London, Day Seven!

Morning:

Another EARLY morning. We boarded the bus at 7:30 am to begin our next magical journey. We stopped at a rest stop, (not unlike the ones in the US but nicer) to get breakfast on the way. Then we were right on our way to our destination: the ancient historical landmark Stonehenge. We drove past Stonehenge on the motorway and got a half decent view of the stones, but we continued along to the visitor center to get a close-up view. As a team, we've seen a lot of rocks in our lives. But this collection really took the biscuit.

We speculated on the origins of this grand assortment of stones, guessing anything from an early wifi system to bails for a team of giants playing cricket. While the truth of stonehenge's origin remained elusive, the team enjoyed learning more about pre-historic English history.

And soon we were back on the bus, heading to Oxford to explore the city. There were many naps on the way to revive the tired lads. At Oxford the secluded college quadrangles offered respite from the mobs on the street. Although the tour guide was more interested in his phone then the world around him, we still learned many interesting things about the ancient school. Of particular interest to some of the team members were the many sites where Harry Potter (a hip teen film series about wizards and wizard crime) was filmed.

As part of our tour, we were able to visit one of Oxford University's 34 colleges, New College. We saw the college's chapel and learned about the writers who attended and the famous films which were filmed there. We also visited the college's dinning hall which was only slightly nicer than the dining center back at Haverford. After our tour, we strolled around the city. One of the places we decided to visit were the grounds of Christ Church College. We admired the college's cricket ground and all closed our eyes to dream about how nice it would be if Cope Field looked like this. In the college's meadows, we saw some red deer frolicking about happily. The picturesque scene brought a single tear to Andy's eyes.

The most exciting aspect of Oxford and the surrounding area was the abundance of common wood pigeons. Similar to city pigeons, but much more majestic and posh. However, one unnamed team member was still afraid of them. The long bus ride back invited more naps and lots of rounds of the classic game "contact."

Evening:
The team split for dinner with half of us choosing to enjoy a traditional fish and chips and the other half an even more traditional take-out kebabs. With some time to spare before going to bed at our normal pre-match bedtime of 8 pm, we tested our knowledge by playing jeopardy.

Coming up
Sadly, the cricket tour is approaching its end. Tomorrow is our last match as we rematch the Royal Household cricket team. Will the lads perform better? Will honor be brought to America? Until tomorrow chaps.