London in January: Day 4 part 2

Houses of Parliament

Taken from the park.

From this angle, the Houses of Parliament almost look like an American Ivy League university. Even the people waking around seem to be dressed rather like students.

The HOPs as a whole are not nearly as attractive as Westminster Abbey, but certain parts of the structure are very nice indeed. I like this section of it, which has wonderful long lines but isn't nearly as cluttered and fussy as the architecture at the other end of the complex (see pic below).

Houses of Parliament Again!

This part of the structure is rather ungainly and not nearly as elegant as the towers that we normally see in postcards or on TV.

Up close, it is at once breath-taking and puzzling. All that size and scale, and yet, could they not have made it just that little bit prettier?

View of Westminster Bridge and the London Eye from North Bank of the Thames

They are building one in Singapore, and there's one in Malaysia now, but this is the original Eye. Kind of like an extremely large ferris wheel.

I had forgotten that the London Eye is in fact really tall, as can be seen from the scale in the photograph. Of course, London is not a particularly sky-scraping city, and the areas around the Thames are generally quite low built. Still, look at how it dwarves the County Hall building behind it.

Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the Thames from the Southbank

I made my way across the Thames, fighting crowds, kids and vendors. Lots of people selling sausages on sticks, for some reason. I know sausages are the quintessential British breakfast food, but the "on a stick" concept seemed very non-British to me.

Westminster Abbey can actually be seen between Big Ben and the HOPs. Just a glimpse and very blink and miss, but it is there.

You think I have a HOPs fetish?

Taken from Jubilee Bridge

I liked the way the sun reflected off the surface of the Thames, but these were very difficult photos to snap with a lower end digital camera with few customisable options. I did my best with by adjusting the brightness levels. In the end, I was quite pleased with the way these turned out.

I had put away my camera and was over the half-way point of Jubilee Bridge, heading back to the North Bank. Then I saw that dark bit of cloud moving towards the sun. It was an opportunity to take a photograph without the sun shining straight into the camera lens! I whipped out my camera, and almost lost the camera casing in the process. The wind was picking up and I was revisited by the fear of losing my glasses again. By the time I had gotten the camera casing safely into my pocket and positioned my glasses firmly on my nose, the cloud had almost passed the sun entirely. I still had to readjust the brightness control and switch the camera setting to low light. Not at all plain sailing but I managed to get that third shot in what I term the 'Thames Silhouette' collection.

Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square

Taken while leaning against a traffic light pole at Charing Cross junction.
Buses kept getting in the way!

For a Sunday, there were so many people up and about in the centre of the City. I don't know why, but I had expected it to be quieter, rather like what I had seen in Edinburgh and Paris. Then again, Trafalgar Square seems to be quite the hang-out joint - there were people just sitting around, waiting for other people or talking on their mobile phones. And then there were the pigeons .... they were all over the place!

One of the Lions at the foot of Nelson's column

Actually, as monuments and sculptures go, these lions are something of a monstrosity. But I dutifully took a photograph, and managed to photograph someone else taking a photograph. The place was milling with people posing for pictures and people taking pictures. But there also seemed to be a fair few "natives", unhampered by cameras and just seemingly walking about and enjoying the sunshine.

As a point of interest, the brown building in the background is Malaysia House. I must say, they got themselves some pretty prime piece of real estate! There was a huge Visit Malaysia banner at the entrance of the building - obscured here by the lion.

Trafalgar Square with National Gallery in Background

Negotiating my way across Trafalgar Square was an exercise in pigeon dodging. I have a deathly phobia for birds, which did not help matters. It took me a full five minutes to cover a distance that would normally take no more than two minutes, had there been no birds in the way, hell bent on flying up and swooping low within inches of my head! I almost bailed, but I was determined to get to the National Gallery, to revisit a few old favourites.

After my near-death experience with the pigeons of Trafalgar, I spent a very pleasant 2 hours in the National Gallery. I could not find the famous Leonardo cartoon/sketch of the Madonna and the child, as the space was cordoned off. Perhaps the work was undergoing restoration. That was a disappointment as I had hoped to see it again after the hoopla of the Da Vinci Code movie and book.

I did get to see the works of the more "modern" artists, and in a new and improved space. They had moved the Van Gogh and Impressionists collection to a special space in the basement, with a theatrette outside screening short documentaries on the lives and works of Munch, Monet, Manet and others. These were fascinating; I watched 3 of the reels but could not stay for more.

London in January: Day 4 Part 1

Days 2 and 3: Stuck in Meetings. And it was as exciting as it sounds.

On to Day 4 which was a Sunday! I started early, strolling down Baker Street and catching sight of an already forming line to get into Madam Tussaud's Museum. I wondered down a few relatively quiet cobbled-stone streets and had a lovely time looking at window displays. I especially love the gourmet deli displays with all the wheels of cheeses and strings of sausages. Finally, I hit Oxford Street.

Marble Arch

Did a spot of shopping on Oxford Street and bought a winter coat to finally replace my old one which I have had since the mid 1990s. I was heading back to my hotel at LBS when I noted the strong sunshine and the position of the sun in front of the Arch rather than behind it. Perfect for photo taking. So I trundled down to the underpass and up several flights of seemingly neverending stairs to get to the Arch square.

Regent Park

Got back to the hotel room, deposited my shopping bags and had a spot of brunch, before setting out again.

My hotel room at LBS overlooked Regent Park and I had spent the better part of 3 jet-lagged mornings looking at people jogging around the lake. It was time to get up close and personal.

As it was Sunday and sunny, the park was teeming with people. Many were engaging in excessively rigourous exercise and I got tired just looking at them. So I took one picture of the lake, taking care to get the little black ducky in the foreground, then beat a quick path out of there. I was headed for the Thames and my favourite piece of London architecture: Westminster Abbey.

Big Ben up close

Before getting to the Abbey, I had to pick my way through hoards of camera-toting tourists (well, I guess I was one of them!) milling outside the Parliament compound. Everyone wanted to take a picture of Big Ben and I managed more than a few.

My old Olympus camera does not have the largest optical zoom range, but I was pretty pleased with how close-up I got on this shot. I believe Big Ben keeps good time, so even the exact minute that this photo was taken has been captured on record!

Views of Big Ben, the London Eye and part of the Houses of Parliament

This was taken from just outside Westminster Abbey. I caught sight of the London Eye in the background and patiently waited for people to pose and preen for photographs in front of the Abbey so I could position myself properly to get both Big Ben and the Eye into the frame. The sun was happily in the right place for this shot, which of course meant that it was completely in the wrong place for Westminster Abbey which was directly behind me.


Westminster Abbey

This photograph has gone through some colour and exposure adjustment and it is still a little dark. The sun was shining almost directly into the camera lens and no amount of manipulating behind structures and shadows could eliminate it directly.

The first time I saw Westminster Abbey, it just took my breath away. So very beautiful and majestic without being oppressively grand.

More Westminster Abbey

The entire enterprise was a battle with the strong sunlight that was inconveniently directly behind the Abbey. A few wisps of cloud were about and I was timing my shots with their movement, hoping for a moment when the sun was hidden. Those were few and far between and I finally gave it up for a lost cause. I was going to get overly exposed photographs, so be it.

I had great photos of the Abbey from a previous trip to London. It was summer and the sky was a clear cloudless blue, the sun was behind the camera and the photographs turned out postcard-perfect but those were not taken with a digital camera. I wanted a few jpegs for my personal collection. Scanning is the way to go, I guess.

London in January: Day 1

Dumping some pictures taken during my trip to an unusually warm London in January.

St Paul's Cathedral

The last time I was in London, St Paul's Cathedral was under scaffolding and obstructed by pieces of cardboard. I really wanted to get a few good pictures of this most durable of London landmarks, so it was almost my first destination after breakfast.

The Cathedral is simply beautiful and a mighty impressive piece of architecture. I was suitably awed. However, I will always remember this place for reasons that have nothing to do with its visual splendours. This will be commemorated as the site of a particularly harrowing adventure with strong winds and light spectacles.

I proudly wear a pair of Swissflex Classic rimless glasses - all the parts are clear, non-coloured polyamide. As Swissflex themselves put it - "You feel like you are wearing nothing". Very true and most of the time, I am glad for it.

However, feather-light spectacles are NOT advised when the wind is gusting as it was that day in London. I was walking in the courtyard at the side of St Paul's, when a particularly strong gust promptly lifted my glasses off my nose and sent them scurrying along the concrete ground. Half-blind I chased them across the courtyard. The wind was so strong (I think it was 30 km/h or something), my glasses were moving almost faster than I could run. Suddenly, clear plastic did not seem like such a great idea. Already vision impaired, I had the added challenge of trying to find a piece of essentially transparent plastic on the ground. My heart almost stopped for a few seconds when I thought I had lost sight of them. Panic set in: I was stranded in London, thousands of miles away from my spare pair which I had not thought to bring along. How quickly could one get another pair made up and how much would I have to tax my credit card at a London optometrist?

I only thank heavens that the cold and wind had driven most people to stay indoors despite it being close to lunch time. I was thankfully the only person scurrying across that vast expanse of space, although there were a couple of people outside the coffee shop across from the Cathedral; they did not seem to have paid me any attention at all, from what little I could see from my vision impaired perspective. Imagine if it had been a warmer, sunnier day and people actually came out of their offices for lunch. My poor Swissflex Classic would have been trodden underfoot!


Sign at entrance of Postmans Park

Such a pleasant surprise to have stumbled upon this little park while I was making my way to the Museum of London!

Last year, I went to a staging of Patrick Marble's play, Closer, performed in Cantonese by a visiting cast from Hong Kong. It was a great night in the theatre and after that, I watched the movie adaptation with Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Julia Roberts. In the play, Postmans Park featured prominently as a location and the headstone of "Alice Ayres" has particular significance. I wondered around looking for the Alice Ayres headstone but did not manage to find it. I think I simply was not looking in the right place. Later on, in the bookshop at the Museum of London, I came across a few books on Postmans Park and they featured photographs of all the tiles and headstones, including Alice Ayres'. Oh well, that's something to look out for next time.


Part of the Original London Wall outside the Museum of London

I managed to almost lose my glasses again when walking across the bridge that links the Museum to another building. It was from this bridge that I took this arial picture of the remains of the London Wall. I think the round construct was supposed to be one of the original turrets marking the corner of the wall.



Four panel panorama of London - Display in Museum of London

This picture was underlit and turned out to be a bit of a blur, but it was something of an accomplishment that I managed to squeeze the entire display in a single shot, so I am posting it anyway. I have always been a map freak, and this brought my map geekery to the fore. It's not strictly a map, but more like a satellite image of London in the 19th century. Incredibly detailed work for something done without the benefit of satellite technology!

Model of St Paul's Cathedral as it was before the London fire of 1666

I had spent the morning looking at the Cathedral (and almost losing my glasses outside it) and not managing to photograph it successfully due to its sheer size and inconvenient location near busy road junctions with traffic. So it was nice to get a shot of this most impressive piece of Gothic architecture in its entirety, albeit just a model of the actual thing!