One of my favorite things about London, out of all the many things I love is the combination of old, and new. No place is better to find that in a simple neighborhood park, where the new benches are combined with the old gravestones. A feeling of sweet spookiness and chilling nostalgia thrills your winter bones, inviting you to ponder the poetry in what's close by.
Wordless Wednesdays- Taken from my Archives. November 2009
I believe in the 20th century there has never been a more important politician than Winston Churchill. He helped get England out of a mess durig WW 2, and was a strategic politican. During WW 2, he instilled in the British people a sense of opitmism and hope.He helped the countries anima during difficult times.
He's definitely one of my favorite people in History, but to be honest, there was a time I didn't know much about Winston Churchill. I learned more about him more when one of the tourists I guided when I work as a tour guide was a big World War 2 fanatic. I was giving him a tour of London, but I felt he was giving me the tour, because he knew so much about WW 2. He floored me with his in depth knowledge and passion about anything that has to do with World War 2. That said, we stopped at the Cabinet War Museums one afternoon and had a pot of tea at the canteen discuss what we saw.
The Cabinert War Museum is located at the very famous address 20 Downing Street, where Churchill conducted the war. It was fascinating to see so many artefacts, and the actual room where he slept, ate and made his calls to President Roosevelt.
Cabinet War Museum
The British government, fearful of aerial warfare, built a subterranean safe house for Churchill and his Cabinet to use during World War II. The Cabinet War Rooms, as they came to be known, were constructed in the basement of the Treasury building in Whitehall, near to Parliament and Number 10 Downing Street. 10 feet underground, the War Rooms were reinforced with a layer of concrete one to three metres thick. The underground lair consisted of the Cabinet Room, where Churchill’s Cabinet met; the Map Room, from where the war effort was directed; and The Churchill Suite, which consisted of nine rooms for the personal use of Churchill and his wife ‘Clemmie’. The complex, which can be visited today, covers 3 acres and incorporates a canteen, a hospital, a shooting range and the Prime Minister’s Lavatory, from which Churchill could secretly contact President Roosevelt at the White House.
It is said that it was inside the Map Room that Churchill devised most of his strategies.
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Our Finest Hour
On June 18, 1940 Churchill delivered a famous speech to the House of Commons in Parliament.He will always be remembered for speaking against fascism and standing for democracy. He was also very famous for his Quotes. In spite of his speech impediments he was a compelling and inspiratinoal orator, and to this day is still admired for his rhetorics. He held many important ranks and won the Nobel Prize for Literature.His famous speech " Never give in-Never, never, never, never in nothing great or small, large, or petty, except in convictions of honor and good sense, still to this day, inspires hope and passion in those young and old. I love Winston Churchill, and can't wait to read his books.
One thing I loved about Oxford, was that it reminded of me of Berkely, California (where I lived for 4 years before living in London ). Berkeley and Oxford, have much in common, both are College towns, and both are relatively village like. Like Oxford, Berkely has throngs of people riding bikes, mostly students, but everyone else seems behind the trend. Mostly, because of the environment. Berkely,is famous for University California at Berkely, which is one of the most reknowned and prestigious universities in America. But, who can compare the grand school like Oxford. I have a friend back home that studying for his Phd in Literature, at both Oxford and Berkely. (I have to admit I am a bit jealous of him, and now he's jealous of me because I lived in London, so our mutual jealous karmas are balanced now-Lol !)
Oxford has an old world charm, that indelibly gets etched in your pysche. I fell in love with Oxford, it's a place where great minds have studied, and you can't help, but feel the intellectual vibrations everywhere.I would love to live there someday, it seems like a cultural and intellectual paradise, where one could day dream, think deeply about the meaning of life, or different paradigms through out histories, soar with your thoughts, and just simply be inspired by the mere thought of living in a very, very old town, that is home to one of the oldest schools on the planet, and has educated some of the finest and greatest minds through out history. Oh, the mere thought, just gives me goosebumps, and makes me long for old world Oxford !
Photo taken from my arhcives. January 2009- Bayswater Road. My neighborhood pub, The Prince Alfred.
Poem written by me, Sabrina Rongstad-Bravo on October 5, 2010.
