London

Hey Everyone,
Today's my last day in London and I'm glad to say that I really feel I have done all I could do in 10 days in London. I have seen performances of Les Miserables, Stomp, Merchant of Venice, Lord of the Rings, Spamalot, Emperor Jones, and Twelve Night--I saw this last performance in Stratford, where Shakespeare was born and is buried. It is a beautiful little town with a huge park in its center. I saw where Shakespeare is buried, in a local church. Because church and state have been so merged here, often great men of the state, military, political, religious, and artistic, are given the honor of being buried in a church. The play was done by the Royal Shakespeare Company and was amazing. My professors told us we should never expect to see better acting of Shakespeare, which is a strong statement. I have visited the British Museum, where we saw Mesopotamian pottery and sculptures from 1500 BC; the Imperial War Museum, which presents such a detailed history of the two world wars that I could spend days there fully interested; Tate Britain, a museum of art of the last 400 years or so, which included a special gallery of landscapes (I have found I really like the artist Turner) that I really enjoyed; Tate Modern, a museum dedicated to Modern Art that I find harder to appreciate, but I guess it was good to see; and the National Gallery, where I did my presentation on Hans Holbein, the Younger--it went pretty well and I actually had other students in the history behind his paintings (he was the court painter for Henry VIII).
I have also seen some of the sites. I am staying at a London School of Economics Residence on the 6th floor and if I stick my head out the window I can see Big Ben and the Eye of London on the River Thames. We went to an Evensong service at Westminster Abbey and last Sunday attended Eucharist at St. Paul's Cathedral, at both of which were an amazing choir of men and boys, some of it in Latin and some in English. Hearing some of the Psalms song by such a great choir was amazing. Becca and I walked to Buckingham Palace through part of the enormous Hyde Park and then along the river and over it on the Millennium Bridge. Today I saw the Tower of London and the Tower of London Bridge, which is beautiful (the London Bridge is actually quite plain) after going through Harrod's, where we were amazing at the elaborate displays and the ridiculous prices. The food hall was amazing, but all very expensive. In the clothing department we saw a child's size leather jacket for £370, or 740 dollars. It was fun to see though.
We also made it out to Coventry and toured Coventry Cathedral, where the old cathedral was destroyed by the Blitz during WWII. Instead of rebuilding it, they left the remains as a place of remembrance and built a new, modern cathedral across from it with a huge glass wall so the old cathedral can easily be seen. At first I did not like the modern look and feel, but when the symbols and reasoning behind the building were explained to me, it really grew on me. When the old cathedral was destroyed the residing bishop found two burnt logs that fell in the shape of a cross, and set them up with the words "Father forgive" written on the stone wall nearby using a burned log's ash. Someone asked him, "Don't you mean 'Father forgive the Germans'?" and he replied "No, for we have all fallen short of God's glory and need His forgiveness. We are all at war" and ever since Coventry has been a major worker for worldwide reconciliation, from local communities to Northern Ireland and the Balkans--where I leave for tomorrow.
Overall London has been great, and I am keeping a journal so I can share more details later. And yes, I am taking pictures too, as is Becca. We'll combine them once home. The city is busy like I would imagine New York City and the diversity is refreshing, and in St. Paul's Cathedral during worship, remarkably beautiful.
I have appreciated those emails I have received with updates from home, and would love to keep getting them.
Grace and Peace,
-Joe

P.S. Please pray for me and my group as we will not be in an English speaking country until December and as we enter a country with a very troubled recent past--Croatia, and then Bosnia.

Pictures

Cambridge is nice enough to have free computer use for its guests, so I had a chance to upload a few photos. Because of the software available on these computers, it was easiest to put them up through Google, so here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/joefoster86/EuropeSemesterAsOf9407. It's just a few, but it will give you a brief picture of trip highlights. I will also try to write more if I get the chance, but we are only in Cambridge for two days before moving on to London. Hope all is well, and I would enjoy updates via blog comments or emails on how you all are doing.
Blessings on you,
-Joe

P.S. Hannah or Dad, I bet grandma would enjoy the photos if she stopped by or if you brought a laptop over for her.