Probably the most famous London landmark is the Palace of
Westminster, the Houses of Parliament. Although the majority is not that old,
the majority only being finished in 1870 to a design by Charles Barry, The
oldest part is Westminster Hall, which was built between 1097 and 1099 by
William Rufus. The most famous bit of that is the tower usually referred to as
Big Ben, whereas in reality Big Ben is the biggest bell in the tower (weighing
13.8 tonnes), named after the bulky Welshman Sir Benjamin Hall, who was First
Commissioner of Works from 1855 to 1858 and whose name was inscribed on the
bell.. The tower itself is over ninety-six metres high and simply called the
Clock Tower and is possibly one of the most photogenic structures I know,
especially when lit up at night.
Much of London looks lovely at night. Especially those things
along the embankment. A construction that was built to cover over the newly laid
underground sewer pipes, so narrowed the Thames but gave an excellent promenade.
Along the embankment one can find "Cleopatra's Needle" an ancient Egyptian
obelisk flanked by a pair of bronze sphinxes.
The London Eye was at the time of its construction, supposedly the world's largest Ferris wheel
and affords views across the capital. At night it is lit up to look pretty and
with different timed exposures, it can seem that it is travelling much more
rapidly than it is in actuality. In reality a full revolution takes
approximately half an hour.
When a friend and I went to Cirque de Soleil at the Royal Albert
Hall, I got this shot with my phone, hence the graininess. I then accosted some
of the cast, with whom I cajoled a photo, which is hopelessly out of focus
(phone-cam again), before getting a snide shot of the performance.
Westminster Abbey is just over the road from the Parliament
buildings. This is a big place, old too. There was an abbey on the site from
before the turn of the first millennium, that is a long time ago by anyone's
standards. It is the final resting place to numerous kings and queens as well as
writers such as Auden, Burns, Byron, Carroll, Chaucer, Coleridge, Handel, Keats,
Kipling, Longfellow, Milton, Shakespeare, Sheridan, T.S. Eliot, Tennyson,
Thackeray and Wordsworth. Quite a role of honour.
As I was en route to a Dan Flavin retrospective (lots of
fluorescent bulbs in uninspiring arrangements), we saw these boys playing around
in the fountain nearby.
St. Paul's cathedral is one of the world's most famous and
attractive. It is the only cathedral in the country named after a saint,
otherwise they are always named after their location. It is also absolutely huge
with views from above the cupola across London.
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