Greetings from Jolly Old England! Our ship has come in (how often do you get to say that?) and we board tomorrow. Amazingly we have the same cabin we had on our last voyage and we are thrilled! It was in a really good location and the cabin numbers were still in our laundry!!! Just makes everything that much easier.

Since we left Lynchburg we have moved at warp speed.

We arrived here on Monday, June 9^th and immediately went to visit the Randolph College study abroad program in Reading, England and had a lovely visit with Lars and with Gill who fed us so wonderfully! We had such a nice time seeing the university of Reading and catching up on students who had been in Reading over the years.

On Tuesday we made our way to London and got settled in to our lovely little hotel in Bloomsbury. We then went to the National Gallery to see the Bellows painting, Men of the Docks. It was such a pleasure to see SO MANY PEOPLE enjoying the painting. They were so appreciative to have the opportunity to display the painting as it is the first of their American art program. That evening we were thrilled to have dinner with Heidi Kunz (English faculty from Randolph College) as she was in London doing research for a book.

Wednesday we went to Windsor Castle and were lucky enough to be able to see the state rooms as well as Tina’s favorite, St. George’s Chapel. We had a lovely time in Windsor and since Monday is St. George’s Day the chapel and castle are closed in preparation for the Order of the Garter ceremonies-we just made it!!

Wednesday we went to see War Horse on stage at the New London Theater (thanks Anne, Pete and Lizzy!!!) which was absolutely remarkable. Who knew that puppets could be so real that you cease to see them as puppets and are moved to tears! A work of such ingenuity and emotion!

Thursday we just traversed the city taking in so many sights, Churchill’s War Rooms, Benjamin Franklin’s house, South Bank (lunch along the Thames), Covent Gardens, Trafalgar Square, Horseguards palace, ….. and then the theater that evening with friends from our Fall 2010 voyage, Geno and Nancy Carr- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was great fun.

Friday we arrived in Southampton to begin the faculty orientation for the voyage. This started off with a reception giving us an opportunity to see old friends and start meeting new ones. It’s like summer camp!!  Dinner with friends, getting a chance to learn about Southampton and heading up to repack to get everything on the ship on Sunday-Phew!!! A little more orientation once we are on the ship and then the parents arrive. The students come on Monday morning and we leave on Monday afternoon. And away we go!!!!!