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...

Back to school for me! London March Trip

So in March I flew back to London for a UCL workshop, meeting with my professor and then a historical conference.

Here's my school - University College London, the 'original' University of London! ;)

The next few installments will be pictures from this trip.

It was strange when I got there, it snowed the first two days I was there...








There's the Dome/Quadrangle during a snow/rain storm...

This is the German Historical Institute where we had the conference. They're also the peeps that are giving me a scholarship towards the end of this year....hooray!

Church Life...

So here are a few 'randomish' pictures showing what my 'Church life' here in Berlin is like. After putting them on here I've realized that 'Church life' involves a lot of FOOD! ;)



Here the missionaries are getting fed with some anti-nourishing American root beer and hamburgers....











And then afterwards outside the diner where we ate - 'posing like a fountain' were the instructions...












This is Horst Gruse. (I asked him what his name meant. A 'horst' is a big bird's nest, like an eagle or something - German differentiates between SO much! So while in English we'd just say 'nest' for everything, Germans say 'nest' for a small bird's house, and then 'horst' for a big bird's house, and there are probably a few other words as well ;) He's the Institute (that is a place where they offer religious classes, i.e. 'Book of Mormon', 'Old Testament', 'New Testament', 'LDS Church History', etc. for people from 18-30) director here in Berlin. A SUPER-nice guy!





This is Elder and Sister Kirkham from Minny-soda (I asked Sister Kirkham if her home state was named after a 'small beverage' ;) They are the 'couple missionaries' in charge of the Institute group (people from 18-30). They do a lot for us and this is a picture from when we had a 'thank you' dinner for them and Horst.











While the rest of the people were in workshops, we peeled potatoes, carrots and then I got to....




















Fry up the Schnitzel! Yeah, oh the McDonald's memories flowed I must say....and I was covered with oil - not bad for the guy that's supposed to lead the peeps for the rest of the day and introduce speakers, etc. Oi!





















Everybody eating!















And then getting down to bidness! We all went with the missionaries to a square in Berlin and sang hymns and talked to the people. The idea was to invite people to a program about families that night, but alas, none came....but it still was good to do it all!

Toto, honestly...where are we?!

So normally I look out my window here in Berlin and I can see our Funkturm (Radio Tower), which honestly makes me think I'm in Paris, staring at the Eiffel Tower. But then every once in a while they beam colored-light on it and then I get 'confused' - ARE WE IN OZ, TOTO?! 'Ruff, ruff..' Oh wait, I forgot...I don't have a dog...who's answering then? 'Marsha, Marsha, Marsha....'

Anyway, before I descend into a TOTO (forgive me please ;)mental breakdown, the point of all of this was to show what my Funkturm looks like during the 'International Green Week' - a show for agriculture and environmentally-friendly technologies.

"There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no ice cream like Ben&Jerry's, there's no...." 'Put a fork in me, Jerry! I'm done!' (Kramer, 'Seinfeld')

World Traveler, Flat Freddy, visits Berlin!

So a friend of mine came to visit me here in Berlin: Flat Freddy! He's from Oregon where he attends middle school and his classmates sent him on a journey around the world to learn what he could. Before coming here, Freddy saw the wilds of North Pole, Alaska and now I'll just cut-paste what I wrote to Freddy's middle school class....

"The pictures I sent you with Flat Freddy were his choices. He told me that some of you like sports, so we decided to go to the Berlin Olympic Stadium. It was here in 1936 that Jesse Owens won four gold medals in track events proving to Hitler and the world that there was no such thing as a superior person/race/anyone.

While we were at the Olympic Stadium I got a sausage with mustard and a piece of bread – this is probably one of the favorite snacks that Germans and Berliners eat! The local soccer team, Hertha BSC, was getting ready to play and their fans were all over the place, eating sausages and getting ready for the game.














Flat Freddy liked the public transportation here in Berlin. You can take a bus, subway or train anywhere you want to go – he decided it’s nicer to sit back and let someone else do the driving - and it saves the environment.





















And the last picture is Flat Freddy with the Berlin Funkturm or Radio Tower. It was built in 1926 and became a very famous landmark, especially in West Berlin. The tower is most famous, however, because it was from here in 1935 that the first regular television program in the world was broadcast.

Well everybody. I hope that you enjoyed yourselves seeing a little piece of Berlin. Don’t forget that you can learn even more by looking ‘Berlin’ up on the Internet or in an encyclopedia.

Take care one and all and enjoy learning!"

END OF QUOTE: And the same goes to you all! Go learn and enjoy this world we've been given!!

Oh, and Flat Freddy, before he left in a large envelope for Georgia, USA, yelled 'ICH BIN AUCH EIN BERLINER!" (I'm a jelly doughnut too! I tell you...it's moments like this that you feel grateful for friends will will stand with you...no matter how 'thickly-challenged' they might be...)