The photos below are what we saw.
Our room
was quite nice. We stayed at the Apex Temple Court Hotel
in the Temple area.
We slept
well and got up early the next day to see the sights.
Since it is London, the weather was overcast, cool and had a
chance of showers. But, we had no choice, so we dressed
appropriately and headed out.
Next to
the entrance to the Apex was this fiberglass statue. Odd
and a bit out of context, but interesting.
The
green elephant against the lit red background was interesting.
We
finally got rolling on the street heading west to get our London
Passes. There was only one pickup location so we had no
choice. Our hotel was the building just past the yellow
scaffolds. I had forgotten that the sidewalks were marked
with the direction to look when crossing the street. Every
year many tourists are killed because they look the wrong
direction and then step into the street only to be crushed under
the traffic.
The
iconic red telephone booth. This one is next to the Royal
Courts of Justice.
Each
neighborhood we passed had these cool cast iron lamp posts that
included the neighborhood name.
Besides
certain buildings like Big Ben, the double decker buses are
perhaps the icon of London. There were no shortage of
them: old, new, enclosed, open-topped. They traveled with
purpose and it is ill-advised to get in their way.
Living
in the cultural wasteland that is Southern California, I am in
awe of statues of historical figures. I failed to
note this fellow's name, but the artist did a good job.
These
statues are over the entrance area to Australia House (the name
for their embassy in London). In England, "House" means
"building". I failed to ask their term for a house.
We
continued west to Aldwych and came upon this specialty meat shop
next to the Savoy Hotel. The meat was excellent.
The shop
had a special fixture that held the pork leg so the chef could
slice the meat off the bone. Steve sampled the meat and
said it was great.
Back
home, I terminated my land line years ago. But, in London
there are plenty of lines still in place. A look into the
junction box lets you know how chaotic the infrastructure really
is.
The
location near the London Pass shop was the theater district.
Once we
got our passes we headed south toward Trafalgar Square.
There were plenty of mimes in the square each with some kind of
special gimmick. This fellow could levitate. While
his approach was not that sophisticated, it did play tricks on
your eyes.
There
were some interesting statues in the square. This one is
called "Gift Horse" and resides upon the so-called "Fourth
Plinth" in the square.
The
fountain was running and the statues complex and nicely done.
Trafalgar Square is named after the Battle of
Trafalgar in 1805. Atop the tallest monument in the square
is a statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson who won the battle.
The monument between 1840 and 1843 by William Railton.
Charing
Cross is south of Trafalgar Square and has plenty of traffic,
both foot and motorized.
We
continued south to the Thames River and crossed over on the
Golden Jubilee Bridges which ran next to older railway
bridges. The railway bridges were assembled using
classical rivet and plate technology.
From the
middle of the span we could see the Parliment Building and Big
Ben.
The
Golden Jubilee Bridge also gave us a clear view of the River
Thames and the London Eye.
The Eye
is a high-tech Ferris wheel with individual capsules that carry
the passengers. The capsules rotate so the floor stays level.
There
was plenty of boat traffic on the Thames including the rescue
boat that captures the occasional jumper into the river.
One of
the Golden Jubilee bridges is visible next to the railway
bridge.
Returning
north on the other bridge gave us a view of St. Paul's
cathedral.
Some of
the river tour boats were quite high tech.
We wanted
to get to the Tower of London and taking the tube was the most
effective way. The tube stations look just like subway
stations in New York.
City Hall building was visible on the south side
of the Thames across from the Tower.
To the
north we could see another icon building on the skyline.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2015, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.