Day 1: Departure
Our adventure begins with an overnight flight from Philadelphia
to Belfast.(Dublin also possible). In flight meals.
Day 2: Arrival, Downpatrick, Belfast
On
arrival in Belfast, our Tour Director will greet us at
the airport. The first stop will be the St. Patrick Center
in Downpatrick with a guided tour. This interactive experience
tells the fascinating story of St. Patrick and the arrival of
Christianity in Europe. The museum also features an IMAX presentation. The
Education Officer at the museum will teach us about the beginnings
of Christianity in Ireland,
focusing on St.Patrick, St.Columba or one of the other leading
figures. We'll then continue to Belfast
and check into our accommodation. In flight meals/D.
Day 3: Belfast
Today
we’ll head to the coast and visit the incredible Giant's Causeway, a World
Heritage site National Nature Reserve and Northern Ireland’s premier tourist
attraction. It is made up of some 40,000 black basalt columns,
many of them sticking up out of the sea. The formations that make
up the Causeway were created by volcanic activities. It’s a fun
place to climb on! B/D
Our next stop is the Ulster
Folk and Transport Museum, voted Irish
Museum of the Year. This museum illustrates
the way of life and the traditions of the people of the north
of Ireland.
Set in
over 170 acres of rolling countryside, the outdoor Folk Museum
tells the story of life in early 20th century Ulster. Almost 50
exhibits have been acquired by the Museum from all over Ulster
and restored and authentically furnished. The Open Air Museum is complemented by the Folk Galleries
which show how food, farming, everyday occupations and lifestyles
have changed through time. The Transport section includes an exhibit
about the Titanic, which was built in Belfast.
The museum offers an extensive range of hands-on activities for
students, including open-hearth cooking, farming, weaving, quilling,
rushwork, candle-making, paper-making, laundry and Victorian costume,
amongst others. In
the evening we will have the opportunity to meet local Christians
for dinner. We’ll spend a second overnight in Belfast.
B/D
Day 4: Stirling,
Edinburgh
This
morning we will take the early ferry to Stranraer where we meet
our Scottish coach. We arrive around lunch time at the fabulous
Stirling Castle the grandest
of Scotland's
castles and one of the most popular visitor attractions in the
country. 250 feet above the plain on an extinct
volcano, Stirling became the
strategic military key to the kingdom during the 13th and 14th
century Wars of Independence and was the favourite royal residence
of many of the Stuart Monarchs. Many important events from Scotland's
past took place at Stirling
Castle, including
the violent murder of the eighth Earl of Douglas by James II in
1452. Stirling Castle played an important role in the
life of Mary Queen of Scots. She spent her childhood in the castle
and Mary's coronation took place in the Chapel Royal in 1543.
After our castle visit, we’ll continue to Edinburgh.
B/D
Day 5: Edinburgh
Today
we'll attend church in Edinburgh
then have an orientation tour of Edinburgh.
Our first stop will be Edinburgh
Castle, the
best known and most visited of Historic Scotland's buildings.
Perched on an extinct volcano and offering stunning views, this
instantly recognizable fortress is a powerful national symbol,
and part of Edinburgh's
World Heritage Site.
The tiny St Margaret's Chapel, Edinburgh's oldest building,
dates from the 1100s. Crown Square, the principal courtyard, was
developed in the 15th century, the Great Hall with its impressive
hammer beam roof was built by James IV in 1511. The Half Moon
Battery was created in the late 16th century; and the Scottish
National War memorial was added after the First World War.
The
original 15th century house where John Knox lived has been largely
unaltered since the 1550's when the Mosman family, Goldsmiths
to Mary Queen of Scots, remodeled the house. John Knox, leader
of the Scottish Reformation and founder of the Presbyterian Church,
lived here for a short time before he died here in 1572. Now maintained
by the Church of Scotland, the museum holds an exhibition about
Knox's life and times. We
will then have the opportunity to browse the Museum of Scotland
or free time. We will eat independently this evening and spend
a second overnight in Edinburgh.
B
Day 6: Holy Island, York
Leaving
Scotland, we will drive south and visit Holy Island. We’ll learn about the monastery's fantastic
wealth and walk in the grounds where brutal Viking raiders plundered
the priory, forcing monks into refuge on the mainland. The lively
and atmospheric museum explains what life was like more than a
millennium ago and illustrates the drama of Lindisfarne.
The Lindisfarne Gospels, a manuscript produced on the Northumbrian
island monastery of Lindisfarne at the end of the seventh century, in honor
of Saint Cuthbert, is one of the world's master-pieces of book
painting. It is a precious relic of early Christianity in England, and one of the nation's latest
treasures. We return to the mainland before the tide comes in and continue
on to the York
area.
B/D
Day
7: York, Lutterworth, Oxford
We enjoy an orientation tour of York today and visit to York Minster. The first Minster was built on this
site in around 623 AD. No-one knows when Christianity first arrived
in the city but by 306 when Constantine The Great
was proclaimed Emperor in York
it is probable there was a small Christian community among those
who proclaimed him. In 312 he issued a general edict of toleration
for the Christian Church. However, by the year 314 York
already had its own bishop, implying that the Christian community
had been meeting there for some time, probably since long before
their faith was officially tolerated.
We'll
stop for tea and cookies at St
Mary’s Church in Lutterworth. This historic Church building
has dominated the landscape of this part of South
Leicestershire for over 800 years. It is renowned
for its former Rector, John Wycliffe who first translated the
Bible into English in the 14th Century, and became a center for
mission through him. We
will end the day in Oxford.
B/D
Day 8: Oxford,
London
We
will have an orientation tour in Oxford, including
the Reformers
Monument,
several colleges and evensong at the Cathedral. Founded by Cardinal
Wolsey as Cardinal's College in 1524, this twelfth century church
is one of the oldest buildings in Oxford and one of the smallest Anglican cathedrals in England. It is
also the only church in the world to be both a cathedral and a
college chapel. The college buildings took over the site of St.
Frideswide's Monastery, which was suppressed by Wolsey to fund
his college. The monastery dated back to the earliest days of
Oxford
as a settlement in the 9th Century AD. The cathedral has a famous
men and boys' choir, and is one of the main choral foundations
in Oxford. To this day the bell in the tower, Great
Tom, is rung 101 times at 9:05 GMT (9 o'clock Oxford time) every night for the 101 original
scholars of the college. Famous alumni include: Charles and John
Wesley, Lewis Carroll, William Penn, Albert Einstein and John
Locke.
We'll
then transfer to London and take
an evening cruise on the Thames, past the Houses of Parliament,
St. Pauls, the Globe Theater and the Tower
of London. B/D
Day
9: London
Our full day of sightseeing in London begins with a special
tour by the Tower
of London Education Service, where we will learn specifically
about the Tudor period and the birth of the Church of England.
We will then visit Westminster Abbey, known as the House
of Kings. Westminster
Abbey, a work of architectural genius, a place of daily worship,
deploying the resources of high musical expertise, a burial place
of kings, statesmen, poets, scientists, warriors and musicians,
is the result of a process of development across the centuries,
which represents the response of a monastery and later a post-Reformation
church to the stimulus and challenge of its environment.
In
the afternoon we will take a tour of the Wesley Chapel and Museum. The Chapel
was built by John Wesley,
the founder of Methodism, and opened on 1 November 1778. Its Georgian
lines and many of its features are very attractive and it is the
only Methodist Church
to feature in Simon Jenkins’s England’s Thousand Best Churches (published
1998). It is the first Methodist
Church built
specifically for the celebration of Holy Communion as well as
for preaching services. We’ll then return to our hotel in London.
B/D
Day 10: Departure
Flight
from London