheaper than any other mode of transportation. We ended up waiting almost 45 minutes, but because we got a early start this was not a problem (and because there was a bus shelter there the periodic rain wasn't an issue either).

Once at Oxford we once again walked - thankfully it wasn't raining at that point.  We stopped on the way to our lodging so I could register at Wycliffe Hall, then proceeded to the Cotswold Lodge where we checked in.  Once I knew there were no problems there I dashed back to Wycliffe and left the family to take it easy the rest of the day.

All that really happened at Wycliffe Hall on Sunday was registration, lunch and an introductory session.  The participants introduced themselves and there are people from all over attending - the United States, Britain, Canada, Finland and South Korea.  Once the introductory session was over I came back to the Lodge, we relaxed a bit, then ate a lovely supper in the Lodge restaurant, then off to bed.  All that walking over the past week has worn us all out and a slower day was just what was needed.

In another post I will talk about the conference I am attending at Wycliffe Hall, but for now let me say I think it is going to be a great week (based on today's sessions).  I also discovered that Michael Ward, who wrote the thought provoking book Planet Narnia (which I picked up 3 years ago while in Oxford) is going to be one of the presenters on Friday - I'm really looking forward to that.  Well time to hit the hay again, I want to be fresh and full of energy for tomorrow's sessions.

Cotswold Lodge - the fine facility we are staying at while in Oxford.