London

OK, I know this has been long overdue. After all it is September and I was in London...in July. Hey it could be worst (like not putting up these photos till Sept, 2008!). So my London trip was quite eventful. I landed the day of the Glasgow bombing (thankfully I was landing at Heathrow) only to find out that the UK raised their terror alert to cricital. But hey, I'm from NY, so it didn't so much rattle me; we should be use to it by now. :o)

So this is the hotel (Sussex Garden area) I stayed at for a couple of days before the conference began. It's amazing how easy it is to get around London. The "tube" is so accessible and before you know it people were coming up to me for directions and (having forgotten that I was a tourist) I'd direct them to which train to catch (hopefully I sent them to the right place!). :o)




This is the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, where the School of Theology took place. Funny thing that happened to me when I went through customs at Heathrow airport ----I was asked what was my business here in London. I told the gentleman that I was here for a conference. Then he asked me if it was for business or pleasure. I told him it was for pleasure. Then with a confused look on his faced he asked me, "Can a conference be pleasurable"? I said, "It can be if it's a Christian conference". With that, he didn't ask me any more questions. :o) Couldn't quite figure out why he bothered to ask if it was for business or pleasure if he couldn't see that a conference can be pleasurable.

OK, you can't go to London and not go to Spurgeon's grave. So I made it one of my first "stops" in London...well at least after church.

OK so before we go on, I must warn you, most of my pictures are buildings and views...

So this is the front of Buckingham Palace.

So everyone tells me that I must go see the changing of the guard. There's really nothing much to it folks. He just walks back and forth between his posts. It would have been a bit more amusing had he worn his funny looking long hat, but he didn't even have that on. :o(

I don't really see the point of this, but I suppose the tourist need to be entertained.

Yes, this is Westminister Chapel where Martyn-Lloyd Jones once pastored. Unfortunately the doors were locked and I couldn't take a peek inside.

This is a tiny mall by the Queen's path...took a like covering from the rain.

Some odd looking ship sculpture.

I was fascinated by this egg like building.

Here is another cool building.

Tower bridge...I think.

This is by tower castle (???I think)...thought the contrast between old and new was interesting.

I believe this is where they boat prisoners in back then. I think this is also the castle where Lady Jane was held captive and eventually beheaded by Queen Mary...my memory is shaky on this though....

And of course Big Ben. I go alittle crazy taking pictures of him... :o)

Parliment (right around Big Ben...well Big Ben is part of it). This is one place I would have loved to tour inside but it's unfortunately not open to the public. It's quite a majestic building....

This is the Eye of London. I suppose I should have gone on it, but there was so much to see and I thought I'd find time to go on it and didn't. Oh well, maybe next time. I've yet to get on the Empire State building and still have not (the Twin Towers were my favorite and have thankfully been on it several times before...).

National Gallery...and yes, Jeffrey...I didn't go in either (against your advice). As many of these places I've visited, it would be closed by the time I'd get there! I suppose if I was an early bird, that would have helped! :o)

A duck who was quite brave to remain infront of my lenses.

St. Paul's Cathedral. As in most cathedrals in Europe, they don't allow one to take pictures inside. So all I have are pictures of the outside.

From the inside, one could actually climb up to the dome and walk around the inside perimeter of the dome. It's quite a steep and narrow stair climb so the climb is not for the weak hearted. Of course I was climbing those stairs with a 50 lb backpack on my back (not smart at all)! But I was fascinated by the figures that were placed beside the dome as I try to capture it here.

Somerset court house.

This was some train/bus station. But that wasn't my transportation into London...

It was here in Paddington station that I came in. Very convenient ride from the airport to the center of London.

Now I believe this is Westminister Cathedral (there's alot of churches around Westminister). This wasn't as kept up as the Westminister Abbey. But the architecture has some ....I'm guessing...spanish like influence in style. The style of structure just seem out of character from the other cathedrals I've seen in the area (maybe because it's a catholic church???).

This is one place where I was allowed to take a picture inside (and there was no fee to get in!). This was one of the side area of the church (but not the main sanctuary of the church). I would have taken the picture of the main sanctuary but it was too dark and it was unfortunate that it wasn't kept up because alot of the paintings on the ceiling have faded away.

Now this is Westminister Abbey...and this one is kept up but came with a fee! And because it came with a fee to view the inside, I could not take any pictures.

But I was able to steel a picture in the court yard.

As well as this center court yard.

Side view of Westminister Abbey

This is a side view of Parliment.

I Eye of London again.

Another one of those odd buildings...

Hyde Park...near where I stayed.

OK, so finally views of some people I meet at the conference. So below is Jonathan Hunt and Steve Owen. Participaters on the BDR where I initially interacted with them and learned of this conference and Dr. Masters.

My host on Sunday....Mr. Hunt (Jonathan's Dad and a deacon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle). His family was so gracious in opening their home to a complete stranger (and yikes a NYer! Quiet brave of them!) for a Sunday lunch after church. Here he is working hard in welcoming guests to the conference. There's one thing I will say, he's got a great sense of humor! Kept me laughing all Sunday afternoon. :o)

Here are few of the Americans I met at the conference. To the left is Christian (from Tennessee) who at the time was spending a few months in Germany studying german and latin(?? can't quite recall). The people that were hosting him in Germany invited him to come to this conference (the first he heard of it!). To the right is Mrs and Dr. Grier ...one of the key speakers at the conference. How I met Dr. Grier is --- he sat behind me at the conference and tapped me on my shoulder because he heard I was from NY. It turns out we had alot more in common other than New York (he was born in NYC). He went to college at the same town as I did (though not the same university) and attended the same baptist church as I did (though separated by several decades....so we missed each other). But of all places to finally meet! In London?!?! God works in mysterious ways. But yet I stare at this photo and I could have sworn I've seen this couple before...still trying to juggle my memory. He might have spoken at my church one time when I was there....hmmm..... He has taught at many places (including the Philippines). I wish I could have talked to him more because there were so much to discussed. I hope our paths will cross again soon. It was such a blessing to meet him and he was soooo friendly (true NYer for sure).

Below is Alison (left), Mrs. Hunt (Jonathan's Mum) with her grandson in her arms and Dr. David Elangovan (missionary to India and speaker at the conference)....quite a godly man. I was very moved when he spoke of his mission to India. I was truly blessed when I was able to spend the afternoon with him when he came for lunch at the Hunt's. God is truly blessing his ministry...please continue to pray for his efforts in spreading the Gospel in India.

And here are three gents from Wales. From left to right is Michael, Terry and Brian. It was also a blessing to meet with these men...I met them because I kept stealing their seats! :o) But they were so gracious to share their spot.

Now one of my key points of coming to the conference was to meet Dr. Masters. Now I was warned that Dr. Masters does not like being the subject of a photo shoot. So when Brian introduced me to Dr. Masters, I'm afraid I didn't quite make a good first impression because I came armed with my camera...you could tell he was quite conscience of the camera because he kept staring at it nervously. I did politely ask if I could take a photo of him and Dr. Reymond (who sat right behind him) and in pure puritan fashion he somehow dodged my attempt by asking me if I could do it after the conference. Oh it would have been a perfect shot had I just taken the photo rather than asked...but I couldn't get myself to do it without guilt! But he was quite a gracious man and he was one of my favorite speaker at the conference. I would very much like to having him as my pastor...but it would have been quite tough for me to leave the USA for London. Of course everyone wanted to talk to Dr. Masters after the conference so I was never able to take a picture of both him and Dr. Reymond. :o( So folks you'll have to settle for Dr. Master's picture here at the Metropolitan Tabernacle website. He also has great sermons posted there every week. Great ministry.

OK last but not least, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this gas station in London. Because we Americans are always complaining of the gas prices back in the US, I had to take a snap shot of the price of gas then. So 1 litre = 0.26 gallons ...but I don't know what unit of currency those numbers were (that couldn't be in pounds?!)???? Somehow we're suppose to feel better about the prices we (americans) face back home. But then people in the UK do not have to drive as far as most of us Americans do. The USA is just too large! :o)