A Week in London, Part One of Four

[Note: We were here in 2010.]

A dragon on London Bridge agrees that our tour bus is going this way.

At Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, any guy with an opinion can attract a crowd by standing on a box and speaking up.

A section of Hyde Park, facing toward Speaker's Corner
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A statue of Laurence Olivier as Hamlet stands on the South Bank near the National Theatre.

People relax in the sun with a view of the passing scene on the riverside walk.

Pedestrians cross the Thames at the Millennium Bridge, heading straight for St. Paul's Cathedral.

Completed in 2002, London's City Hall building is thoroughly modern.

When I first noticed the Dixie Queen in 2004, I wondered, "What is a Mississippi river boat doing on the Thames?" It's still there, available for private parties with 600 of your closest friends.

On display atop a tall pillar in Trafalgar Square, "Nelson's Ship in a Bottle" is 3.25 meters high and 5 meters long and weighs 4 tons.

We used the tube (subway) to get around. The long escalator ride into the station was usually more crowded than this.

This is a typical scene at a local pub after work. People stand outside, sometimes for hours, drinking and chatting.

This sculpture by Sean Henry was prominently displayed in our hotel lobby, apparently to help guests figure out how to squeeze into their rooms.

At the Tower of London

This fancy bronze gun was built around 1607 for the Knights of Malta.

A change of guard. With hats like these, they'll never need umbrellas.

The rain did not deter tourists from queueing up to see the Crown Jewels.

Nor did it deter some hopeful soul from hanging the laundry atop one of the old buildings.

Architectural detail on the side of a building

A suit of armor once used by King Henry VIII

The Chapel of St. John, inside the White Tower