A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

(Is a picture really worth the same as a thousand words? I don't really think so. There is a power in words that pictures just don't have, but then there's a power in pictures that words don't have. I don't think it's fair to judge the on the same scale. It's really just a cliche that works as a title...)

So my last post was about the Beauty of the University Parks here in Oxford. My daddy emailed me telling me how he liked my post and wished I'd put up more pictures of flowers. So I decided to dedicate this post to pictures to give a glimpse of the Beauty that I've described. Especially for you, Daddy! :)

Here we go, snapshots of the flowers in the University Parks!

Bright Pink Bell-looking Flowers

Tall, Fluffy, Exotic White Plants

Ah, lovin the contrast. Dark pink, pale green. Magnificent!

SO RED!!!!

Today I discovered something new: A popcorn plant!

Such a Deep Blue

Cool, deep maroon contrasted beautifully with the white

Fire Flowers. Super Cool-Looking

Don't the bright colors make you feel like you're looking at pictures of a jungle?

It's a jungle out there! 

Momma Flowers—super rich purple!!

Falls in the UK aren't exactly like fall in the North East....

But there's Beauty to be found everywhere! 

Alright, there are my pictures to back up last post. Since I'm in the process of uploading photos, I figured I'd also upload a few more cool ones.

The next few are from the other night when I watched the sunset from the castle mound. I was going to go to a church service at 6, but then decided (after already going out) to go to my church service at 7. I had an hour to kill, so I went to the Oxford Castle. Old castle, made a slave to consumerism, now a fancy hotel/restaurant/bar and big tourist attraction. It's a pretty cool place despite my critical description of it's function. Thankfully, it was evening when I went, and the tourist function of the castle was done for the day. The castle mound is literally just a big hill next to the castle that's been preserved for a long time and now they make tourists pay to climb it. I, of course, did not go during tourist hours, so the shop to buy a ticket was closed.... so I hopped the fence. I sat on top and looked at the breathtaking night sky. It was lovely.

The cool green steeple behind me

This is the city where I go to school.... Too cool.

And one last picture: I was walking around Oxford today because I was supposed to meet my friends in a pub to do work, but when I got there, they were MIA (I ended up finding them later. Happy day!). I decided to walk around until I could figure out where to study, and I ended up walking down this long, windy, narrow cobblestone back street with tall walls enclosing both sides. It was so magical. I loved it. And I imagined these being the kind of walls that Jean Valjean scaled to get into the garden of the convent. It was one of those dorky English major moments when a book came to life on a new level for me. Ah, what a beautiful place I live in!

Well, that's all for now. I'll write more stories later, as in, when it's no longer 4 am. Mer.