By Addison Henry
Hi everyone!! It’s Addison and I am here to tell y’all all about our last day of pilgrimage. We started the morning with breakfast and a bible study and then headed to the Tower of London. I think we all expected it to be more of a tower, but actually it was a castle! It was built in the late 11th century and was used for years! We got to explore the White Tower, which for most of its life was living quarters and armories. We also got to see the crown jewels of many generations of royals! After the Tower of London we headed to lunch at the Dickens Inn which was built in the 1700s. Then, we walked across the Tower Bridge and got on our first double decker bus! We took the bus to the London Eye. We unfortunately didn’t have enough time to ride it. We walked from there to Westminster Abbey where we had a lovely tour before we went to Evensong in the abbey. The tour showed us some great parts of Westminster Abbey and we even got to see the coronation chair they have used since 1066! From there we walked over to the tube which was actually the same station we started at yesterday. We really did make a full circle around London! We finished the evening with some pizza and ice cream, and came back to our hotel and talked about our funniest and favorite God moments of the trip.
Thank you for your prayers during our pilgrimage, it was such an amazing trip and we built friendships and memories that will last a lifetime!
By William Martin
Hello my fellow Episcopals! This is William Martin writing in the heart of England. It has been a wonderful first day in London. We started the day off at the hostel in Canterbury eating some scrumptious chocolate croissants. We then took a bus ride to London and dropped our stuff at the Highbury Centre, where we will be staying the last nights of our trip. After this quick stop, we took a scenic walk through a park and arrived at the Tube(Train Station). After navigating ticket problems, we rode the subway into the city center. We walked out of the train station and looked up and saw a lovely clock by the name of Big Ben with the sun glaring at us. We took a short walk around London to get a bite to eat. After getting some food, the group spent some time outside of Buckingham Palace. The architecture was amazing and the fountain outside made for a great photo-op. We then went to Trafalgar Square and listened to the London Symphony Orchestra which was absolutely joyous. We then stopped across the street at St. Martins in the Fields. They were in the middle of a Cantonese service which was extremely eye-opening. After the St. Martin’s service, we strolled through the streets of London for what seemed like forever and hopped on the tube to Kensington. Kensington is the home of Holy Trinity Brompton. It is an Anglican Church, although they practice a contemporary worship style without communion, confession, and prayers of the people. All of this made the service feel incomplete and made me miss our worship style. We then ate dinner and took a short train ride back where we did our wrap-up talk in the park and then went back to Highbury Centre where we are staying for the next two nights. Stop back here about our last day across the pond tomorrow!
By Virginia Wilkin
Hey everyone! This is Virginia and I’m going to tell y’all about the fourth day of our pilgrimage and our first day in Canterbury. We started our day with a nice walk to St. Martin’s Church. This church is the oldest in all of England and the oldest English speaking in the world; it was built when the Roman Empire controlled England and used as a place of Christian worship since 580. The history of St. Martin’s was mind blowing and each pilgrim left with lots of fascinating knowledge to share. We had time to kill before our tour at the beautiful Canterbury Cathedral began, so we explored shops around the city. William and Ray bought super cute matching sets with tropical patterns that are perfect for summer! Our tour guide at the Canterbury Cathedral captivated us with interesting information about the history and the modern uses of the Cathedral. It holds the tombs of important christians and many stories in the stained glass windows, but it also has silent discos, mini golf, and concerts for people to enjoy today. We ended the day with some Mexican food for dinner and discussed how God has led us through our journey. It was another successful day for the pilgrims and we have many more great days ahead of us!.
By Ella Kemper
Hey Blog!!!! It’s Ella Kemper typing up a summary for day three of our Pilgrimage. This morning, we woke up bright and early for our last moments in Park Place in Hampshire. We ate breakfast, and got all of our things together to board the bus for our next adventures. After getting all packed up, we said goodbye to Park Place and headed on the road. We were on the bus for three hours before arriving at our first stop, the Cliffs of Dover. We hiked down the path, snapped some insta-worthy pictures, and took a second to smell the roses and take it all in. We sat while looking into the ocean over the cliffs and reflected on what God was saying to us in that moment. Winding down for a split second, and enjoying the time we have in such a beautiful place has been an important part of our days. After we were done at the Cliffs of Dover, we hiked back to the bus and drove a short way to Dover Castle. This beautiful castle was full of things to see and learn, including a guided tour that we took through tunnels underground. These tunnels used to be a hospital during World War Two, and was very interactive including flickering lights and original aspects of the closed hospital. After we were done with the tour, we explored the castle and climbed about a million stairs to the roof to overlook the entire town of Dover. It was amazing to see the city from so high up (we even saw France from across the water!) Once we were finished, we trekked back to the bus and headed to the grocery store to get supplies for our own home-cooked meal. Ray and William made dinner tonight, a meal including spaghetti and a Lightning McQueen cake. We came together to share a meal, and after came together to discuss our day and wrap up day number three! It was a great day!
By Ella Stewart
Hey y’all! It’s Ella! We had a great day exploring Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral. We began our day with delicious croissants and a scenic bus ride to Stonehenge. Not only were the stone structures interesting, the mystery of how they got there was truly fascinating. The stones weigh twenty-five tons on average and were from a location fifteen miles away. No one knows how the stones were transported to Stonehenge, considering they had no motorized equipment. After we left Stonehenge, we travelled to Salisbury to visit the Cathedral and the town. Salisbury Cathedral boasts the largest spire in the United Kingdom at a height of 404 feet! Additionally, the Cathedral had magnificent stained glass windows and friezes. One of our favorite friezes told the story of Genesis and Exodus and included the stories of creation, Adam and Eve, and Noah’s Ark. We also had the opportunity to view an original copy of the Magna Carta. After we left Salisbury Cathedral, we explored the town. It was interesting to see how the people in England live differently from us. From driving on the left side of the road to drinking water without ice, life in England is quite different from ours! For dinner, we had burgers made by the Fransican nuns with ice cream for dessert. We cannot wait for another amazing day in England!
By Ray Ross
Hey y’all, it’s Ray here. We had a joyous time on our first day across the pond. We started out hopping on an airplane in Atlanta and then landing in London where I got my picture with Lightning McQueen! We then met up with our wonderful Wonder Voyage guide, Mike. He then led the way straight onto our bus where we prepared for our big day ahead (and fought through our jetlag!) Our first stop on our pilgrimage was Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, England. It was really cool to see such a big and old cathedral, we even met the guest vicar who gave me and William a pilgrim’s blessing which was really cool. I had the honor of sharing some brief history of this cathedral with our group. Some facts that we learned while walking through the cathedral include:
Jane Austen, a famous British author who died 250 years ago, was laid to rest there.
During the English Civil War, the Parliamentarians came in and burst all the stained glass windows. Later on, they cleaned up all the glass pieces and then made new stained glass windows with the broken pieces.
They had a Bible there that was an illustrated manuscript that was 900 years old.
From then, we had a great lunch at the Cathedral Café which was surrounded by beautiful gardens. After that, we had the chance to explore the town and see all of the sites, architecture, and shops which was a fun break. We had a shorter afternoon after our long flight, so we headed to our home away from home for the next two nights which is a beautiful convent where we have the opportunity to be hosted by Franciscan nuns.
We can’t wait for another great day as we continue on our pilgrimage through England!
