London Town Part II

I have a whole lot more to write about Yellowknife, but I didn't have much luck sleeping through the day today and I am incredibly tired. As you might imagine, I am not feeling terribly inspired at the moment. I still have quite a few photos of my London trip to post, so I thought I would take care of that today.

This is a view of the Thames looking west, taken from the London Eye. The bridge in the foreground is Lambeth Bridge where the Queen's Walk promenade starts on the South Bank.

I hadn't realized before just how close everything is in the centre of London. Buckingham Palace is just a five minute walk from the River Thames and Westminster Palace. Stretching before it is the twenty three hectare St. James Park.

On the lawn in Parliament Square, a group of squatters had set up a camp, Freedom Village. These two fellas insisted I take their photo. The one of the left was clearly homeless, but we weren't so sure about the other guy. He looked quite snazzy done up in his suit, but a little later on we saw him wandering in circles talking to himself.

Of course, being tourists we had to get a photo in a phone booth. I wonder if they all smell like urine?

I got some terrific shots of the animals in St. James Park. There is quite a wide range of birds and other animals. Around each of the lakes in the park, there is an perimeter of ten metres or so that is reserved solely for the wildlife.

St. James park was, by far, my favorite part of my visit to London. The beautiful gardens and the diverse array of wildlife made it a wonderful treat, even on grey day.

This was the view of Buckingham Palace from inside the park.

This is one of eighty-nine individual plaques that mark the way along the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk. The eleven kilometre walking trail passes through St. James Park and Kensington Gardens.

Looking back towards the the Thames from the far side of the park.

Buckingham Palace was our last stop for the day. It was less exciting than I had imagined it to be.

It is no longer possible to get up close and personal with the palace guards. Apparently, two or three years ago, one of the famously unflappable soldiers kicked an annoying tourist in the shin. Undoubtedly she deserved it, but after the incident the guards were moved inside the palace gates.

That's it for London. Thank goodness, I was starting to wonder if I would ever get these photos posted. I'll try and get my photos from Edmonton up soon. Emily and I went to Fort Edmonton Park while I was in town and I got some terrific shots there.