TIME IN THE COTSWALDS
TRIP TO THE COTSWOLDS

Don: When we first decided to travel to the part of England known as the Cotswolds, we did it primarily on the basis of a couple of things. One, we wanted to leave England with a broader experience of the country than London. In our minds at least, one cannot think of England without thoughts of both London’s grandeur and the green of the rural hillsides. Second, several people had told us that the Cotswald area was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. Perhaps, too, it had something to do with the quaint names of the little villages: Chipping Camden, Morton-in-Marsh, and Stow on the Wold, How could places with names like that not be great places to see? We were more right than we could have known.
So we made reservations in a small Bed and Breakfast called “Dragon House” in Chipping Camden. As soon as our bus pulled into the area, we knew we were in for a wonderful couple of days. The houses are all made from beautiful sandstone and many of them are roofed with bricks. Many years ago, The Dragon House was a little Ale House where men would gather in the basement for refreshment after a hard day’s work. Its history goes back about 500 years! Our room overlooked one of the most delightful gardens I’ve ever seen in a Bed and Breakfast. British people know how to make the most of small areas. This garden was narrow but very long. The place was coming alive with Spring flowers and birds that get up early and sing to awaken you. Valerie, the owner, serves you a hearty English breakfast and you are ready to head out and see the countryside.

The Cotswald area is laced with footpaths that lead across fields, by hedgerows, along stone fences, and through meadows filled with sheep. Since the villages are close together, these footpaths are perfect for really getting a feel for the place. A popular feature of these pathways is a unique kind of gate called the “kissing gate.” For the picture, I had Mary Ann stand inside the gate alone, but we tried not to do that often! On a trek of about 6 miles, we saw three villages. The highlight of the walk was popping out of the hedges in a fencerow to find ourselves right in the middle of a beautiful green meadow filled with sheep and their lambs that were only 24-48 hours old. The farmer came by with his sheep dog and rounded up tiny lambs from mothers too young to nurse twins and allowing “mums” who had lost their young to adopt one of the twins. He spent quite a bit of time with us, telling us the story of the land and of the sheep business in the Cotswolds. It is the ancient way of making a living there, but after the invention of synthetic fibers, things have been hard. Mostly the wool goes to the carpet business these days.

As you walk through the rolling hills, the towns with their church steeples are easy to spot. Most of these impressive churches were built with money from wool, so they are called “the wool churches.” They are either Anglican or Catholic, but we did see a Quaker Meeting in Broad Camden with a date of 1669! I was not able to confirm it, but surely George Fox must have worshipped there!

Chipping Camden itself is a vibrant village coming alive again because of the tourists who regularly visit it. The main street is full of little shops and some extraordinary pubs and eating places. Perhaps the most surprising feature of the town is the use of thatching on a few of the roofs! I had no idea that such a thing was still in use! It is absolutely a beautiful roofing technique and there are only a few master thatchers still in business. We spoke to the master thatcher on one job and he said it would take him (and 4 or so helpers) about 14 weeks to finish the job. I can’t imagine the cost, but the homes where it was being done were some of the most elegant in the area probably selling for near to 1 million pounds (about $1,750,000). In case you are wondering, we didn’t put a down payment on any of them!

All I can say is: Don’t miss Chipping Camden on your next trip to England!

LONDON SIGHTS
Mary Ann: Wow!! London has been such a great surprise for me. Truthfully it’s not ever been a place I’ve longed to see, and, as we planned our trip, I really couldn’t imagine how we were going to fill our time here. But I sure was mistaken on both counts. London is an international city, full of diversity as well as wonderful history and culture. Every day is a pleasure, and it seems that our list of what we want to see and do gets longer instead of shorter as time goes by. So here goes with my Top Ten favorite sights to far:

1.Big Ben. I’ve seen pictures, but I had no idea how….well, BIG…Ben is. And wonderfully handsome with the gold face and intricately carved stone column. Three times we were lucky enough to hear Big Ben’s deep, resonant chimes call out the hour. I was really awed by the grandeur of the structure as well as the setting. Which leads me to my Number 2 favorite London sight….

2.Parliament. The stone work, the iron gates and the leaden windows fit together beautifully to create this huge complex of buildings which sit majestically along the Thames River. I especially liked the two lions holding scepters in their mouths as they guarded the entrance marked, “Sovereign’s Entrance”. And, oh yeah, the great black statue of Richard the Lion-Hearted on horseback.

3.Westminster Abbey. This church was first built in 1066 for William the Conqueror’s coronation ceremony. Every king and queen since that time, except 2, have been crowned in this spot. It was also the place where Princess Di’s funeral was held. And, as if that weren’t enough, it contains the graves of 3000 monarchs, writers, and other famous people including Chaucer, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens.

4. Buckingham Palace. This well-known palace sits in the middle of a beautiful park, is enclosed by huge black iron fencing with gold decorations, and is enhanced by a lovely large fountain commemorating Queen Victoria. The British “Bobbies” stand guard at the front gate and very seriously pose for the many picture-taking tourists.

5. The British Library. Think about all the important written documents in the history of the world, then think about them all being together in one room. That’s the British Library. We’re talking Magna Carta, THE Guttenberg Bible, the original King James Bible, Handel’s first rendition of the Messiah, Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and originals of Beethoven, Bach, THE BEATLES, Charles Dickens, Dead Sea scrolls, and Leonardo DaVinci’s sketchings. WOW!!!

6. John Wesley’s Chapel and Home. John Wesley founded Methodism in the 18th century and his conversion and later life all happened within a square mile here in London. Besides seeing the chapel where he preached, and the site where he was buried, I especially enjoyed touring his home, which was re-created as it was during his lifetime and gave a very personal look at the life of a typical Londoner during that time.

7.“The Circuses” and Squares. The famous circuses, or squares as we’d say in the States, include Leicester Circus, which is in the heart of the theater district, and Piccadilly Circus, which looks like a small Times Square with flashing billboards, some theaters and shops all around. A square which IS a square is Trafalger Square, a huge “roundabout” filled with vehicles and skads of people hanging out on the steps of the National Gallery and St. Martin of the Fields Church which border it.

8.The Parks. In spite of the fact that London is densely populated, there is lots and lots of beautiful green space, and expansive parks lie right in the heart of the city. We have especially enjoyed St. James Park which surrounds Buckingham Palace; Kensington Park which contains the memorial to Princess Di; and Regent’s Park with its beautiful lakes and gardens. This has been a perfect month to be here, with flowering plum and cherry trees; daffodils, primrose and camellias abloom; and birds all a-twitter with spring fever.

9.The Thames. We spent a whole evening walking along the before it splashed a rosy glow onto the buildings of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. The riverside was busy with tourists, street actors miming famous paintings or throwing batons of fire, and vendors selling sugar-coated peanuts. The river itself was filled with kayaks, and riverboats and floating restaurants, all lending themselves to a picture-perfect April night.

10.The Londoners themselves. The thing we enjoy the most is people-watching and London is a delight. We marvel as we sit at a pub or a coffee shop and look out the window at the parade of folks walking by. Every person looks totally different from any one else who’s just gone by. It seems like every color, nationality and religion is represented here, not just in a “token” way, but as an assimilated and meaningful part of this society. Of course, since we don’t live here full-time, we don’t know all the difficulties of so much mixing of people from all over the world. But, as a short-term visitor, we delight at the wonder of this rainbow of humanity and hope that it foretells of a future when we can work and live and play side-by-side in peace.

11. OK, OK. I know I promised only 10. But the Tower of London is really cool and the Yeoman Warders tell about all the people who got their heads cut off there, like Anne Boleyn and Thomas More and Sir Walter Raleigh. AND you get to see the crown jewels

POMPEII AND THE AMALFI COAST

Mary Ann: During our last week in Italy, we traveled west to Sorrento and the Amalfi coast on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a wonderful choice after 3 rather uneventful and low-key weeks in Alberobello. By that time, we were ready for a little more adventure. We used Sorrento as our home base, and then took day trips from there: one to Pompeii and one down the coast to the small town of Amalfi.

Visiting Pompeii has been a dream for me, ever since I was in high school. Maybe it was Miss Staudt’s Latin class that first whet my appetite, or perhaps it was that small, old book about Pompeii that I picked up somewhere along the line and pored over when I was young, but we decided I had waited long enough and it was time to explore those ancient remains. Pompeii is heavily promoted in the Naples area, and appeared very touristy as we approached. But once inside the ruins themselves, we were transported to another time and place.

Pompeii was destroyed in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted and covered the city, as well as the surrounding cities and homes, with a heavy layer of ash, mud and toxic gases. About two-thirds of the 66 acres have been excavated so far, and 12 of those acres are open to the public. The remains include a mixture of public buildings such as the large and small theaters, the amphitheater, and the structures in the forum where the government was headquartered; the temples of various gods such as Isis and Apollo; various service centers such as the baths and storefronts; and then of course the private homes which varied from 3- or 4-room structures to the 40-room House of Faun. All of these are tied together by cobblestone streets. Within every block of the city, crossing the streets at perhaps 2 different places were 3 larger, taller stones which were used by people to actually walk on to get to the other side of the street. The reason is that sewage ran through the streets, along with water from the outdoor fountains which were continually left running to wash away the waste.

Although many frescoes and statues were destroyed by the eruption or were taken to be displayed in the Archaeological Museum in Naples, there are a number of beautiful frescoes and mosaics still remaining on the walls and floors of the largest houses, the baths and the temples. These homes often had a garden room with large pastoral scenes painted on the wall, surrounding a catch basin where rain water was collected in a pool. It was awesome to walk on the same tiled floors and cobblestone streets that people walked on almost 2000 years ago. I loved to wander through the largest homes and imagine myself there back in 79 AD, living a rather ordinary life, going to the store to buy food, relaxing in the baths, or seeing a play at the large theater. Don was especially taken by the huge amphitheater which has the same oval design as a modern stadium, with tiered seating, sectioned off with steps. This is where gladiators (slaves and prisoners) fought each other and wild animals, often to the death. There were 2 doors into the main arena, one where gladiators entered, and one where the dead ones were removed after the battles.

On the second day of our stay in Sorrento, we took a hair-raising, white-knuckle bus ride along the Amalfi coast. The public buses travel several times an hour along the very edge of the Mediterranean, winding around hairpin turns, often 500-600 feet above the blue-green water. We were told to sit on the right side of the bus to get the full effect so we were perched only inches away from the drop offs. That was scary but also gave us the most spectacular views possible. Small cities ran up and down the side of the mountain facing the expansive sea. Houses, some that were large Italian villas, clung to the cliffs and ledges over the water. Small islands floated serenely not far from the shore, and watch towers left over from the days of Turkish pirates stood guard along the rocky shore. Although the road was meant for traffic coming from both directions, either one or the other had to move even closer to the edge, and still there were only a few millimeters separating the vehicles. After 90 minutes of travel, we arrived at our destination, the city of Amalfi, one of those spectacular cliff-hugging places where fishing and tourism drive the local economy. I suppose during tourist season, it’s jam-packed with hordes of sightseers, but we were able to sit by the Mediterranean and leisurely drink a cup of cappuccino before touring the Duomo, and spending some time in the shops which lined the piazza and the main street.

This trip to Sorrento, Pompeii and Amalfi was such a good one and allowed us to experience many places far different from either the big city of Rome or the very tiny Alberobello. It’s made me more aware of how people from other countries view the United States, and how important it is not to judge a country by one small piece of it.

COMMUNITY
One of the recurring issues that has kept popping up throughout our wanderings so far has been the matter of community. We have been able, in a way, to be observers of this basic human need for connection from the outside. Language and culture barriers have kept us outside looking in. But in another way, we haven’t been observers at all. While we have stood on the outside, we have found ourselves looking for ways in because we have the same need as every other human on earth. It has been an interesting experience. Community, for us, has not usually been the result of trying harder, but more of paying attention and saying “yes” when the opportunities presented themselves.

Take the Central Bar in Alberobello. (A “bar” in Italy is more of a coffee shop environment than what Americans usually think of as a bar.) It was one of the few places where a spirit of camaraderie and warmth was visible and open. So, we were drawn back there again and again for cappuccino, pastries, hot chocolate or wine. Gradually we were recognized as regulars and we began to learn names and struggle to get past language barriers and cultural behaviors that puzzled both us as Americans and them as Italians. They began to include us, no longer greeting us with the formal “buona sera” (good evening) but with a warm “ciao!” When we asked for their pictures, they insisted that we both come behind the counter for a group picture with Francesco, Silvia, and Katiuscia. Francesco said it was because we were “amici!” (friends). That was an amazing gift.

We have found community in other places as well. Another bar in Alberobello had a very different feel to it. Much more subdued and quiet, almost intimate. Vito Bianco ran the Shaker Bar and he, himself, made each of the wonderful, pastries we tasted there. (Shaker Bar has nothing to do with the almost extinct American religion by that name, but refers to the shaking or mixing of the drinks.) Vito or his father before him has owned the little place since 1962. It isn’t a noisy place with only room for maybe three small tables, but Vito is warm and welcoming. He spoke enough English to answer some of our questions about life in Alberobello. We met his wife and looked at his pictures of his children. We left a friend when we said “goodbye” to Vito the day we left Alberobello.

One other incident was very different. Since we heated with wood in our trullo, we found ourselves needing a new supply of wood after a couple of weeks. After managing to find someone who could supply us, we were told it would be delivered “tomorrow between 16:00 and 17:00 pm (4 and 5 pm). Sure enough, a little truck backed up and dumped around 1000 pounds of firewood in our entryway. It all had to be carried by the armload through the gate, across the patio, down some stairs and into the little cave where it was stacked. Rain was threatening and there was a lot of wood to move. An elderly man came and began to help. He spoke not a word of English but was able to indicate that he lived in the trullo next to ours. We hadn’t seen him before! Thank goodness we could say “Grazie!” It was no more than 2-3 days later when, at 6:30 am, we were awakened by a great rumble that caused us to awaken with a start! He was having wood delivered and in our entryway! It turns out that our patio was the only way he could get to his storage cave. Already awake, I went out to help and we worked together, man to man, for a couple of hours without knowing a word the other was saying. I still do not know his name, but that day he and I created community. These experiences of community in a foreign country have made me do some thinking about my life work in the church. In some deep way, I think that the ideas of community and the concept of “church” are intrinsically connected. I am certain that there can be community without church or religion, but I think that when a church lacks community, it is no longer church.