London - some of the sights and places visited

There's way too much to write about, and so little time, so in most cases I'll let the pictures tell their own story.  There is so much of interest, but the city is also huge and crowded - even more so at holiday period.  Just about everywhere we have been was jammed with people.  The weather has been a mixed bag - just a little rain occasionally, but not much sun either.  

Here are just a few photos as a sort of "teaser".  There is also a "WWW" link here (refer to previous Blog entry on Oxford).  I'll note that where appropriate.

Mounted guard at the barracks of the Horse Guard

NOT "Big Ben".  That's the name of the great bell INSIDE the tower.  In 2009 the
tower, usually known just as "the clock tower" was dedicated as "Elizabeth Tower"

Two London icons - a red double-decker
 bus and the red sign for the "Underground"

Westminster Abbey (www link - see bottom of blog)

Westminster Abbey

Just to prove it: yes, Judy was in London.

London taxis on The Mall; looking towards Buckingham Palace

The magnificent ceiling of the "Banqueting House"
It's best seen from the comfort of the "bean bags"

Handel's House entrance (no cameras inside)

Wall plaque denoting this as a place of significance.  G.F. Handel
lived here.  200 years later Jimmy Hendrix lived here, one floor
above Handel's rooms.  This building thus has 2 museums in it.

Flamboyant underwear: "Birds of Paradise".  Created by
"Victoria's Secret" for a fashion show in New York, 2013.
Give me something more comfortable!

Tower Bridge

"The Shard" - a London skymark,
 currently tallest building in Europe

HMS Belfast against background of the Tower Bridge and a black sky

HMS Belfast, large light cruiser of WW2

Monument commemorating the outbreak
 of the great Fire of London, 1666

St Paul's Cathedral from top
deck of a double-decker bus.

St Paul's Cathedral

Tea clipper "Cutty Sark" (launched 1869), Greenwich

The ship was named after "Cutty Sark", the nickname of the witch in the poem "Tam o' Shanter" by Robert Burns. The ship's figurehead shows the witch (Nannie Dee) holding a horses tail.  As described in the poem, she is wearing a linen "sark" (short chemise style of undergarment) that she had been given as a child, which explains why it was "cutty" (much too short!).

Cutty Sark figurehead

Cutty Sark's copper sheathed hull

River Thames entry to the old Royal Naval College, Greenwich

Old Royal Naval College.  Chapel dome on the left.

The uniform worn by Admiral Horatio Nelson at the battle
 of Trafalgar.  The entry hole of the bullet which fatally
injured him is visible.  It pierced his shoulder, broke ribs,
 punctured his lung and smashed his spine.

Play time with actors Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid

The recreated Globe Theatre of Shakespeare 

Park and recharge!

Millennium Bridge

The British Museum

The British Museum was an astounding place with truly amazing treasures. Unfortunately it was bursting at the seams with tourists (not us!  we were "visitors") rushing from place to place snapping "highlights" because they had no time to stop and look at anything.  We waited patiently to look at, for example, the famous Rosetta Stone.  Eventually we got to the cabinet and peered in at the famous engraved stone.  People behind were thrusting phone cameras around us, under our arms and above our heads.  One man appeared intent on photographing the complete surface - not easy given the jostling crowd and acute reflections. If he wanted "detail" he could have got it from the nearby exact replica without a protective case, ignored by almost all visitors.

The Rosetta Stone

A tiny part of the extensive "Elgin Marbles" from the Parthenon

Some treasures from ancient Egypt.

The "White Tower" at the heart of the "Tower of London" complex

** The WWW link ("Where Was Webb?").  Rev Richard Webb was either a curate or deacon at both St Paul's cathedral and Westminster Abbey during his career.