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

Big Ben

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Hostel room key

Generator Hostel room key

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Westminster tube station

Westminster Tube station

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And now for a series of Big Ben photos and closeups…

Big Ben

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Big Ben

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World’s largest four-faced chiming clock!

Big Ben clock

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Big Ben

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Big Ben

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Apparently that day there were protests also happening just at the corner

Protest for Sri Lanka

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Big Ben is actually a part of Palace of Westminster, or House of Parliament. Security is tight around here.

Palace of Westminster

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Palace of Westminster statue

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Palace of Westminster

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Palace of Westminster

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Taxi stop!

Palace of Westminster taxi stop

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Palace of Westminster

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Big Ben still visible behind the Palace of Westminster

Big Ben and Palace of Westminster

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I must agree… it’s not such a fun job as a guard police

Palace of Westminster police

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Palace of Westminster statue

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Palace of Westminster

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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!

Palace of Westminster

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Palace of Westminster

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Official seal?

Palace of Westminster seal

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The Burghers of Calais by Auguste Rodin in Victoria Tower Gardens

The Burghers of Calai

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London seen across the Thames

London Eye

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River Thames

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Capturing a piece of the London Eye

Photographers

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This is what they were photographing!

London Eye

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London Eye

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Ok, we’re not the only ones

Tourists

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Palace of Westminster

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Burghers of Calais

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Final look toward Big Ben!

Big Ben streets

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Better looking than Vancouver’s telephone booths

Red Telephone Booth

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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!

St. James's Park Tulips

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St. James's flowers

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St. James's Park Tulips

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And of course… squirrels are also found here

Squirrel

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Nice walk in the park

St. James's Park

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Tour guide with British flag umbrella

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

British Guards

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Leader of the pack

British Guards

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British Guards

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British Guards

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This one’s actually pretty funny

British Guards

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British Guards

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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!

Buckingham Palace

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Big crowd already waiting the daily changing of the guards

Buckingham Palace crowd

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We picked a location right in front of the palace gates, on the elevated steps

Buckingham Palace

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As you can see, there isn’t very much room at all…

Buckingham Palace

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Toddler in stroller

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After waiting an eternity, the first band comes marching out

Buckingham Palace band

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And the Royal Guards follow

Royal Guards

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The gates are heavily patrolled

Buckingham Palace gates

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After another 10 minute wait, more marching and band playing

Royal Guards

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Changing of the Guards

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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!

Buckingham Palace gates

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Finally, the main gates open!

Royal Guards

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Royal Guards

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Royal Guards

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Without a telephoto, I wouldn’t be there

Royal Guards

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Royal Guards

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The best vantage point – on your dad’s shoulders!

Girl on shoulders

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Royal Guards

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Royal Guard

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Royal Guards

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Buckingham Palace

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Buckingham Palace

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Royal seal?

Royal Seal

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Group shot!

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!

Buckingham Palace police

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Looking at the photos afterwards, the face in the backseat matches his portrait!

Lebanon President car

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We’re all hungry at this point, so time to find some food nearby!

Streets of London

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Pret a Manger – famous sandwich chain store

Pret a Manger

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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.

Pret sandwiches

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Lunch bag!

Pret a Manger

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1pm – time for a lunch break!

Lunch break

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Crayfish sandwich! Mmm

Crayfish sandwich

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After a quick 30 min lunch, we headed to our next destination – the famous Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey

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Westminster Abbey

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Sculptures on the building face

Westminster Abbey sculptures

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Westminster Abbey

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Westminster Abbey

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Entrance to the Abbey

Westminster Abbey entrance

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Westminster Abbey entrance

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Westminster Abbey

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The Quire

Westminster Abbey Quire

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Beautiful Henry VII’s Lady Chapel

Henry VII's Lady Chapel

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Plaque of famous poet, Dylan Thomas, at Poet’s Corner

Dylan Thomas plaque

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Highly decorated Chapter House

The Chapter House, Westminster Abbey

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Westminster Abbey hallway

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Westminster Abbey

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Westminster Abbey

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Next, enroute to the British Museum!

Smart cars everywhere!

Smart car streets of London

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Streets of London

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British Museum entrance

British Museum

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British Museum

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Andrew carefully composing a shot

Andrew with camera

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Donations are welcome since the museum is totally free

British Museum

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Very beautiful lobby under natural light

British Museum lobby

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British Museum

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British Museum

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British Museum

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The famous Rosetta Stone is housed here

Rosetta Stone

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Egyptian figures

Egyptian Figures

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Roman architecture

Roman architecture

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Roman artwork

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Parthenon sculptures.

Parthenon sculpture

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Parthenon sculpture

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Egypian work

Egyptian work

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Mummified

Egyptian mummy

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British Museum

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British Museum

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British Museum artifacts

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British Museum artifacts

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British Museum violin

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Green Curry Chicken Rice dinner at Bedford Hotel restaurant for £7. Stay far away.

Green Curry Chicken Rice

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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

Tower of London

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The tube is way too convenient

London Underground

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Tower Bridge lit up at night!

Tower Bridge night

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Ship on River Thames

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Tower Bridge closeup

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London has a very nice looking city hall!

London City Hall

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Sunset to the west is beautiful at this hour

River Thames sunset

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London Bridge Hospital

London Bridge Hospital

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Bus over bridge

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One more long exposure before heading back

Tower Bridge night

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A private cocktail party we ran into

Cocktail party

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Monument tube station

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Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap - London Tube

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To be continued…


10 Responses to “Eurotrip Day 3 – London”

  1. jeff Says:

    Did it rain on the trip?

    Everything seems famous :P

  2. a70 Says:

    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~

  3. Nicky Says:

    love the clock~ *^________^*
    u have….. few weeks of pics to post… how many hard drive did u bring? O.o

  4. a70 Says:

    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

  5. susan Says:

    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.

  6. a70 Says:

    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!

  7. aw Says:

    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!

  8. a70 Says:

    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

  9. Rosey Says:

    I love the pictures. London is my husband’s most favorite place to visit.

  10. Tsutomu Hayamizu Says:

    Hello. I’m science writer. Your pictures are very cool.
    I find Donation box of British museum. I want to introduce it at Astronomic science magazine.
    Can I use it ? If it is OK, please teach me your credit.

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