London, England (3 of 3)

We reserved one day for shopping, but ended up buying very little as prices in London are very expensive. Even food is expensive. For example, fish and chips costs an average of C$11 in Toronto restaurants, but 11 pounds Sterling in English pubs i.e. double. The only store we could indulge in was Primark, a budget clothing chain similar to Wal-Mart in Canada. Prices are high throughout the trip, especially with value added tax (VAT) between 20-25%. And we thought the 13% harmonized sales tax (HST) in Canada was high! We’re very well off and didn’t appreciate it!

Piccadilly Circus is actually a road junction, not a circus.

The upscale Harrods department store.

Kensington Palace, Prince William & Kate’s residence.

St. Paul’s Cathedral, the church of the common people as opposed to Westminster Abbey, the church of lords.

Museum of Natural History.

Natural History Museum’s nature garden.

All told, we had a very good trip with excellent company, interesting places to visit, and good weather (no rain except when we were indoors or riding in the tour bus). We thank the Lord for His grace, and look forward to years of fruitful service with rest and recreation.

London, England (2 of 3)

Day 2 we hit the most popular tourist attractions, using the Big Bus, which included a Thames cruise. The best way to use the Big Bus is to start early and follow the route, hoping off at the places you want to explore further, and hoping on again to go to other sites. Switching lines to jump around usually end up wasting more time.

Buckingham Palace. The Queen prefers staying at Windsor Castle.

Trafalgar Square, where National Gallery is located.

Tower Bridge, not the nursery rhyme London Bridge which fell down.

London Eye. One revolution takes 30 min. Popular proposal place, but awkward ride down if proposal rejected.

Big Ben clock tower.

Westminster Abbey, traditionally where coronations and royal weddings took place.

London, England (1 of 3)

British flag

From Copenhagen we flew to London for a few more days of sight-seeing. We purchased a Big Bus hop-on/hop-off two-day pass to have a quick overview. We also used the Underground (subway) to visit points of interest. For the subway, buy a zone 1 (where most tourist attractions are) day-pass with unlimited number of rides during the day.

British Museum. Lots of biblical relics. You can spend days there. Free admission.

Lobby of British Museum.

Jade stone. If you see the uncut stone in the wilderness would you recognize it as jade? Don’t judge by appearance.

Ram in a Thicket, discovered in Ur. reminiscent of Gen 22:13.

Sculptures from the palace of Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria who took Israel into exile.

Cyrus Cylinder. Cyrus was king of Persia who gave the edict to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

Rosetta Stone, written in Hieroglyphic, Demotic (Egyptian), and Ancient Greek. It helped to decode ancient languages.

London Chinatown.

Chinese church in heart of Chinatown.

Don’t Waste Your Cancer

This had been a “dark” week. First we heard the news that a missionary friend discovered that he had cancer. He is much younger than we are, has a beautiful family, pastored a church in the Philippines, planted another one in Indonesia, then called by God to serve in Taiwan. Out of the blue he found out that there is a tumor in his nasal passage.

The next day we heard one of my wife’s former colleagues has been undergoing treatment for leukemia for the past several weeks. Again he’s only in his early fifties, with a successful IT career within major banks, but not yet a believer. E. witnessed to him in the past, but he did not see the need at that time. Now he is reading the Bible and Christian books in search for answers.

When I shared this with my younger brother, he told me his church brother also has lung cancer. He’s about my brother’s age, and as strong as a horse! Recently he took a “Silk Road” trip and hiked mountains without symptoms of altitude sickness, and he never smoked a cigarette in his life. However, when he returned home he did not feel well and went to see a doctor, and discovered that the cancer is already at an advanced stage.

The first thing that comes to mind upon hearing these is Mt 5:45 “that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” The context is loving your enemy, but one corollary is that we live in a fallen world, and God’s children are not exempt. Bad things happen to good people, Christian and non-Christian. The important thing is, when bad things happen, how do we respond.

John Piper, who needs no introduction from me, wrote a booklet called “Don’t Waste Your Cancer“, which is adapted from his book “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God“. On the eve of his own prostate cancer surgery, he penned 11 occasions when we waste our cancer. He is an excellent author, so rather than paraphrase and summarize what he said, I’ll just post a link where you can read his booklet for yourself. Wise counsel. Don’t waste your cancer.

http://www.desiringgod.org/books/dont-waste-your-cancer

Stockholm, Sweden

Swedish flag

Our last port-of-call before we disembark in Copenhagen was Stockholm, capital of Sweden. It is the city where the world’s most prestigious award, the Nobel Prize, is awarded. But for Christians, there are even higher awards that we can look forward to:
* incorruptible crown 1 Co 9:25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
* crown of rejoicing 1 Thes 2:19 – For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?
* crown of righteousness 2 Tim 4:8 – Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
* crown of life Jas 1:12 – Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. See also Rev 2:10
* crown of glory 1 Pet 5:4 – And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. (Rev 3:11)

Vasa Museum, which houses a warship that sanked on her maiden voyage in 1628.

Plaque commemorating Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor of dynamite and founder of Nobel Prize.

Blue Hall (dining hall) on ground floor of Stockholm City Hall, where the Nobel Prizes are given out each year (except the Peace Prize which is given out in Oslo).

Golden Room mural on second floor.

Stockholm harbour front

Walking tour of Gamla Stan Old Town.

Helsinki, Finland

Finnish flag

From St. Petersburg we sailed to Helsinki, capital of Finland. Finland is one of the 5 Nordic countries, which include the 3 Scandinavian countries, and Iceland. Its population is only 5.5 million, less than GTA, but famous for its simple and elegant designs. Its most well-known brand to adults is probably Nokia, even though it lost its market position. But to young people the most famous is Angry Bird! Different folks like different cities on this cruise. For me, it’s Helsinki with its rugged, rustic charm. I particularly like the Rock Church building, over and above the historic cathedrals. To each his own!

On way to Suomenlinna Fortress.

Very scenic hill-top where the canons are located. Unfortunately our tour guide lost her step here and had to be carried away by ambulance.

Uspenski Cathedral (Eastern Orthodox)

Senate Square, with Helsinki Cathedral (Lutheran) in background.

Olympic Stadium (1952 Summer)

Sibelius Monument. His music shaped Finland’s national identity.

Temppeliauko Church, or Church of the Rock (Lutheran). The church was hewn out of solid rock and has a dome roof made out of copper wire. If you stand on Christ the solid rock you’ll never fail.

St. Petersburg, Russia (2 of 2)

After two days of touring palaces, my impression is that while they are beautiful, I find they lack the vastness, compared to say the Forbidden City, which inspires awe. The palaces are gilded with paper-thin sheets of gold, but would pale in comparison to the grandeur of the New Jerusalem, where gold was only pavement in the street of the city:

Rev 21:18-21 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

No wonder Abraham looked forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God (Heb 11:10). What about you? What do you look forward to?

Catherine Palace, summer residence of czars.

The ballroom, where the stucco facade is gilded with gold.

“Tang Dynasty” Palace 🙂

Lunch at a restaurant converted from a former royalty residence.

Hermitage Museum on left, including former Winter Palace. One of the world’s largest art museums with 3 million pieces of collection.

Hermitage’s entrance stairway to exhibits on second floor.

Ready to take over the throne!

St. Petersburg, Russia (1 of 2)

Russian flag

St. Petersburg was touted to be the high point of the cruise. The ship was berthed overnight, as there was so much to see. But Russia can learn a thing or two about being visitor-friendly. Of all the countries we visited on this cruise, Russia is the only one which requires tourists to carry their passports to pass through Immigration. And all of Russia’s customs officers carry a stern face 😦 ! For all EU countries, once you entered the first country with your passport, you can travel to any other EU country without going through Immigration again. Only a photocopy will suffice, in case you’re asked. Some church welcome committees/ushers are like Russia. What about yours?

St. Isaac’s Cathedral, largest Orthodox cathedral in the world.

Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great) on Thunder Stone, largest stone moved by man. Much of the stone is underground, like an iceberg. You can’t judge just by looking at the surface.

Canal cruise

Peterhof Palace, or the Russian Versailles. Too bad no photos or videos allowed inside.

Peterhof’s Grand Cascade

While our tour guide warned us about pick-pockets everywhere, at the Spilled Blood Church she advised that we leave our passports and wallets locked in the tour bus, guarded by the driver, taking only our camera with us. Still, one tourist in another group had his expensive lens stolen from under his nose, leaving only a gaping hole in his camera body! The thieves are dressed like tourists to avoid notice, wearing cameras; some even carry a child so you will let down your guard. Appearances are deceptive!

Spilled Blood Church built on site where Czar Alexander II was assassinated. Sadly with many tourists are many pick-pockets, making the church a den of thieves.

(To be continued)

Tallinn, Estonia

Our next stop was Tallinn, Estonia, the smallest of the Baltic states (the others being Latvia and Lithuania). Though small, with a population of only 1.3 million (about the same as Ottawa-Gatineau), it is technically very advanced e.g. online voting had been in place since 2005. Of all the ports in this cruise, Tallinn is the only city with free Wi-Fi everywhere. It is also where Skype was invented. Just as David slewed Goliath, you don’t have to be big to win.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Dome Church

Old Town walking tour

Cobbled stone street from hill-top to town.

Shopping for souvenirs near Town Hall Square. Prices are high in Europe, but cheaper in Tallinn.

Berlin, Germany

German flag

After the 3 Scandinavia countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), we went to Rostock, Germany, where we took a 3-hour bus ride to Berlin. Previously I thought Berlin was part in W. Germany and part in E. Germany, but actually W. Berlin was completely enclosed within E. Berlin. Before the Berlin wall was torn down, even though W. Berlin folks were “free”, they had to pass through the checkpoints to E. Berlin to go elsewhere in the “free world”. It was a little like Christian life on earth. While we have freedom in Christ, we still live in this fallen world and are subject to all its decay and corruption. We are delivered from the penalty and power of sin, but not yet from the presence of sin, just as W. Berliners were liberated but still had to live with the presence of Soviet forces. We look forward to Christ’s return, when the children of God will be saved from even the presence of sin. That will be the breakdown of not just the iron curtain, but the “sin” curtain. Hallelujah!

Part of what remained of the Berlin Wall.

Checkpoint Charlie in background, under US flag. Charlie stands for C i.e. Checkpoint #3.

KaDeWe, the largest department store in Europe with 60,000 sq. m. floor space.

Holocaust Memorial

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s triumphal arch.