Elder Kirkham's Birthday

Fun times - so for Elder Kirkham's birthday we had a meeting with ice cream and then we went to Vespers/Evensong at Berlin Cathedral. It was really pretty and a nice experience...





Here is the dome of the 'Dom' - funny how we do that....I never knew that 'choir' actually refers to the place in the church where the 'choir'/singing people sit....hmm....

We walked out and this was the first time I noticed 'the Pope's revenge'. The East German government built this T.V. tower and oddly enough when the sun would hit it just right it would make this 'sunlight cross'. The government tried to 'fix' it by pouring chemicals on it, etc., but nothing worked ;) So the people called it 'the Pope's revenge' ;)

Later that night Elder Kirkham was knighted into the 'Order of the Alaskan Empire' and dubbed 'Earl of Koyukuk' (this entailed getting an 'Alaskan' pin put on to his shirt and my dubbing him with a pair scissors).


Go forth good knight!

White Trash Food and Peace Protest...

So fans of my last blog will recognize 'White Trash Fast Food'. I saw it on the way to a concert and took a picture and decided that it was a 'Chinese restaurant'. I sent this picture and info to our English-language Sunday school class peeps and we all decided we should go eat there. Well...it turned out I assumed way too much - it's apparently a 'hard-core' music venue and not the best place to take families to eat. Oops! So my friend Brad recommended that we go to a burrito house down the road...




On the way to the burrito place we 'ran' into a peace demonstration - specifically they are protesting German participation in Afghanistan, etc. Yeah...so....I think we all talked a lot 'softer' when we passed by - I realize this might be hard to believe, but Americans aren't loved in all places ;)

Institute Art Gallery Visit

So we took a day off from learning about the Gospel and went to a classic art gallery to 'get some culture' and this is what we got...









This is for my sister Suzanne. She did her Bachelor's thesis on an Italian female painter named Sofonisba - and this was painted by her!






Vermeer...































And my favorite painter from 'the Northern Renaissance' - Albrecht Durer...































There's nothing a little Holbein can't fix....

































Except maybe a few hundred years of royal inbreeding - those poor Hapsburg's and their royal nightmare of a chin...

London March Trip - Tower Hill

Once again the London Underground doesn't fail in letting you know where you are ;) Here we are at Tower Hill or 'the Tower'. Part of me wants to yell 'off with their heads!' and laugh, but then another part of me is sad that it's true: so many people died just because they might have disagreed/displeased the Sovereign. I'm grateful for freedom!

That is 'the Tower', even though there are 4! ;) This is from the north of the Thames looking southward...

Right along the side are remnants of the wall the Romans built - yep, Londonium is amazingly old! Here is Trajan welcoming us to his empire ;)

Turn the corner and there is 'Tower Bridge'! My favor-ite!

Crossing the Thames! Back in the day (I guess it still happens, I've just never seen it) Tower Bridge would lift the part where cars drive over to allow ships to pass underneath. Those walkways were built to allow people to walk across whilst the ships passed underneath. They were closed off however, because of so many suicides....

And then there's 'the Tower' from the southside of the Thames...

And then there's Tower Bridge from the southside! It was good to see all these sites again - it helps remind me that I go to school in London and not Germany ;)

London Mischung - March 2007

The following is a hodge-podge from London:

Here is the 'Stone of London'. It's got a large 'unsubstantiated' history beginning with Brutus of Troy who brought it to the area with him; to a piece of Roman work; etc. At least document-wise we have the following: The first known reference to the Stone is in a book belonging to Athelstan, (Ethelstone) King of the West Saxons in the early 10th Century. In the list of lands and rents some places are described as being 'near unto London stone'. It was already a landmark in 1198 when it was referred to on maps as Lonenstane or Londenstane. As was common at that time, people who lived nearby were named de Londenstane. In fact the first mayor of London was Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone (meaning 'Henry, son of Ailwin of London Stone') who was appointed some time between 1189 and 1193.
Over the years the London Stone became the traditional place to pass laws, make proclamations, reclaim debts and swear oaths, sometimes with ceremony, perhaps accompanied by drums and trumpets or in front of a crowd. Petitioners could strike the Stone with their papers in order to make their position known to the authorities.








And here it is! The Stone of London! Now just hit it with your sword and you can be Lord Mayor of London!













I'm so dense...whenever I heard of Paddington train station I thought ‘what a funny name…like Paddington Bear…’ Umm…yeah, so that’s where Paddington Bear got his name! ;) and here is a statue of him at the train station….yeah…I’m smart! ;)








And this is the crazy part about London – you make a ‘wrong turn at Albuquerque’ and you can find just about anything. I made a left down a dark, strange alley and found this shield that tells us that this is where Chaucer’s pilgrims left all those years ago….







This is the University of London’s ‘Senate House’. It was built in the late 1930’s and lots of people say it’s fascist or Stalinist, but George Orwell/Eric Blair called it ‘the Ministry of Truth’ in ‘1984’. Scary….

















The night we were done with our conference, I was on the bus and just happened to get off near Chinatown. So I went for a really good Chinese buffet for 5 pounds! Great deal!
















Then a few shots of ‘Big Ben’. In the States I always thought ‘Big Ben’ referred to the ‘tower’ that you see, but ‘Big Ben’ is actually the name of the bell inside.





























I was walking towards Leicester Square (where all the theaters are) and I saw this shop that sold Spanish guitars. I walked in, talked to the guy and asked him how long does it take to learn. He said '4 minutes'. He taught me a few notes to play over and over and we ended up playing 'Nothing Else Matters'! Cool-EE-O!









Here is a view of one of the subway entrances - deep, deep down that's for sure...

'Welcome Back, Mr. Kotter!'

Taking a stroll down 'memory lane' can be fun at times. Here is the good old Langton Close, former home for nurses, now a dorm for UCL students...
















There is the good old '4H' apartment where we all lived together...





























And those fans of my earlier England blog will know of my slight obsession with how London has turned old graveyards into parks! It's almost like the gravestones are just used as decor now....



























Here we have the official orders from Lady John Manners (never trust someone with a gender-bending name like that! ;) in 1885 opening this graveyard for 'public use'....Europe has made me examine a lot the idea of the 'sacredness of death'. It seems that you're only 'protected' when you're dead if you're famous. In just about all other cases you're 'paved over', built on, dug up on put on display in a museum or...











your gravestone can be used as a bench! I still remember these people that just come and sit on the gravestones in the 'park' smoke, drink their beer, train their fighting dogs...hmmm....





















Or you can relax amongst the dead and eat your lunch or read your paper....

I admit I'm a hypocrite because I did it too, but the idea just seems so strange still in my mind...






















Then right across the street we have the London Welsh Centre....




















And then further down the road we have these buildings that I always wanted to take a picture of - I don't know what year (probably pre-London fire), but I think that is what London would have looked like 'back in the day', before the dreadful onset (in my opinion) of British 'brick madness' - bricks everywhere! Uggh!

These dragons let you know that you're entering 'the City of London'. Over the years London has done an 'LA' in that it's incorporated separate entities and formed 'the Greater London Authority/Area'.

The House of the Lord, in....Lingfield! ;)

Here is the 'London' temple that is actually a 1-hour train ride south of London towards Gatwick airport.





















































































Apparently back in the day, this used to be a huge farm and I REMEMBER (i.e. faulty information probably ;) that someone said these buildings were originally here. I think they are used as the Mission office...