The Joyals Go to Europe: Dorchester Abbey with a Tripod

Yesterday we visited another nearby church, in large part to test out some new gadgets that David bought for our trip - a big tripod and remote-control clickers for both our cameras. We had a good time and confirmed what we had suspected about tripods - they are a bit of a pain in the rear but do take better pictures. And combined with the remote thingy, they are especially handy for self-portraits that aren't 6 inches from our face!

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Yes, that's a heavy winter coat I'm wearing - it's freezing here, literally! The high was in the 40s yesterday and we had a low of 21 the other day. And last week it snowed in the morning.

Here are a few more pics from the church, which is called Dorchester Abbey and is just 8 miles southeast of Oxford. It was here that this part of England was first converted to Christianity, when a bishop from Italy baptized the Saxon king around 650 AD.

This baptismal font is made of lead and is the only font from a monastic church to survive the Reformation in England. It has Jesus and the apostles carved into it.

A really beautiful fresco from about 1340 AD. I initially assumed the person on the right was Mary Magdalene, but wondered why she was holding a book - turns out that it is probably St. John. A saint holding a book is usually an author of a gospel, and also John commonly appears with the Virgin Mary in crucifixion scenes because of John 19:25-27. As you may know from the Da Vinci Code hoopla, John is often depicted quite feminine in art. I believe that was mainly to make him look young, since he was to (supposedly) write Revelation much later.