Dreams Really Do Come True

Whoever said that a full stomach and a full night's rest can solve the world's problems was right. Sure enough, after a good 10 hours of sleep and a gigantic chocolate pastry for breakfast, the sun was shining in London once again. Today, I saw several of my lifelong dreams accomplished in a mere few hours - and the experience is really more than I am able to take in.

Today, our group visited three locations on a very nice guided coach tour. First off on the list was a drive out into Oxford where we toured two colleges of the Oxford University system (there are actually 39 colleges, we learned). This was particularly exciting for me because I actually walked by the classrooms where J.R.R. Tolkien studied. Some of my other beloved authors (including Lewis Carroll) studied here and it was very humbling to walk down the cobbled streets that I know they walked on while going to their classes. I also enjoyed seeing the Bodleian Library, where several of the scenes from my favorite Harry Potter movies were filmed. As impressive as it is, the Carpenter Library that serves me and my students so well is actually a little cooler. At Bodleian, there is a strict silence policy - it is what the University library is famed for. Additionally, the tour group was not allowed in to even see it. So pooh on you, Bodley!

After a quick (really quick - 50 minutes!) tour of Oxford, our group jetted off again through the Cotswolds, which is some really beautiful English countryside where sheep graze and quaint little English cottages cover the roadsides boasting thatched roofs and original Cotswold stone. Several bed and breakfast establishments and pubs dot the lush green landscape and the busy life of London is countered by this quiet, peaceful calm. Riding through the Cotswolds is like a trip back in time - and it looks strikingly like Lebanon, Virginia (a town near where I grew up as a child).

While the Cotswolds were great, the next two phases of our tour were simply amazing - and definitely my favorite part of the trip so far. A short tour through Stratford-upon-Avon was a very emotional experience for me and one that I have not quite processed yet. There, I walked through Shakepeare's birthplace and home, and was moved to tears before I ever walked through the first room. As the tour guide was talking, I caught some green grass blowing in the breeze through the window and as I looked at it, I wondered if the young William ever stood there and gazed out the window, too, entertaining ideas that would become his future masterpieces. I don't know why I was so overcome with emotion - I believe it is because he is such an iconic figure and a brilliant writer. I know his words by heart and preach and teach his life every semester in my classrooms - and to see something of him that was real, actualized, was more than what I have words for at this moment.

The gardens were beautiful, and the ride out to Warwick was just as lovely as the Cotswolds. The locals here do not pronounce the second "w," so it sounds as if they are saying "Warick" - so that's how I am saying it now, too. I have learned (having grown up in the Appalachian Mountains) that the rule of geographic pronunciation is that you pronounce it as the natives do. So, my trip to "Warick" was unforgettable.

There, I saw the oldest medieval castle in the world, Warwick Castle. Having studied medieval literature as an undergraduate, this experience was daunting, to say the least. I have read so much about knighthood and chivalry, battle and famine, archery and weaponry....to see a real castle for the first time in my life was so cool. When we went into the entrance, we did not see the castle immediately. When we walked through it, however, and the gate was opened...we rounded the corner and castle stretched as far as the eye could see. I could have dropped to my knees for shock and amazement - one of my lifelong dreams of walking through a medieval English castle came true and it was absolutely nothing like I had imagined - it was more. Having seen the Biltmore estate was impressive, but this castle was (and is) the stuff that history and fairytales are made of. My photo at the top is me standing outside one of the towers, taken today.

It is impossible for me to describe everything I have seen and done today - I even saw peacocks in the Peacock Garden at Warwick. It almost didn't seem real to me - I was walking across castle grounds among peacocks! It was like the best of dreams come true - and it was tangible and real. I hiked to the highest point of the castle and looked down all around the grounds, and truly felt as if I was the queen. Standing there, I just knew that hundreds and hundreds of years before me, some young girl had stood there and looked down at the surrounding countryside and felt as if anything in life were possible. Having stood there today myself, I now know that it is.