A Day in London

Thursday, 6th November 2014

Taking a last minute opportunity to visit the Remebrance Day Poppies around the Tower of London, I took a round trip to take in various other places of interest on the way, including: The Millenium Bridge, The Tate Modern Gallery, The Globe, The Golden Hinde, The Monument and All Hallows by the Tower. The weather was perfect for the day and the crowds arround the Tower were quite acceptable.

Fantastic reflections . . .

and time for . . .

a morning swim

Remembering the Kindertransport, the rescue mission in the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War when the United Kingdom took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish Children

Having caught the bus to St Paul's Cathedral . . .

I made my way to the banks of the River Thames . . .

and the first of many views of The Shard which is almost twice as high as any other vantage point in the city (309 metres, 1,014 feet)

The Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian bridge erected to connect the Tate Modern Art Gallery

to the City and St Paul's Cathedral.

Looking across to Southwark Bridge to London Bridge and Tower Bridge

The Millenium Bridge is a great vantage point . . .

for taking in the surrounding views . . .

and playing with the structure on the bridge . . .

and the exit ramps

The 'wedding cake spire' of St Bride's Church, Fleet Street

Brollybus on the 'Year of the Bus Sculpture Trail'

Leaving the Millennium Bridge . . .

I check out the supporting structure before . . .

taking a quick look in The Tate Modern, housed in the former Bankside Power Station

A large sculpture, called 'I Don't Know', is housed in the turbine hall . . .

but heading to the top floor . . .

I find fantastic views . . .

as windows reflect the sun onto the water

St Paul's Cathedral . . .

with a closer look at the Western Towers

Above the Millennium Bridge the skyline shows buildings of various ages

A modern reconstruction of the theatre, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997, with a production of Henry V.

Located on Bankside, the Soho of Elizabethan London. Shakespeare’s Globe is a faithful reconstruction of the open-air playhouse designed in 1599 . . .

where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed.

Shakesbear, one of the bear sculptures on the Paddington Bear Trail. An online auction for some of the bears, and proceeds of associated actvivites is hoped to raise £500,00 for the NSPCC

Cranes - without wings

Southwark Bridge shows off its colours of green and gold . . .

after 3 years of restoration

Unusual reflections

Route Master on the 'Year of the Bus Sculpture Trail'

The Jubilee Greenway is a walking route officially launched in 2009. The 60 kilometres (37 mi) route of continuous paths links 2012 Olympic and Paralympic venues with parks, waterways and other attractions.

Winchester Palace Garden Project . . .

with a very informative sign

The Golden Hinde is a full-sized reconstruction . . .

of the Tudor warship . . .

in which Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world in 1577 – 1580.

HMS Belfast is a museum ship, originally a Royal Navy light cruiser,

permanently moored in London on the River Thames and operated by the Imperial War Museum.

From the old - to the modern

London's Tower Bridge is one of the most recognizable bridges in the world. Its Victorian Gothic style stems from a law that forced the designers to create a structure that would be in harmony with the nearby Tower of London.

The Monument is a 61 metre (202 feet) tall stone column. It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and erected between 1671 and 1677, as the City's memorial to the Great Fire in 1666.
The monument is the tallest single stone column in the world and contains a spiral staircase leading to a viewing platform.

The west side of the base displays a sculpture, by Caius Gabriel Cibberith showing King Charles II, and his brother, James, the Duke of York (later James II) surrounded by Liberty, Architecture, and Science, giving directions for its restoration.

The column is surmounted by a drum and a copper urn from which flames emerged, symbolizing the Great Fire. The significance of its 61 metre (202 feet) height is the distance to the bakery on Pudding Lane that was the suspected source of the fire that destroyed the city.

Looking up the spiral staircase - 311 steps

Tower Bridge has stood over the River Thames in London since 1894 and is one of the finest, most recognisable bridges in the World. It is the London bridge you tend to see in movies and on advertising literature for London. Tower Bridge is the only Thames bridge which can be raised.

Up in the clouds (or at least the rooftops)

A bus convention

30 St Mary Axe, infamously known as 'the Gherkin' due to its 3D oval shape, is one of the first landmarks to become visible when you're travelling into London from many different places.

This year marks Tower Bridge's 120th birthday, following its opening on 30 June 1894 by the Prince of Wales, who was later crowned King Edward VII. A new feature is the glass walkway which gives visitors a bird's eye view of traffic as they venture on to the structure which soars 42m (138ft) above the Thames.

City Hall (left hand building) is located in Southwark, standing on the south bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge. It is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA) which comprises the Mayor of London and London Assembly.

The tallest building in the UK is in Canary Wharf, part of the London Docklands. One Canada Square, known as the Canary Wharf Tower, is 244 metres high and covered in stainless steel.

The Shard is an 87-storey skyscraper that forms part of the London Bridge Quarter development, standing approximately 309 metres (1,014 feet) high.

Time to head back down . . .

the spiral staircase

Time to start a tour . . .

of the major art installation 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' at the Tower of London,

marking one hundred years since the first full day of Britain's involvement in the First World War.

Created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper,

888,246 ceramic poppies will fill the Tower's famous moat.

Each poppy represents a British military fatality during the war.

though it looks like there are a few still to be added

Each one has been hand made . . .

and volunteers assemble them . . .

ready for . . .

'planting'

Lots going on here

The final section is quite overwhelming . . .

and the crowds gather here . . .

to take in the full spleandour

A slight diversion . . .

as it looks like The Shard has moved to The Tower . . .

and an Archer on The Battlements keeps a lookout

All Hallows by the Tower is the oldest church in the City of London. Beneath the great east window is the mural of the Last Supper by Brian Thomas. The altar table is a copy of the Jacobean altar destroyed in the bombing and is without a cross, so as not to hide the figure of Christ in the picture.

The present pulpit dates from around 1670 and comes from the church of St Swithun's, London Stone, which was destroyed by bombing and not rebuilt.

The Saxon Arch is believed to be the oldest surviving within the City.

The Roman tessellated pavement, perfectly preserved in the Undercroft, is the floor of a domestic house from the late 2nd Century.

Sir Ernest Shackleton's Crow's Nest . . .

quite an unexpected find in the undercroft

The font was carved by hand from Gibraltar limestone by a Sicilian prisoner-of-war named Tulipani, and is a memorial to the tunnellers of the Royal Engineers.