Category Archives: Historic Landmark

Inside Ely Cathedral

As previously mentioned, this continues our travel journal for Wednesday March 11 when we took a short train ride from Cambridge to Ely to visit the cathedral. These photos are numerous and are from the inside of Ely Cathedral.

The entrance was through those amazing doors!

Ely Cathedral has origins dating back to AD 673 when St Etheldreda built an Abbey Church. The present building dates back to 1083, and was granted Cathedral status in 1109.

 

Installed as part of the Victorian restoration, the incredible Nave Ceiling was the work of two artists.

Henry Styleman Le Strange painted the first six panels (counting from the west), and Thomas Gambier Parry painted the last six – you can observe a change of style between the sixth and seventh panels.

The ceiling tells the story of the ancestry of Jesus, beginning with Adam (panel 1) and continuing through Abraham (panel 4), David (panel 8) and Mary (panels 9 and 10).

It is almost impossible not to look up when you visit a cathedral. I liked this ceiling section with all the angels looking down. Reminded me of 1 Peter 1:12

“It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

Looking into the Quire.

These ornate organ pipes were fascinating to me.

The jewel of Ely’s Crown and acknowledged as one of the wonders of the Medieval world is the Octagan.

You can read more about the Octagon here.

That is not a missing panel but a door opening.

Our guide gave us important details about this doorway and I found more information here. They call this the Prior’s door (c.1135). A Romanesque carved doorway.

The Christ figure is contained within a mandorla – an almond shape traditionally used to frame images of the transcendent. Here Christ’s feet cross the boundary of the mandorla, stepping towards mankind.

 Two human heads with pronounced eyes just below the tympanum watch those passing through the door into the church and symbolically entering heaven.

From the link; Like the rest of the building, the deeply carved doorway is sculpted in extremely hard Barnack limestone. It has a tympanum – a half-moon shape at the top – which would originally have been brightly painted. It shows an unusual clean-shaven Christ sitting in judgement on the peoples of the earth. One hand is raised in blessing, the other holds the Book of Judgement from Revelation.

Processional Way (below) was built to join the Cathedral and the Lady Chapel.

We were now entering the Lady Chapel, the largest Lady Chapel attached to any British Cathedral. I copied the following from Ely Cathedral’s Website.

The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries saw the rise of the cult of the Virgin Mary, and chapels in her honour were added to many churches and cathedrals, including Ely.

All this was destroyed in the sixteenth century during the Reformation, which, in keeping with Puritan convictions, rejected all forms of religious decoration. The scars of this deformation are highly visible today. Traces of coloured paint can still be seen, and fragments of the glass survive in the central window on the south side. The exquisite figures in the lower niches have been defaced and above are the empty pedestals where the statues stood.

Walking back into the main sections of the Cathedral.

This narrow spiraling stone staircase leads to the organ. Hopefully the organist was slim.

 

The Quire

So much history and so much to see and take in. I’ve shared enough or maybe too much here today and it would take a few more visits to absorb more.

This was a very long photo journal of the interior of Ely Cathedral. I will save the stained glass museum housed in an upper section of the cathedral for another day.

Battle Hymn of the Republic ~ Hymn

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

Words: Ju­lia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born dur­ing the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, when Howe vis­it­ed a Un­ion Ar­my camp on the Po­to­mac Riv­er near Wash­ing­ton, D. C. She heard the sol­diers sing­ing the song “John Brown’s Body,” and was tak­en with the strong march­ing beat. She wrote the words the next day:

I awoke in the grey of the morn­ing, and as I lay wait­ing for dawn, the long lines of the de­sired po­em be­gan to en­twine them­selves in my mind, and I said to my­self, “I must get up and write these vers­es, lest I fall asleep and for­get them!” So I sprang out of bed and in the dim­ness found an old stump of a pen, which I re­mem­bered us­ing the day be­fore. I scrawled the vers­es al­most with­out look­ing at the p­aper.

The hymn ap­peared in the At­lant­ic Month­ly in 1862. It was sung at the fun­er­als of Brit­ish states­man Win­ston Church­ill, Amer­i­can sen­at­or Ro­bert Ken­ne­dy, and Am­er­i­can pre­si­dents Ron­ald Rea­gan and Ri­chard Nix­on.

The Battle Hymn of the Republic is also known by the title, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory.

Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center

Our trip to the Oregon Coast was a spontaneous last minute decision. I knew about CBCC and it’s location. At the beginning of June I decided to check out their summer conference schedule (better late than never). There were two 5 night conferences with speakers that stood out to us but they were both full when we enquired and we got put on waiting lists. One of those conferences was from June 22nd until June 27th. A week before the conference was to start we got a call that there was an opening. We decided to go for it. Yikes. This part of the Oregon Coast is about a 9 hour drive from our home. We made another last minute call and asked our kids on the ‘Coast’ if we could spend a couple nights with them to cut our trip in half. They said yes!

It was nice to spend a couple days with our ‘Coast’ kids.

On Monday morning the 22nd of June we left Bothell for our 4 hour drive to Cannon Beach. We stopped on the way in Astoria for lunch and that post is here.

CBCC was founded in 1945. Some of the history can be found here.

John Goodman photo of original grounds i

More Than
75 Years in Ministry

Founded in 1945, Cannon Beach Conference Center has grown from humble beginnings to its place as one of the premier Christian retreat and conference centers on the West Coast.

The building above is the large dining room.

Across from the dining room was another lodge with the main conference check in lobby, a book nook, a store and a nice fireside area.

The above view is on campus lodging along with other buildings. I didn’t get photos of the gym and the chapel where all of our worship sessions were held.

This was our approach to the main campus from our lodgings each day for breakfast, our morning session, dinner, and our evening session. Our lodgings were about a half a block to the main campus.

The Pacific view lodge on the right is one of several lodges that house conference attendees.

We chose the older, more humble Beach Front Lodge that is located right on the beach.

Humble room and shower room with million dollar views and sounds.

The rooms do not have TV’s (on purpose), no coffee maker (coffee is provided at the conference center from 6:30am) no toiletries like shampoo and conditioner. They do have bar soap, towels, linens, tp, tissue, hair dryer, paper towels, microwave, refrigerator and internet. We brought our travel coffee pot, beans, grinder, and coffee cups which was a great decision for us since we like to have our cuppa when we wake up.

Looking back at the lodge from the sand.

Pelicans gathered during the day entertaining us.

What we learned as first timers is that these conferences are popular with large and small family groups who come year after year and have a kind of family reunion enjoying food and activities provided for all age groups.

We met some dear folk who we had many good conversations with. One couple who were missionaries in Japan for 27 years were especially good to get to know.

The worship/teaching time in the morning and evening was encouraging.  Here are some notes I wrote down during the talks, The Invisible Hand of God was the overall theme from the book of Esther.

“Our unseen God is providentially working in our lives even when it feels like He is conspicuously absent or silent.”

“The unmistakable hand of God orders events to accomplish His will.”

“Don’t discount the possibilities of your ordinary days.”

A quote shared from the speaker’s father-in-law;

“Sin will…

take you further than you ever intended to stray
keep you longer than you ever intended to stay
cost you more than you ever intended to pay.”

We had free time everyday from about 11am until dinner at 5:30. We had lunch at different restaurants in town. We stopped and shopped along S. Hemlock street, the main drag which was always hopping with tourists. I didn’t get any photos of the street filled with tourists. We walked the shore and I’ll share those photos in another post.

We kept in touch with World Cup Soccer in the different eateries we chose in town.

It was delightful to fall asleep serenaded by the wind and the waves.

For those of you who might visit Cannon Beach someday these are places we ate and enjoyed the food and service, Driftwood, Bill’s Tavern and Brewhouse, Pelican Brewing, Screw and Brew (a hardware store and brewery), Public Coast Brewery.

We ate a lot of fish!

A shout out to Public Coast manager who kept the TV/bar area open after closing for us soccer fans to watch the USA v Turkey game on Thursday night! Thank you!

We also purchased candy and Salt Water Taffy from Bruce’s Candy Kitchen, making sweet memories since 1963.

Photos from our beach walks are coming soon.

Astoria to Cannon Beach

We’ve been away from our Country Bungalow since June 20th. Our first stop was at our Son and DIL’s home for two nights. Then early on Monday morning we drove from Bothell to Cannon Beach, Oregon but our first stop on that journey was in Astoria, Oregon.

We were only stopping here for a meal before we continued on to Cannon Beach.

Perched at the mouth of the mighty Columbia River, Astoria is Oregon’s oldest city and the first permanent U.S. settlement west of the Rockies.

With Victorian-era homes etched into hills overlooking the Columbia River, this picturesque settlement is a port city with Scandinavian flavor. Surrounded by forests, boasting three rivers and situated a stone’s throw away from the Pacific, Astoria is a fishing village-meets-Victoriana, chockablock with forts, museums and great local brews.

If you squint, you can see the bridge in the distance that connects this part of Oregon to Washington State.

We had decided ahead of time to eat at Fort George Brew Pub and we were not disappointed.

The seafood chowder was so good and the Albacore Fish and Chips were excellent. The Albacore was a first for us and we really enjoyed it.

The house made tartar sauce was excellent, too.

Driving out of town we stopped to get a closer shot of this bridge.

Astoria Bridge, truss bridge spanning the mouth of the Columbia River between the states of Oregon and Washington, western United States. It was designed by William A. Bugee and at its completion in 1966, it was the longest continuous-truss bridge in the world.

It is 4.1 miles long.

Before we made it into the little seaside town of Cannon Beach we made a stop at Ecola State Park to get these views of Cannon Beach.

We managed to arrive at a good weather window. We paid $12 to park which was the ‘out of state’ parking fee.

Sea air does a number on my hair so I’ll be in search of a good hat to wear for any future beach trips.

The famous Haystack rock is one of many along the Oregon Coast.

 

Zooming in for our final shot of Haystack. In the next several days we would see the rock up close.

On the way back to our car we took another path to see a different view of the Pacific Ocean.

We drove the narrow winding State Park road down again to get to downtown Cannon Beach where we would be staying for the next 5 nights. More about our time in future posts.

It was a very nice time away but it is very good to be back home.

Cambridge to Ely

Continuing our travel journal from our trip from the Danube to Cambridge in March of 2026.

On Wednesday morning March 11th we walked to Bill’s Cambridge restaurant for breakfast before our train ride to Ely.

I know those are poached eggs but I honestly can’t remember what I ordered that came in that skillet…maybe potatoes of some kind. Oye.

After breakfast we called a taxi to take us to the train station for a short trip to Ely. Once we arrived we walked over to another taxi to take us to the cathedral. When the taxi driver asked me where we wanted to go, I said, “Ely”. He said, “Well you are already in Ely so where else would you like to go?” Ha! We talked about soccer and his favorite team that wasn’t doing too well, Spurs.

  • Ely is the second smallest city in England. The small town grew up around the monastery and Cathedral which dominated the Isle of Ely for centuries.

I’m sharing the outside of the cathedral first and the inside will be another post.

The history of Ely can be read here.

 

Why were we interested in seeing Ely Cathedral? We first heard of Ely through the author Elizabeth Goudge.

Elizabeth Goudge was a celebrated 20th-century English author who spent her formative years living at Ely Cathedral, where her father served as a canon. This historic Cambridgeshire setting deeply influenced her writing, inspiring her iconic 1960 novel, The Dean’s Watch as well as A City of Bells.

We both read The Dean’s Watch and it was one of my favorites of Goudge’s books.

flight-souvenirs2

We bought this copy of The Dean’s Watch in a used bookstore in Chipping Campden in September of 2013.

A quote from The Dean’s Watch by Miss Montague,

“How much more friendly it is when you cannot see, thought Miss Montague, and how much closer we are to Him. Why should we always want a light? He chose darkness for us, darkness of the womb and of the stable, darkness in the garden, darkness on the cross and in the grave. Why do I demand certainty? That is not faith. Why do I want to understand? How can I understand this great web of sin and ugliness and love and suffering and joy and life and death when I don’t understand the little tangle of good and evil that is myself? I’ve enough to understand. I understand that He gave me light that I might turn to Him, for without light I could not have seen to turn. I have seen creation in His light. He shared His light with me that I, turned, might share with Him the darkness of His redemption. Why did I despair? What do I want? If it is Him I want He is here, not only love in light illuming all that He has made but love in darkness dying for it…And she said, I will learn to pray.”

My next post will be of the inside of this magnificent cathedral.

Cambridge – King’s Chapel

Our travel journal from our visit to Cambridge in March 2026 continues.

This is still from our Tuesday March 10th in Cambridge. Warning: There are a lot of photos in this post!

Our guide got us into the grounds of King’s College and then said her goodbyes while we enjoyed the Chapel.

The college quad. The chapel is on the right.

The fountain (1874-1879), with a statue of the College’s saintly Founder, stands in the centre of the Front Court.

King’s College Chapel is the oldest surviving building within the College site and perhaps the most iconic building in Cambridge. Work on this Chapel only started five years after King’s College was founded by Henry VI in 1441.

King’s College Chapel is the chapel of King’s College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world’s largest fan vault.

It took 5 kings to finish this structure. 

26 windows chronicling scenes from the Old and the New Testament.

Adoration of the Magi

The three wise men have brought Jesus their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. At the front in red is the oldest man, holding a container of frankincense; frankincense was burned in sacrifices to God by the Israelites in the Bible, so it came to be a symbol of Jesus being God. The man behind him is holding a jar of the perfume “myrrh”; this was used in embalming corpses, so it became a symbol of Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for mankind. The third man, often called the “Black Magus”, has brought Jesus gold, a symbol of the fact that Jesus is a king.

It was painted by the artist, Peter Paul Rubens, who born in 1577, in what is now Germany. He was one of the most well-known and successful artists of his time. He didn’t usually paint pictures in order to later sell them in a shop or a gallery: most of his paintings were commissioned by groups who wanted his pictures in their churches. This one was originally painted for a convent of nuns in Antwerp, Belgium. It only came to Cambridge in the 1960s.

King’s College Chapel escaped unscathed during wars including the Second World War, when the glass of most of the windows was removed for safety. The opportunity was taken to clean, repair and photograph it. Only the West Window remained in place, appreciated at last in the absence of unfair competition.

Carved Tudor Roses are seen and they, too, have an extensive history.

The Tudor Rose, was created in 1486 by King Henry VII. It symbolizes the unification of the House of Lancaster (red rose) and the House of York (white rose), bringing an end to the brutal civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses.

 

Built as a house of God it draws your eyes up.

We left the chapel and enjoyed some scenes from the grounds of the college.

It was time for some refreshment after all the walking and viewing. We decided to try The Mitre for our main meal of the day.

We bought a famous Chelsea Bun from Fitzwilliams and enjoyed that later in the evening at our lodgings. We were content to stay in for the evening.

This ended our Tuesday March 10th in Cambridge. We had plans for Wednesday that took us on a train ride out of Cambridge.

Cambridge – Tuesday March 10th

Our travel journal of our time in Cambridge continues here from March 2026.

It was nice to enjoy our French press coffee on this morning before we headed out for breakfast at The Copper Kettle on King’s Parade in Cambridge.

It was a lovely morning and I took some photos along the way to breakfast.

We would sign up for a tour of Trinity College later in the week.

Looking out the window of the Copper Kettle.

I’ve never met a scone I didn’t like.

Greg went for the full English.

The Views from breakfast were lovely. This is the college and especially the chapel that would be part of our tour on this day.

This cafe was used in some of the filming for Grantchester. (Possibly as a tea-room?)

After breakfast we met up with our alumni tour guide and group for a 2 hour tour that would include King’s Chapel.

St Bene’t’s church on Bene’t’s street was one of our stops.

St Bene’t’s has been a place of Christian prayer and worship for nearly a thousand years. The exact date is in dispute; estimates vary between the tenth century and the reign of Edward the Confessor, but there are good grounds for placing it in the reign of King Canute about the year 1020. More history at this link.

St. Catharine’s College.

We continued on Silver Street to Queen’s college where the famous Mathematical Bridge spans the River Cam. I was chuckling here as I remembered the new quirky Ludwig murder series filmed in Cambridge. One of the episodes featured the bridge, the building on the left which is part of Queen’s college and a chapel. Have you watched the series. I highly recommend it.

The bridge was designed in 1748 by William Etheridge (1709–76), and was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger (1722–84). It has subsequently been repaired in 1866 and rebuilt to the same design in 1905. More info here.

We continued on Silver Street to Queen Street on ‘the backs’ with some nice views of King’s College Chapel.

This is Trinity College Bridge.

St. John’s with the clock tower without an actual clock.

This bridge might be the Kitchen Bridge.

Working our way back to the King’s Parade to King’s College where our tour began and would end except for those of us who paid extra to go into King’s College to be able to visit King’s College Chapel.

The Chapel deserves a post of it’s own and that will come on another day.

Cambridge~ Monday March 9th

I’m working on finishing off my posts about our days in Cambridge. These posts are from Monday March 9th.

I’ve already posted about our early morning walk and seeing the famous clock here.

And I also posted about our lunch at The Eagle and all about it’s history here.

On this same day we visited the beautiful Wren Library.

From the Wren Library we continued on enjoying ‘the backs’. ‘The Backs’ is an area to the east of Queen’s Road in the city of Cambridge, England, where several colleges of the University of Cambridge back on to the River Cam with their grounds covering both banks of the river.

St. John’s College

1776 & 1779 William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson begin their studies at St John’s. Joining forces in 1787, they will spend the rest of their lives leading the campaign to abolish the slave trade and slavery

1787 William Wordsworth arrives as a 17-year-old Cumbrian undergraduate.  With his sympathy for the common man and love of nature, he becomes a central figure in shaping English Romanticism and perhaps our most famed alumnus

This is a photo of the back of the building where the Wren Library is housed.

Punting along the river Cam which is a major tourist draw. We did not choose to take a ride.

Signs like this were all along the sidewalk along Queen’s Road.

We made our way along the road for our destination for refreshment and along the way we saw many signs of the promise of Spring.

We were beat by the time we found the Pickerel Inn which is now a traditional public house established in 1608.

After our treat we walked back to our lodgings just a short .3 miles from the Pickerel.

The dish towels in our kitchenette had this saying on them.

The door signs made us chuckle, too.

We stayed in for this evening after it seemed we were walking all the day long.

We were looking forward to being able to make our own coffee in our room on Tuesday morning since we purchased a French Press and coffee while out and about this day.

Last Day on the Danube

We had our night time shots of the Parliament Building in Budapest and now sailing in during the day time hours we took more photos.

After traveling all night from Vienna we sailed into Budapest on the morning of March 7th, a Saturday.

The Liberty Statue that overlooks Budapest. It is hard to miss.

  • The Monument: The bronze female figure holds a large palm leaf of peace overhead. The statue itself is 14 meters (46 feet) tall, standing on a 26-meter (85-foot) pedestal.
  • History: It was erected in 1947 to commemorate the Soviet Red Army’s liberation of Hungary from Nazi occupation during World War II.
  • Rededication: Following the fall of communism, the Soviet inscriptions and statues around the base were removed. The monument was rededicated to all those who sacrificed their lives for the independence and freedom of Hungary.

On this day we were signed up for an excursion to the Fisherman’s Bastion and Castle but my right foot swelled up and was painful so we opted to stay on the boat with my feet elevated. We thought that I might have a stress fracture. With ice and elevation the swelling went down.

On this evening we enjoyed Hungarian Folklore performances on board.

Our shuttle to the airport in Budapest for our flight to London left the boat at 8am Sunday March 8th. A shout out to the Amawaterways added service to the airport. Our luggage was handled for us. The agent who went with us on the bus guided us to the correct check-in desk and then showed us the way to go for security. We were thankful for this service. These extras in service really mean a lot when you are traveling in foreign countries.

Our flight to Heathrow airport was smooth and easy. My next travel posts will be about our days in Cambridge, England.

Vienna Part 5- Schönbrunn Palace

After breakfast aboard the AmaMagna on Friday March 6th we had a morning excursion to Schönbrunn Palace.

The palace is an exquisite example of Baroque architecture and opulence, illustrating the tastes, interests and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs. Built as a summer residence of the Habsburg Emperors and spanning an astounding 1441 rooms, this Rococo palace soon became one of their favorite homes. 

We entered the Grand or Great Gallery.

The most significant official event to have taken place in the Great Gallery in the international context was the legendary encounter between US President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev in 1961.

The Great Gallery is the palace’s ceremonial hall and is not merely the architectural centrepiece of the palace: its decorative programme glorifies Habsburg rule under Maria Theresa.

One of the frescoes fell victim to a bomb dropped in April 1945, in the final days of the Second World War. It was replaced with a copy painted by Paul Reckendorfer and Carl Krall in 1947/48.

The chandeliers seen in the Great Gallery today are electrified versions of those that originally held candles, maintaining the historic aesthetic with modern technology. The link to the Great Gallery above has descriptions of the ceiling frescoes.

There I am alongside the man with the red hat. 🙂

As soon as the tour of the palace was over we made our way to another building that housed a restaurant that served the Palace’s famous Apple Strudel still baked in the Palace ovens in the basement. We had limited time before we had to be back at the bus.

We had another ‘great minds think alike’ moment with the girls from Oklahoma and Colorado. We took each others photos.

Our first apple strudel in Austria.

It was as good as it looks!!

We had an option to be dropped off in town instead of going all the way back to the boat and that is what we chose to do. There would be shuttle buses available downtown every half-hour to go back to the boat from 2:00 until the last shuttle at 4:00.

We wanted to find a authentic lunch spot and see some things on our own for the rest of the afternoon. That will be my final post for Vienna, Austria.