London three....Cathedrals and Bridges

I'm almost sure I've seen this building in the movie The Crow.

The London Bridge from afar.

The Royal Courts of Justice
I couldn't get the statue of Justice, but her eyes are not covered. According to England, Justice is not blind, she sees everything.

Another clock....

The city limits of London are marked by two dragons at every street.

Ye Olde London pub


The Punch Tavern
I have stored this upright 13 times. It wishes to be displayed on its side.

The Old Bell pub

The tiered building. The history behind this building is that a baker's daughter loved this building so much that he made her wedding cake to resemble it. Thus, wedding cakes from there on out are tiered.

St. Paul's Cathedral
Oh one of my favorite. I hopped off the bus here because my hubby wanted to see this. However, due to his meeting, I had to take the pictures for him. I'm so glad I did!

I walked in and was instantly amazed by the beauty of this church.

The intricate detail all around the ceiling is to be appreciated.

I stood in awe. There is a reverent atmosphere in the Cathedral. I just am amazed at the detail and design.

How ever did the artist keep everything so perfect?

A prayer room.
I was a bit embarrassed after taking this picture because when I swung around to take a picture of the wall to the other side of the room, there were priests in there praying with a woman.
ooops!

The identity of this person is unknown. Nothing was posted but it was behind an iron gate. Fortunately my lens fit right between those. Unfortunately was that while I was taking all these pictures, I was unaware there was a sign posted: 'Please respect the patrons by not taking pictures' ooops! Guess that goes back to the asking forgiveness instead of permission. I quietly left the Cathedral.....

Outside of the St. Paul's Cathedral stands a statue of Queen Anne.
The story goes.....Queen Anne had 17 children, all of whom died before they reached maturity. Queen Anne furniture has bowed legs because she had so many children.

And at the top of the Cathedral....another clock.

Right outside of the Cathedral and to the right is the business center. Through those arches I went straight to Starbucks and ate my lunch on the steps of the Cathdral.....because I could.

I also found here why the 'bobby's' have different size hats. See, it used to be that to be a police officer you had to 6'2'. However, after asking two police officers, I find that those that police the business district, those that police inner London, and those that police outside of London all have different size hats. The Chief however, had a hat that looked to be about 10 gallons.

This tour guide, named David, did the best of all. He was full of personality, told great stories, history and even had us singing while crossing the London Bridge. Here's to you, David! Go have a pint on me!

Building insignia.

And could it be......

Another clock

This is referred to as the Egg Building
a bit modern for most of London

The Tower Bridge from afar

The London Dungeon
I hear there are many of these around London. Apparently, according to my boss, way down in the bottom of these places, they would make people lay under grates and let the raw sewage run over them for punishment. Ewwwwww......!

Poultry Street
This is where you used to go to buy your fowl. It's now full of banks.

This is in honor of the past of Poultry Street. Hear tell, they used to eat goose for Thanksgiving, thanks to the Americans, they now eat turkey. To which I then wish those on the bus a huge American, "YOU'RE WELCOME!"

This 'falling' building is actually City Hall.

Posidon

The Tower Bridge afar. This was taken while on the London Bridge.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Tower Bridge
I actually got to go over it. There is a game of mine to where the character walks across the Tower Bridge. How beautiful is this?

It wasn't easy to get this picture while the bus was driving and I was standing. How could I dare miss the opportunity?

How intricate the detail...it was truly majestic.

Forgive the reflection of the bus window, it could not be avoided. This is the Tower of London. This is a prison in London. Looks a bit like a castle.

The Tower of London has reached a land mark this year. They have hired the first ever female warden, which means they live there. (spooky...) So the first day her son shows up in school, the teacher made him tell the class where he lives. Wanna stay the night?

Yay! I'm actually here!

This bridge was built by women. When all the men were at war and the women realized that that a bridge needed to be built, they built it. It is considered the most reliable and strongest bridge in all of London. Was there any doubt?

And of course we end this segment with.....
an even bigger clock.

London two!!! I Have Arrived!!

London, England
I have arrived!

So after breakfast, he goes to his meeting and I'm free to run around London as I please. Whoopee! Cross the street down to the bus station I go, camera in hand. Take one of the free buses to the airport and down to the picadilly line. You have to hear me to this because it's so funny. Every time the tube stops, this woman's voice comes across the line, very clearly stating: "Please mind the gap between the train and the station. This is...a picadilly line to ... cockfosters."

Off the tube and up to Green Park I went to catch the tour buses. Let me just say that there is so much still that I want to see that I have to go back again. It's impossible to see everything in just one day...it'd take at least a week.

There were many interesting things. Of the 600 pictures that I took, obviously they can't all be posted on the blog. This one I thought was very neat.

These houses were very interesting indeed. The cinder pots at the very top are said to be rare but I saw them all over the place. It was typical for all houses to have a fireplace in each bedroom if not in each room. This caused horrendous smog. Because of the pollution, they then switched to smokeless coal before capping the chimney's off for good.

Spire Church


This is the side of the Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum.

This was shot through a narrow opening in the bus top. This is a picture of the Peter Pan Park.

Beautiful aren't they.

Another tavern. This one was rumored to have been visited by Charles Dickenson.

Paddington Station

There is supposed to be a big Paddington Bear statue nearby as well.

This building has a very gothic look to it.

All Souls Church

and this would be the schedule of the All Soul's Church

Kensington Palace

Japanese Embassy. The line was down the block!

This isn't just the street name, it's also a bus station.

Awwwmmmm....I'm telling......

I thought this was pretty...and it had New York on it

Hamleys.....the biggest toy store in England.

Sometimes you wanna go where every body knows your name....

This is considered a famous symbol. Eros. This is supposed to be three angels.

We're driving by and find this in the middle of a wall. This is the on/off switches for the electric in the houses. Wonder if this changes the light....

The architecture all around London was just beautiful.
I have now seen the Prince of Wales

This bar decided to have a bit different sign than the others. Note the clock. My daughter and I went through the pictures counting all the clocks. You'd be surprised just from the pictures how many clocks there are.

No kidding, another pub. This made me think of the Electric Lady in a little town I used to live in.




http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/default.htm

Trafalgar Square
Since you can get off and on the bus as you please, and since one of my clients from work suggested strongly that it had to be seen, I got off at Trafalgar Square to see the National Gallery.


Another side of Trafalgar Square

The boat atop of the domed building in Trafalgar Square

I stood <~~~~~~~~~~this~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> far away from Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Di Vinci.. I saw the Madame de Pompedour, Rembrandt's self portrait, the impressionist paintings I learned about in college and longed to see. I just couldn't believe it. I was there. Right there and they were inches in front of me.

This was the arches over the different rooms. I'd have taken another hundred pictures if I could.
Moved, I asked the guard (remembering the instance in New Yorks gallery), if I could take pictures if I kept the flash off. Absolutely not! hmmm....perhaps I should have asked for forgiveness rather than permission. ;)

The whole floor was this parquet tile.

I had to take this one. There were more pictures of nudes in this gallery than anywhere. It's obvious they were intrigued by the human body.

Oh look, another clock!
You have to admit, it looks like a castle top.

Around the corner......

BIG BEN!!!!
See, I really was there...

PARLIAMENT!!!
I was so moved when I got to the gate that I shook. I even cried. Forever I have wanted to be here. Finally....I had made it. I was actually here.

The face of Big Ben. The hour hand is 9 feet in length and the minute hand is 13 feet.
Parliament was built first with Big Ben being added later.

The back of Big Ben. Still very majestic.

The Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children

Apparently that aren't so fond of the war. It was warned that this is a very touchy subject.

The ever famous Eye of London. It takes a full half hour to complete a circle on this.

Continue now to page 3 of my England experience....