I'm still working through all the images I made during my 3 week tour of home but I'm getting there now. Rather than put them all on one page I've made separate posts and put plenty of pictures in each. With Paula still hospitalised another collection of galleries might help her escape to a few places outside those 4 walls. The galleries can be accessed anytime via the UK page on this site or by clicking the individual images below.
London by night is a riot of colour around Westminster and tower bridges, Camden Market is a claustrophobic collection of everything imaginable, Southwark Cathedral brings 1000 years of history, Borough Market is a foodies delight, Springtime at St Pauls brings colourful flowers to the foreground of traditional shots and the Royal Observatory takes us to glorious Greenwich with the Cutty Sark, Prim Meridian and one of the best views in London.
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After a great trip home I've spent a couple of days working through all the images I made during my 3 week tour. Rather than try and get them all on one page I've decided to make separate posts and put plenty of pictures in each.
I'm posting the first 6 pages today because it's Paulas birthday and she is poorly in hospital (what a rubbish way to spend your birthday) so hopefully these images will give her some bite sized galleries to work through and help her escape for a while. Happy Birthday Paula, I'll get more posted soon so get some rest....theres a lot of pictures to come ;) You can reach the galleries by clicking each image below or from the UK page on this site. Cecil had just half a day remaining of his trip to London before heading out to Heathrow this afternoon. Rather than lose that time we went out via tube to Queensway station on the northwest corner of Hyde Park and walked back through the park to the southeast corner via the Italian Gardens and the south side of long water. We then had a coffee and crossed the bridge at the Serpentine Gallery and continued on the north bank of The Serpentine. We exited at Hyde Park Corner and walked back to the hotel through Mayfair, Soho, Shaftesbury Avenue and via the British Museum to the hotel in Russell Square. It was a nice close out to the trip for Cecil and squeezed in a few more sights including a close encounter with the parakeets in the park thanks to a woman who feeds them regularly. It's been great showing Cecil around my home country and I'm happy to say that he's leaving with a good impression of our little island.
Today was the last full day in England for Cecil so we opted for a train ride to another english city. I had considered Birmingham but the weather looked better to the west, so we were up and about early for breakfast and down to Marylebone for the train to Oxford. We didn't really plan the day but enjoyed wandering the grounds at both Christ Church and Trinity colleges as well as the castle, prison and city streets. It was very cold in the wind but still beautifully sunny and we enjoyed the sights and sounds of this world famous university city.
The main image below is Hertford Bridge which joins two parts of Hertford College across New College Lane, often referred to as 'the bridge of sighs' because of its supposed similarity to it's namesake in Venice, it was never meant to be a replica and is in fact much more similar to the Rialto bridge which is also in Venice. Whatever the history and name it is a very striking structure to find in an english city. My title today comes from a famous quote by english novelist E. M. Forster: Oxford is Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another. There's little to add to such a statement other than to say the gallery has no captions today, just images of another one of england's jewels. Many of the tourists that flock to London never make the trip down river to Greenwich where the Royal Observatory and Greenwich Park offer full views over the city, the sedate 1 hour boat trip down the river from Westminster Bridge makes a nice easy route right to the heart of the area and really shouldn't be missed if you are in London for a few days. The main shot below (click for larger version) shows the wonderful view from the Royal Observatory which spans the horizon from 'The Shard' to the 'Millennium Dome'. In the centre of the frame is the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich which is an excellent museum for those interested in all things nautical. Cecil and I began the day with a tube ride to Hyde Park Corner, we then walked through Wellington Arch and Green Park to Buckingham Palace then on through St James Park to Westminster Bridge where we caught the boat to Greenwich. We had a great time and dodged the showers that chased us all day long. We got back to Westminster Bridge around 5pm so walked across the bridge and around the London Eye for a short time before enjoying a fish and chip supper and returning to the hotel. I'm glad we made the effort to go down there today as it shows a different side to London and does provide one of the very best wide views of the city.
Today saw Cecil and I heading to Camden market where we found a multitude of unique items, dozens of choices for food and drink and, later in the day, just about every human being on earth (that may be an exaggeration but you get the idea). Camden Market is one of those places that's full of people who are there to look at the market itself rather than actually buy anything (I include myself and Cecil in that statement) After the market we went down to Covent Garden where Cecil met members of 'The London Pearly Kings & Queens Society'. We then moved on to Piccadilly, Leicester Square, Chinatown and Soho before a final flurry in Carnaby Street and dinner close to our hotel in Bloomsbury. It was another great day and the weather continued to be kind to us though that may change tomorrow.
Tower Bridge is a magnificent sight at any time of day or night, so with Cecil keen to learn more about night photography (even after walking the white cliffs of dover in the morning) we set out by cab from our hotel an hour before sunset to shoot the bridge at night. On arrival there was a little left of the sunset so we shot that first before messing around with long exposures on and around the bridge. In the main shot below the blue light running along the bridge is an ambulance that passed through during the long exposure. The shots in the gallery are not captioned as they are pretty self explanatory, the long streaks of light are from traffic on the bridge, with the red lights high up in the shots being buses which we waited for until our hands were numb with cold. After a few hours of photography we walked a little way and flagged down a cab for the ride back to the hotel satisfied with our late night excursion.
Just a one hour train ride from St Pancras Station saw Cecil and I arriving at Dover bright and early yesterday to walk the cliff path from St Margarets Bay to Dover. We took a cab from Dover train station to St Margarets Bay just 5 miles east of the station. On arrival we explored the bay area a little and then had a cuppa and cake at 'The Pines' tea room before starting out along the well marked pathway. It was a really enjoyable hike in fantastic conditions and enabled Cecil to tick off another English jewel. We considered visiting the Castle but decided on a walk through the town and a welcome bite to eat and coffee. We returned to London on the express service to St Pancras, ready for our next adventure.
We had plans to explore the coast at Dover today but the weather worked against us so instead we walked the antique market on Portobello Road from north to south. We then crossed Notting Hill Gate into Holland Park to see the Kyoto japanese garden there and some of the formal gardens too. After this we walked up to Kensington High Street for lunch before taking the tube to Brixton. From the tube station we walked Electric Avenue and the street market there. We then walked through the formal market and up to St Matthew's Church and windrush square. We loaded up on jerk chicken before taking the tube back to Oxford Circus where we walked a circuit on both sides of the street. Finally we walked through Marylebone in a north east direction for a couple of miles back to the hotel, it was another pretty good day in the city.
With Cecil landing safely in London at 05:05am on wednesday we stuck to the city for the day and made some lovely shots over ground I've previously covered. At 8pm we decided to call it a day and head for York the next morning. I booked tickets for the 8:00am train from Kings Cross using the internet and we were up at 06:30 for breakfast before making the short walk to the station to collect them. The train was on time leaving us a fantastic 6 hours wandering the city walls and streets of York. Cecil found plenty to love in Englands medieval jewel with blossoms of all kinds scattered around the city adding to the beauty of the historic surroundings. We did the 'usual' tour with the city walls, museum gardens, river, minster, market square, the shambles, and cliffords tower all making an impression. We left York at 16:00 and enjoyed dinner in an indian restaurant close to our hotel before calling it a night.
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AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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