Eurotrip Day 3 – London
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 :: 4:30 pm
We started off Day 3 feeling lively and excited to visit all the attractions. After a quick breakfast at Generator Hostel, we departed toward Westminster tube station at 9am, where the famous Big Ben clock is.
Coming out of the Tube station
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Hostel room key
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Westminster tube station
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And now for a series of Big Ben photos and closeups…
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World’s largest four-faced chiming clock!
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Apparently that day there were protests also happening just at the corner
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Big Ben is actually a part of Palace of Westminster, or House of Parliament. Security is tight around here.
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Taxi stop!
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Big Ben still visible behind the Palace of Westminster
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I must agree… it’s not such a fun job as a guard police
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I must say, if you don’t have wide angle in Europe, you probably won’t be able to take half the architecture shots!
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Official seal?
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The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin in Victoria Tower Gardens
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London seen across the Thames
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Capturing a piece of the London Eye
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This is what they were photographing!
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Ok, we’re not the only ones
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Final look toward Big Ben!
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Better looking than Vancouver’s telephone booths
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Next, we walked toward Buckingham Palace at around 11am, to catch the changing of the guards at around 11:30am, and pass through St. James’s Park which is adjacent to the Palace.
Tulips at St. James’s Park!
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And of course… squirrels are also found here
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Nice walk in the park
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Tour guide with British flag umbrella
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So this was across from St. James’s Park, and we thought that we were looking at the Changing of the Guards, since there was a crowd of people outside of the fence. What was funny was that it wasn’t even time yet, so we were quite confused,but we started photographing anyways, not wanting to miss anything…
British Guards lined up
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Leader of the pack
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This one’s actually pretty funny
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After a few minutes of photographing… we figured out that we haven’t reached Buckingham Palace yet! Haha. We packed our gears and hurried on our way towards the real thing!
First look at Buckingham Palace, the place was already very crowded!
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Big crowd already waiting the daily changing of the guards
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We picked a location right in front of the palace gates, on the elevated steps
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As you can see, there isn’t very much room at all…
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After waiting an eternity, the first band comes marching out
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And the Royal Guards follow
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The gates are heavily patrolled
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After another 10 minute wait, more marching and band playing
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This time, the wait is longer – 20 min. Some of the crowd disperses. I don’t blame them, after all this waiting and not seeing much, we’d like to leave too!
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Finally, the main gates open!
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Without a telephoto, I wouldn’t be there
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The best vantage point – on your dad’s shoulders!
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Royal seal?
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Group shot!
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Something appears to be happening just shortly afterwards… the place is being cleared by the police.
Apparently, the President of Lebanon is arriving at the Palace!
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Looking at the photos afterwards, the face in the backseat matches his portrait!
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We’re all hungry at this point, so time to find some food nearby!
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Pret a Manger – famous sandwich chain store
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Pret a Manger is a famous sandwich chain store that sells all kinds of sandwiches-to-go, lunch boxes, drinks and also hot soups. Their sandwiches are fairly priced, majority around £1.5 – £4. Good as lunch or afternoon snack.
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Lunch bag!
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1pm – time for a lunch break!
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Crayfish sandwich! Mmm
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After a quick 30 min lunch, we headed to our next destination – the famous Westminster Abbey.
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Sculptures on the building face
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Entrance to the Abbey
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The Quire
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Beautiful Henry VII’s Lady Chapel
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Plaque of famous poet, Dylan Thomas, at Poet’s Corner
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Highly decorated Chapter House
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Next, enroute to the British Museum!
Smart cars everywhere!
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British Museum entrance
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Andrew carefully composing a shot
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Donations are welcome since the museum is totally free
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Very beautiful lobby under natural light
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The famous Rosetta Stone is housed here
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Egyptian figures
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Roman architecture
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Parthenon sculptures.
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Egypian work
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Mummified
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Green Curry Chicken Rice dinner at Bedford Hotel restaurant for £7. Stay far away.
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After dinner it was getting dark – perfect for night shots of Tower Bridge! (sometimes mistaken as London Bridge)
Tower of London – famous castle that we didn’t go in
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The tube is way too convenient
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Tower Bridge lit up at night!
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London has a very nice looking city hall!
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Sunset to the west is beautiful at this hour
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London Bridge Hospital
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One more long exposure before heading back
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A private cocktail party we ran into
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Mind the Gap
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To be continued…
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Did it rain on the trip?
Everything seems famous :P
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Oh yes, actually this is one of two days that rained during our trip, only the morning though. Good thing we had good weather :-)
Yes, everything’s just like on TV and movies, there’s more later on too~
June 4th, 2009 at 2:32 am
love the clock~ *^________^*
u have….. few weeks of pics to post… how many hard drive did u bring? O.o
June 4th, 2009 at 9:20 am
Thanks~
Ya… I posted some stats in the first Eurotrip post. I brought a netbook to dump the photos and a 120GB external hard drive. I shot an average of 6GB a day. By the second last day my external hard drive was full, haha
June 5th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I think earlier the trees you shot of the leaves and the little “ball” things are sycamore.
I love the fuzzy hats of the guards.
There are so many photos that my browser cannot load all of them at the same time.
Westminster Abbey looked beautiful – imagine having a wedding there!
The work you titled “Egypian [sic] work” – I think is a stone sculpture from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the South Pacific.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
That’s what I thought – from the Easter Islands, but I looked back at the museum map and it was in the Egyptian section… maybe I was looking at the wrong section, thanks!
June 5th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
haha i remember we went to buckingham palace ~45min early to get a front row “seat” to watch changing of the guards! Glad u still caught it tho!
June 7th, 2009 at 1:40 am
I know eh? All the travel books say arrive early, but all you do is wait around! And after the people leave midway, you just step in :-P