Corneliu visits Berlin!

Last year I visited my friend, Corneliu, in Ireland and now he came and visited me in Ireland. (If you ever wanted to know what the Romanian 'Bono' would like - there you go! ;) (Fortunately, Corneliu/Bono is in Ireland and can't beat me for putting this picture up ;)


So Corneliu and I went and saw a great many things and places in Berlin. Here is a pic of the Reichstag. We went with some friends from Institute.

I don't know where Corneliu was when I took this pic ;) This is Steffi and Andreas and that guy with the beard, AGAIN!

Fortunately for us Andreas has a PhD in History and Steffi had just taken a tour of the Reichstag, so I had ton o' info to learn! This says 'the People' and every German prime minister brings some earth from their local province and puts it in that garden area....

Here is the dome all lit up - loverly!

Across from Alexanderplatz and by the Berlin Cathedral is the Karl Marx forum - I just thought it was an interesting photo...Marx and Engels AND the Cathedral....what would they think? ;)

This is Alexanderplatz and a protest - this pic is actually for Tara who loved the German Polizei ;)

Corneliu and I went to the Pergamon Museum. This is now found in Turkey and was once Greece and later Roman.

Ahh, the good old days when rich European countries could go 'rob' other countries of their historical heritage ;) This is the Pergamon altar...

The Romans - 'strike a pose there's nothing to it!'

So Babylon the great fell...but leave it to the Germans to rebuild it! ;)

This is the Ishtar Gate, gate to Babylon, built by Nebuchadnezzar II who is mentioned in the Bible!

Here is a dedication written by Nebuchadnezzar (I was grateful for a chance to practice cuneiform translation), he says 'I laid the foundation of the gates...and thus I magnificently adorned them with luxurious splendour for all mankind to behold in awe.'

Hmm...hmm....

This is a mihrab that points towards Mecca and allows worshippers to know which way Mecca is so that they can pray....(part of the Islamic museum in the Pergamon Museum).

This is a memorial to the people who died trying to cross the Berlin Wall...

Corneliu and I turned the corner and saw the 'The World' balloon landing - just thought it was cool to see...

This was the former Nazi Air Force command center; then it became the East German offices for all their governmental departments; and now it's the tax office! Corneliu's tour guide said that this building was, is and probably always will be hated!


This was made in 1952 and is on that same building...it shows the happiness that totalitarian-socialist regimes can bring people - UGHH!

Just one year later in 1953 thousands of East German people protested, wanted dissidents freed, higher wages, etc. Soviet tanks crushed that!

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...