Final Day

Cartier Place Suite Hotel, Ottawa

Hello

My flight from Ottawa to Washington D.C. was finally canceled because of a mechanical problem (fuel pump leaking). So I had to struggle to find out about the arrangements. Finally they put me up in a nice hotel. But after the line to find out the arrangements, picking up luggage, and about a half hour taxi ride, I arrived at the hotel about 9:30pm. They booked me on the 6AM flight so I got up at 2:50AM left the hotel at 3:30 and arrived at the airport a little before 4AM. It was a nice place and a lovely city. I wish I had more time to enjoy it.

I arrived at the airport before the employees but by 5AM I was through security and my flight departed on time. Tim picked we up at Dulles, we ate breakfast and took a long nap.

Saturday I drove back to Grayson.

It was a great trip. i hope you enjoyed the blog.

John Wineland
Grayson, Kentucky

Headed Home

Ottawa, Parliament

Greetings,

I got packed up and walked over to the tube station. I rode the tube to Heathrow this morning. I am now in Ottawa, Canada waiting for my flight to Washington D.C.

From there I will visit friends and the drive home to Grayson.

John Wineland

Ottawa, Canada

Wednesday July 14, 2010

Entrance to the Bunker

The main meeting room of the War Cabinet

One of the hallways in the War Cabinet bunker

Communication and command center

Churchill's room in the bunker

Winston Churchill's advice to WWII England, but good advice anytime

Winston Churchill encouraging the British to carry on!

National Gallery

National Gallery with St. Martins in the Field in the background

Big Ben

Trafalgar Square, London

Felicity shows us some of the PEF archives

The PEF Library

Jerry in front of the PEF offices

Interior of the British Library

The British Library

Greetings,

This is my last full day in England. Tomorrow I fly out about 1pm so I wont get much done tomorrow beside final packing and making it to the airport for the flight home. I fly from Heathrow to Ottawa on Air Canada and then on to Dulles, Washington.

Today we visited the Churchill War Cabinet Rooms. They are preserved as they were at the end of WWII along with a Churchill Museum. It was amazing to see the map room and the room where Churchill broadcasted addresses on the BBC.

After our tour their we walked over to the National Gallery which has a wonderful collection of paintings including Monet, Van Gogh, and Rembrant amongst many others. We ate lunch at the museum.

Then we took a taxi to offices of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) which was founded in 1865. We were given a tour by the Director and she kindly allowed us to see the amazing collection of artifacts, drawings, and maps. It is truely a treasure of archeological research and history.

Then we rode over to the British Library which has an amazing collection of famous manuscripts and books including two of four existing copies of the Magna Carta, the Codex Sinaiticus (one of the oldest copies of the New Testament, originally printings of Shakespere, and original copies of Handel's Messiah and the handwriting lyrics of several Beatles songs.

Then we came back to the Penn Club and began packing and getting ready to leave.

John Wineland
London, England

Tuesday July 13, 2010

A view of London

A familar sign in London

The front of the British Museum

A nice place to have lunch at the British Museum

The famous Ram in the Thicket from Ur

Tablet 11 of the Gilgamesh Epic, which has the account of a great flood which has interesting parallels to Noah's flood in the Genesis.

A view of a Bactrian camel from the Apadana at Persepolis, Persia

Roman Emperor Hadrian

Here Jehu King Israel bows before Shalmaneser III and offers him tribute gifts.

One of the treasures of the British Museum, the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

In London as in Oxford, there are reminders for foriegners, forgetting which side of the road people drive on can be deadly!

Interior view of the Dicken's House

Here Jerry is entering the Dickens Museum

I am standing at the door of the Dickens House

Hello,

We packed up and moved from Oxford to London today. We road south to London on a bus. It took about two hours. The bus dropped us at Victoria Station which is one of the main bus stations in London. Then we rode in a traditonal London taxi to our boarding house near Russell Square.

After we got into our rooms we walked to the British Museum which is just around the corner. We ate lunch there and had a look around. It is one of the finest museums in the world with many treasures from all around the British Empire.

We then walked to the Dickens House Museum for short visit. This is one of the houses where Charles Dickens lived and he wrote some of his most famous works at this house e.g. Oliver Twist and Pickwick Papers.

Tomorrow is our last full day. We will visit Churchill's War Cabinet Rooms, the National Portrait Gallery, and offices of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF).

John Wineland

London

Blogging while on the move

Greetings,

I am posting this while riding on the coach from Oxford to London. I am on the Oxford Bus Compand route to London, Queen Victoria Station. The internet access is free. Why am I blogging now??? I guess the only answer is because I can.

John Wineland
on the M40 heading to London

Heading to London

Greetings,

After breakfast we will be heading to London. I am not sure of the internet access once I arrive.
I will try to continue my posts.

John Wineland
Oxford, UK

Last Day in Oxford

The New Building at Magdalen, this is where C.S. Lewis stayed

People punting on the River Cherwell, Magdalen College

The Addison Walk, Magdalen College

Here is another good one

I like this one

One of the carvings in the Magdalen College Chapel

The Magdalen College Chapel

This is the wall often called the Humpty Dumpty wall that appears in Lewis Carroll's writings

The front gate

One of the carvings at Merton

Merton College

One of the study stalls

Some of the Merton collection

The library at Merton College

The Dining Hall at Merton College

Golden Cross area in Oxford

Greetings,

We spent our last day in Oxford. Tomorrow we head for London.

We headed out and walked about Oxford most of the day. We visited some book shops and other stores. We went to Blackwells and the Oxford University Press bookstores.

Then we visited a cemetery where two of the Inklings (a Oxford literary group with its two most famous members being J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis).

Then we visited both Magdalen and Merton colleges. At Magdalen we visited the chapel and Cloister and got something to drink while we watched people punting on the River Cherwell. Then we walked Addison's walk and saw deer and a poen written by C.S. Lewis, who taught at the college for many years.

We took a guided history tour of Merton College, where Tolkien taught for about 30 years. They claim that this is the oldest college at Oxford and it was founded in 1264. We visited the grounds and the chapel. The highlight of the tour was the visit to the library.

Then we had a late lunch at the Pizza Express which is located in Golden Cross. This area was retored recently. It was a place where coaches stopped and people lodged. One famous visitor was Alexander Pope in 1735. The Pizza Express is housed in an Elizabethan period building. You can still see the walls and beams dating from that period.

After lunch we visited a few more shops and decided to head back to the Guest House.

John Wineland
Oxford, England