Having only one day to really see London, I got up early that day and stumbled off toward Gloucester Road. In the 8 hours subsequent to getting off the Tube at Westminster, I must have walked about 20 miles around London. Here's some of the things I saw:
- Big Ben and Parliament. London was actually sunny the two days I was there, but as you can see from this photo, the fog, clouds, and drizzle had returned in time for my sightseeing jaunt.
- Large spikes on the fence surrounding Parliament. The Brits are very serious about security. I saw bomb checks happening at both Parliament and the BBC offices.
- The Millennium Wheel was massive. And it looked like a big bicycle wheel.
- Some water draining into the Thames. I liked the color combination of the rusty water and the bright green moss growing on the wall.
- A sign at a restaurant said "Please respect neighbours & leave quietly". Perhaps should have been followed by "after your meal".
- Noticed this sign on the way past Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. That's a ligature, kids.
- The Tower Bridge looks like a toy. I think it's the baby blue color.
- The Tower of London is over 900 years old (well, parts of it are anyway). The tour was a little expensive, but seeing as we don't have many 900 year old prisons to tour here in America, I bought a ticket and went in. On the grounds outside, several ravens were about. The photos don't give a good sense of the scale of these birds...they're huge. I felt bad taking pictures in the solemnly quiet Tower Chapel, but the lighting was too pretty not to. I also caught some neat lighting on the stairs leading up to one of the towers.
- The script and format of this letter (written by a Tower prisoner perhaps?) were interesting.
- The Royal Armouries in the Tower housed several things of interest, including lots of guns, an actual chopping block and blade used to execute prisoners, and the armour of Henry VII. The axe pictured was rumored to have been used to execute Anne Boleyn, but she was actually beheaded using a sword.
- After the Tower, I stopped for lunch and drank a Coke from what looked like Russia. On the plane on the way home, I was served Coke in a can from China. Globalization is upon us.
- This kid really likes his sausages.
- A neat old street sign for Heathcock Court.
- Just before heading back to my hotel at the end of the day, I found this chalk drawing in a park. The vivid red and the futuristic garb of the subject drew my attention to it. A half hour later, it began to rain, most likely washing this masterpiece away.
