Coventry

On Tuesday, we woke up early and took the train to Coventry in Warwickshire. We had been to Coventry twice before, but only to pick up much needed items at IKEA. This time we were planning on going to IKEA and doing the tourist things too. When we got to Coventry we returned some things at IKEA and then headed out again in the freezing cold to tour the town. We saw the Lady Godiva statue in the city center. If you aren't familiar with this story, the expression "peeping tom" and the chocolate company both have roots in this legend.

We visited St. Michael's Cathedral which was built between the late 14th and early 15th century. It was later bombed in 1940 and now stands as ruins. You can still climb the tower of the Cathedral and we did! 176 steps up a spiral staircase and I was dizzy at the top! The view was beautiful and it was so so cold. The new St. Michael's Cathedral that was built next to the ruins of the old cathedral was also impressive and beautiful. The history in this country is amazing.

We also visited the Coventry Transport Museum. Coventry used to be the center of the British car industry and the museum holds the largest collection of British-made road transport vehicles in the world. Admission was free so we decided to check it out. It was pretty neat, but nothing that we really loved. It was cool to see the old-school bikes and stuff.

After that we headed to IKEA for a late lunch and shopping! We finally have about everything we need for our flat. We spent some time decorating and cleaning this week and it is looking good. Some pics from Coventry:

St. Michael's Cathedral ruins

On the way up the tower.

View of Coventry from the top of the tower.

Ground view of the tower.

Road Trip

On Monday morning, we headed out on a road trip with Kevin, Leah, and Tatum. Destination: Bolsover Castle about two hours away. We stopped at a little pub for lunch in the town where Robin Hood and Maid Marion supposedly got married, right next to the Sherwood Forrest. That was fun! We had a jolly time on the way to the castle, but we arrived to a paper sign on the gate saying the castle was closed for the day. We later found out it was closed due to heavy snow. As disappointing as that was we decided to press on to nearby Hardwick Hall. We arrived on the grounds of the hall and popped our heads in the pub only to find out that the hall was also closed. We could visit the grounds, but we couldn't actually go in the hall. Another disappointment. We did have fun playing in the snow though.

After all of that, we headed home. Later, we met up at the Millers and made fajitas for dinner and watched Christmas Vacation. Still a fun day!

Leah and I at lunch.

So much snow!

Snowball explosion.

A picturesque day!

Cadbury World

Today was the official start of our holiday break! With some free time on our hands, we visited Birmingham's own Cadbury World. Cadbury began in Birmingham back in 1824 and so it is truly a part of the culture. No Hershey Kisses to be found here. We bought our tickets weeks ago and were excited for the trip!

We had a great time eating chocolate and learning about Cadbury and the town it is in called Bournville. Bournville began as a quaker town back in the late 1800s and it is quite a lovely town to visit today. The church bells were ringing Christmas carols as we walked to Cadbury World. :) We also got to see parts of the working factory which was really cool and Mike loved watching all the robots and machines. And as I am typing this it started snowing again! Even more snow than earlier this week!

Day One of Christmas break was wonderful!

Christmas Concert with Mosaic

The last event of the year was a Christmas concert with a band called Mosaic. One of our past exchange students is in the band and they were stopping by on the way home from Africa. So they played a Christmas concert for Canvas on Tuesday night and it was awesome! They mixed in a few originals with some traditional Christmas songs. We started off the evening with traditional British holiday foods including mince pies, mulled wine, cheese and crackers, and veggies. The band played the first set, we took a break, and the second set started with an offering for the Casas trip that Canvas is taking in June. 32GBP was donated! At the end of the second set everyone got a candle and the people in the front lit their candles and the flame passed to the back of the room. (Apparently this is common in the States, but I have never seen it happen. The students loved it!) I think we got some of it on video and I will post it if I can find it. The concert was a great ending to a great term. Everyone is going home for the holidays and we have one more week of work and then we are on Christmas break until the 4th. :)

Mosaic (only half of the band was here)

The candle lit songs at the end.

Mike and Lauren

Fielder, Aaron, Ash, Katie (exchange student), Rachel (past exchange student, Mosaic member)

Alli and Lane (exchange student) preparing food

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Mike and I are both big Christmas fans. We love decorating and traditions and the general Christmas-time spirit. So when we arrived in England and some CMF missionaries that were leaving the field gave us their little Christmas tree, we were so excited! And now it is finally time to decorate for Christmas! So we put up our little tree and bought a few Christmas "baubles" from Aldi and......ta-da! Now it feels more like Christmas in 23 Tiverton!