London 2024: The Pic Spam

[selenak]

Aka the pictorial results of my latest time in the British capital. Despite the occasional rain, it was mostly sunny - and fun. I did return with the unfun sort of cold, though, but never mind, it happens, especially in autumn. Now, photos!





Back when I was in my early 20s and did the first big cross England journey on my lonesome, i.e. not as part of a school trip, I did visit the two most famous churches in London, but not since then. (Largely due to the entrance fee, I must admit; they're both beautiful.) Thirty years later, I decided to go for it again, so, check out St. Paul's, inside and outside, at various stages of the day and night:












In the Crypt, you have Wellington and Nelson and various artists, like the architect of the church and of a great many other post big fire in London buildings, Sir Christopher Wren:




(Note the tombs of Millais and Turner in front of him.)



Also T.E.Lawrence:



And then I went upstairs to the "Golden Gallery" on the top of the cuppola, where you have a nifty overview of London, including, of course of the rest of the church:




But really it's this view I came for:




And here's St. Paul's at night, from when I was theatre-going to the Globe:









On to Westminster Abbey:
















From there, you go around the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor (where lots of Plantagenets are buried) and to the various leftovers of Tudors, Tudor officials and Stuarts in the side crypts. Behold:

Nobility:



Plantagents (Henry III, Richard II)





Tudors:




Dead Stuart kids and the bones of the boys who may or may not have been the princes found in the Tower:



Dutch Stuarts! (I.e. William III and Mary II)




On to the "Lady Chapel" where the roof is niftier than the tomb of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in the middle of it, built by the guy who broke Michelangelo's nose:



Chapter House:









Poet's Corner:






Note the difference in size for Dr. Johnson and Jane Austen, OMG!




This used to be an actual abbey, so they also have tiny nifty cloister gardens, like this one, with Big Ben in the background:





Exit:



And while we're here, here's the Parliament as well:




On to more greenery. I visited Hyde park when the sun was shining. This is the Italian bit created for Queen Anne, near Marlboroug Gate (fittingly enough, given M. was the husband of her bff Sarah Churchill):



Not far away is the statue for Peter Pan, whose origin story does take place in this park (on both the Doylist and Watsonian level):



I met one of many squirrels:



That's Kensington Palacein the background (I think):





This bit is from near the Hyde Park's Corner entrance:




Now, on to the Globe:





Now during the Antony and Cleopatra performance I saw, it rained, but luckily I had booked a seat:





You're not allowed to take pics during the performances, obviously, but I did take them for the final bows, as soon as Cleopatra had died and the last word had been spoken:





Being in London also meant a trip to the Tower:














The memorial for executions, plus St. Peter at Vinculi, where the executed were buried:







(BTW, last time I visited, I didn't notice that along with the various Greys and Dudleys and Essex the Elizabethan himbo, there was also Overbury.)



My disgruntlement with the various sizes of Dr. Johnson's and Jane Austen's memorials notwithstanding, I did visit his house again. After all, in addition to being Dictionary Johnson, he was a childless cat man.












And on my last day, I went to Greenwich:



The old Royal Navel College:



The Royal Observatory:



With what's still one of my favourite London views:








The other thing to see here is the National Martime Museum (lots of Nelson), and the Queen's House (Stuarts, some Tudors, including the famous Armada Portrait of Elizabeth):





The room the Armada portrait is in has the most gorgeous ceiling. I'm also amused about whose portraits they put together with Elizabeth in that room: Thomas Seymour (boo, hiss), Essex (sigh, I guess lots of powerful people fall for someone pretty but not bright at the end of their lives)... and Philip II. of Spain (admittedly my personal crack ship for Elizabeth - whether or not they flirted when he was married to her sister and in England, they were each other's equals, and hey, best enemies! Now whether she was the Master to his Doctor or vice versa depends on the pov, I guess).








The Queen's House is also famous for the Tulip Stairs:



Now if you make the trip to or from Greenwich to central London by boat, you're bound to see all the sights on both sides of the river, which is great for a last day. Including the one piece of stone (outside) which is millennia older than London, to wit, the obelisk they pinched, err, that was entirely voluntarily provided for by Ali Pascha:





But every journey ends, and thus I conclude this pic spam with a few pics from the shore and from the bridge(s):

Comments

[kernezelda]

You take such gorgeous photos! Do you use a digital camera, a phone, a film camera? I'm sure you've mentioned it before, but I don't remember. I still remember the first photo tour of yours I saw, the trip to Rio. It makes me happy to see your photo tours. I believe I downloaded a few you took of driving along a road with lovely trees overarching, and wheat under a sunny sky.

[selenak]

I'm using a digital camera. The only time I had to use a phone was when I was in Mongolia and my camera was basically destroyed by sand. (I later got a new one.) It's not that I don't take photos with my phone, of course I do, but when I'm travelling or otherwise sight seeing, I prefer my camera.

[cahn]

Gosh, such gorgeous pictures!! You have such a gift for composition. Hard to pick a favorite... your cathedral pics are always so great, and some of those ceiling pictures! I think the Hyde Park pics might be my favorite... such a beautiful day, too. (And if it weren't sunny I know from previous experience that you would have taken different fabulous pictures :) )

[selenak]

Just for you, the other thing I was doing in Hyde park was speech practicing while sitting on a bench in the sun, because it was more fun to do it there than in my hotel room, and that's when:

[trobadora]

OMG!!!! :D :D :D

[trobadora]

Such gorgeous pics! Makes me really miss London, I haven't been in ages ...

[selenak]

I've been very briefly en route to the US two years ago, but that doesn't count, and before that, it was at least five years!

[elisi]

And on my last day, I went to Greenwich:
We were there on Sunday 8th of September, dropping off the youngest at uni! And we are going back this Sunday because it's her birthday. The uni (well, conservatoire, she plays the violin) is in the old naval college, so she is becoming very familiar with it. ^_^

Also, I shall echo everyone else and say how gorgeous your photos are.

[selenak]

Thank you, and enjoy Greenwich with the youngest!

[sally_maria]

Adding to the chorus saying thank you for the lovely pictures.

[selenak]

You're welcome.

[itsnotmymind]

Beautiful!

[selenak]

Thank you!

[kathyh]

Lovely photos. It’s so long since I’ve been in St Paul’s that I’d forgotten how splendid it is inside. Many thanks for sharing.

[selenak]

Oh, same here. Kudos to Sir Christopher Wren, who indeed does not need any other monument.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Thank you for sharing your awesome photos, as always!

[selenak]

De rien.:)

[queenbookwench]

When I visited London in 2016, they didn't let us take interior photos in Westminster Abbey at all! I wonder when they changed the policy...

Thanks for sharing yours! A beloved professor of mine who recently died had organ compositions performed there and always said it was one his favorite places in the world, so tonight it is a bittersweet reminder of him.

For those of a religious persuasion, I did learn that there's a communion service in the historic chapel of Edward the Confessor at 8AM Wednesdays; I didn't go on that trip but I did tell the friend I was staying with, who was and is exactly the sort of church nerd who would appreciate that...

[selenak]

The last time (decades ago) I was in WA, I wasn't allowed to take photos, either, but that was so long that digital photography did not yet exist.

As it happens, I was there on a Wednesday, and there was a brief service at 12:00 as well, but obviously for a limited number of people, and so when they announced this on the mikrophone, everyone hastened there and quickly the number of possible attendees was reached.

In St. Paul, they had every hour a brief prayer to remind everyone this is still a practising church, as well as regular services announced at different times.

[shadowkat]

Thanks for sharing the pics spam, much appreciated. I'd recently seen something filmed in London and was trying to figure out how much the city had changed since I last visited it in the 1980s. Looks ever the same, yet, quite different.

[selenak]

The first time I was there was in the 1980s, too, and yes, much has changed while the substance is still there...

[likeadeuce]

I love these, thank you!!

[selenak]

You're welcome. (I also took a pic of your Hal's tomb, but alas it came out blurry.)

[watervole]

There's a pub near us called St Peter's finge. the name is believed to be a corruption of Saint Peter ad vincula ( St Pete chains)

[vilakins]

When I saw the cat statue, I thought it might be Hodge. :)

[lokifan]

Lovely!

Man, even as a local I don't think I've ever been inside St Paul's. I really should!

I love the Royal Naval College, it's so gorgeous. Two of my best friends got married there, and now often take their toddler to its excitingly pirate-themed playground - she's very into pirates at the moment, and Jim Hawkins is her imaginary friend.

[selenak]

Good for her. Yes, it's a gorgeous place, and I'd loved it as a child.

If you visit the inside of St. Paul's, make sure to go to the top, the view over London is definitely worth it.