Tag: London

Categories
Travel

Stonehenge and Windsor

Stonehenge

I’m starting to convince my co-workers that business trips are better if you go out and see the sights rather than work in the hotel between meetings. We arranged for a jet-lagged visit to Stonehenge and toured Windsor Castle.

Windsor is next to Eton, home to Eton College, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. I took a picture of the Eton Walk and decided to try it out one afternoon.

Eton Walkway sign

It was much longer than I expected, and the northern section takes you through some fairly sketchy underpasses where no one could hear you scream, but overall it was a nice jaunt. Would have been better on a bike.

Windsor sunset
Eton boys
Eton
Me and Mr. Bean
Old thatched-roof homes in Wherwell
Eton College Chapel
Getting a good shot of the Widwinter Sunset direction arrow at Stonehenge
Tourist shop in Windsor, UK
The Long Walk in Windsor, UK
Windsor, UK
Catholic Church of St. Edward the Confessor, Windsor
Stonehenge
Stonehenge chocolate
Eton
The George, Eton
Windsor
Egham, UK – John Wesley passed this way and preached in 1744
Thatched-roof home by stream in Wherwell, UK
Shackleton statue in London
Windsor castle
Windsor
Shadow under railroad bridge in Eton
500-year-old home in Wherwell, UK
Eton
Breakfast in Windsor.
Trees in the morning – The Long Walk in Windsor, UK
Windsor tree-lined path
Railroad bridge in Eton
The Long Walk in Windsor, UK
The rook of stonehenge
St. George’s Chapel – Windsor Castle
Eton graffiti
Windsor castle vine
Windsor castle guard
Windsor
Stonehenge
Categories
Family Travel

London 2018

Look left, look right, look both ways

Got in some touristing during a business trip to London –

  • Oxford city tour and countryside bike tour
  • Lots of tourist sites in London, including As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Churchill War Rooms, and the Tower of London
  • Windsor Castle

A few of the many photos below –

St. Paul’s cathedral
Bridge – Hyde Park, London
Tower of London
Radcliffe Camera, Oxford
Oxford countryside bike tour
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Ponchoed tourist
Windsor Castle
Shakespeare’s Globe
St. Paul’s cathedral
Tower Bridge
St. Margaret’s church – Binsey, Oxfordshire
St. Paul’s cathedral
The Globe Theatre (Shakespeare) – London
St. Paul’s cathedral
Bridge of Sighs – Oxford
Cannon – Tower of London
Raven at Tower of London
Guard – Tower of London
Royal Albert Hall – went to BBC Proms
St. Paul’s dome
Oxford
Windsor Castle
Bloodshot eye
St. Paul’s cathedral
London
New graduate – Oxfrod
Hyde Park
Tower of London
Look left, look right, look both ways
Don’t call me beefeater
Swan – Serpentine Lake, Hyde Park

 

Categories
Travel

A weekend in London

In 2014 I had a quick business trip to London and did some touristing. Here are a few highlights beyond the usual sights, from an email I sent to a friend who was visiting a few weeks after me:

  • Fat Tire Bike Tour – highly recommended. You end up hitting a ton of sites in a few hours and then you can decide which of those merit a return visit.
  • Camden Market
    Camden Market

    Camden Town — it’s a busy chaotic market that goes on forever. You can get lost in there. I liked it in a small dose and then went back to quieter locations. Be sure to go to the real Camden Market and not the rip-off one closest to the subway stop.

  • Note that the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace is only every-other-day in the Winter and Spring. You can look up dates on http://www.changing-the-guard.com/dates-times.html
  • There’s an LDS Visitors Center near Hyde Park that was fun to visit — a bunch of BYU Study Abroad students were there while their normal building is being renovated. https://www.lds.org/locations/hyde-park-chapel — it’s in a cool location by many of the Embassies and the science museum.
  • One other place that was fun for a quick evening visit was Piccadilly Circus — kind of a Times Square vibe (with many of the same stores, including the M&Ms Store). It’s packed with tourists and I only stayed for a few minutes, but it was cool to see once. That and Trafalgar Square are good for street performers.
  • If you’re a Shakespeare fan, it was fun to see the Globe Theatre replica. You can also see a First Folio in the British Library.
  • Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross StationIf you like Harry Potter, King’s Cross station has Platform 9 3/4 where you can pay big bucks to take a photo. I just took photos of people taking photos.
  • You can also hit 221B Baker Street if you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan.
  • I highly recommend Rick Steves London tour book — I had a couple of other books and his was by far the most useful. If you like his style (more opinionated than the usual “here’s everything you can possibly do” books) you might want to download his free podcasts with walking tours and museum tours. I listened to his British Library tour (30 minutes) while I was there and enjoyed it, although some of his jokes are painful. He has an iPhone app, but it’s poorly designed and probably works better as a podcast.
Camden Market
Queen Anne
Thames River
St. Paul’s Cathedral, London
It is an offence to damage this sign – The Royal Parks
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Katharina Fritsch’s “Hahn/Cock”, an ultramarine cockerel meant to symbolize male-dominated Britain. Trafalgar Square
Jellicoe Fountain in Trafalgar Square
at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Kensington Gardens
by Jacob Epstein
London
Hyde Park
The use of shampoo and gel is prohibited in this area
Hyde Park
Any article attached to these railings will be removed
Hyde Park
Hyde Park
Kensington Gardens
Park bench dedication
Outside Hyde Park
Home of Sherlock Holmes
City of Westminster
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” Graffiti near Abbey Road Studios.
The Beatles
Telephone booth