Tuesday, July 9

Today was a busy day of travelling through the English countryside outside of Oxford. We left in the morning to drive to our first destination, the famous Uffington White Horse, which is a large outline of a horse scraped out of a hill during the Bronze Age. I found it interesting that the white chalk just underneath the soil is so bright that the entire horse had to be covered up during WWII to make it harder for Nazi bombers to get their bearings. After walking into the hilltop fort, protected by a ditch and seeing the horse we drove to the stone circles at Avebury. We had lunch and then walked around the perimeter of the site which surrounds the village of Avebury. I thought it was fascinating that although the stone circles were arranged about 4,000 years ago, modern archaeologists still can only guess at their function. After lunch at Avebury, we drove to the Great Barn at Coxwell, a large tithe barn which dates all the way back to the 13^th century. It has been remarkably preserved. William Morris, leader of the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19^th century, considered it one of the finest buildings in England. After our long day of touring ancient historical sites in the rural outskirts of Oxford, we came back to a special dinner celebrating James Bond Day, which offered a “Smoking Gun Salad with Jaws Electric Sauce, Skyfall Brill on a Die Another Day Dahl with Octopussy Sauce, and From Russia with Love Chocolate Cake with Dr. No’s Jamaican Sauce.”

Submitted by Sterling Street

Another clear morning on Old Quad, Brasenose College.

Woodberry Forest School Oxford participants waiting for our bus on Catte Street.

Hiking through the country side around Uffington White Horse.

Anterior end of the White Horse.

Note White Horse tail to left of hikers.

Touring stone rings at Avebury.

The Great Barn at Coxwell.

James Bond theme night in the Dinning Hall, Brasenose.