I saw Westminster including the Clock Tower which contains Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. These highly recognizable sites are very accessible just outside a subway station. I was unable to make time for Westminster Abbey.

The famous clock commands attention in the London skyline.

The parliament buildings are visible in one of my few night shots from my trip. By the time night falls, I am typically too tired from walking around to take anymore photos unfortunately.

Cameras are everywhere in London and all over the UK I believe, making the country well deserving of its reputation as the most watched by police. The cameras everywhere seem to make the place feel safer, though.

These instructions at crosswalks probably save thousands of tourist lives each year! It was a bit difficult to remember where to look at first at crosswalks without the writing. It gets even worse with one way streets.

After already seeing the DVD in French and English before leaving for France, I saw the Chicago musical in London’s famed West End. It was enjoyable and I got a decent deal on my tickets online. Since the musical is imported, it is probably better in New York’s Broadway. Dozens of theatre productions run daily in London, compared to Saint John which has maybe only a couple dozen running one weekend per year.I had planned to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral which has a spectacular exterior. It cost nearly 10 pounds to get in though, which I decided was too much for just a church, so I just took pictures outside.

There was a beautiful park surrounding part of the church, with lots of nice tall trees.

The famous phone booths.

A pigeon perches itself atop one of the church park walls.

In the shopping arena, I bought a few new shirts as well as a pair of shorts on Oxford Street from Marks & Spencer. I also visited Harrod’s, which seems to be a very stuffy and expensive store.

They make you carry all backpacks in your hand, which gets tiring after about 3 seconds (hence why they are designed to be worn on the back!).

Expensive luxury is king at Harrod’s.

The London Eye, which I went up in, allows you to see the whole city from high up. Taking photos from within the eye is difficult because of the glass, and it was also getting dark when I went up. The city was starting to light up though, so that was interesting.

In the end, I saw plenty in London during my three days there. This concludes my blogging of the London part of my trip. You can now visit my gallery to see all of the photos I deemed worthy of posting. In my next post, I will discuss my travels in the ancient city of Rome!

On my first full day in London, I entertained myself by taking a bus tour around the city, since I was not sure what to see first. I can’t say I would really recommend the bus tour to anyone because the bus drives too fast past things to take decent pictures, and it was a bit expensive. Still, it gave me an idea of a few things to see later.

Walking around, I found Buckingham Palace. There was a marathon occurring on the same day, so many streets were blocked off. My first visit to Westminster was actually interrupted because of this, since there were just too many people around to take decent photos or see anything.

The building itself did not seem too spectacular too me, although the gates and fountain out front (not shown above) do indicate that it is somehow special.

There are guards and policemen out front, though I think their purpose is mainly to put on a good show for tourists than defend the palace from anything. The biggest threat to the Queen nowadays must certainly be anything that would affect her favourite tea brand, such as corporate mergers, etc.

The streets of London are quite rewarding with lots of tall office buildings everywhere. Businessmen running through the streets complete the picture of a bustling centre of finance and other white collar work.

In the downtown core, skyscrapers line every street.

Signage has a very clean and professional look to it. This sign here shows you how to get some of the city’s attractions, including London Bridge. It’s the 4th London bridge or so, as the other ones have fallen down, burned, or whatever they seem to do to it.

This is a very stylish building. Note the old car approaching in the bottom centre.

The Tower of London was one of the major tourist attractions.

Historically, it has served as a prison, site of hangings within the royal family, area of defense for the city of London, among other purposes.

The Queen is still connected with it, and the chapel on site is still officially a religious place of worship.

Inside the various buildings that make up the site, you could see the crowns of past kings and queens, tools used to torture people, and weapons. Photography wasn’t allowed everywhere though, so I didn’t get any pictures of the crowns or inside the chapel where many important people are buried. The best visuals anyways were outside.

In my next post, my last part about London!

Upon arriving in Central London, this is the first neighbourhood I saw, because my hostel was located here.

It was a nice neighbourhood. This street must have been one way, although it was not unusual to see cars parked in the wrong direction on a side of the street (you could see two cars parked facing each other, implying that one must be wrong).

The entrance to my hostel. It wasn’t too bad.

A normal two way street in the residential area.

Another neighbourhood shot.

Sidewalk of the busy street, not far from the Underground station. There is a McDonald’s visible at the centre of this photograph, where I ate once on my first night, and a Burger King next door. These American chains are everywhere in London, which is unfortunate I think, because I would have preferred to see British chains instead, like I can see French chains in France that are more popular than the American ones.

This sign is identical to the ones used in Europe. Combined with some French store chains on a few streets and plenty of people speaking French everywhere, I had to wonder for a second if I had really left French. I knew I was indeed in the UK after being surprised by cars and double decker buses pulling up from the left side of the road.

That’s all for now. In my next post, more London and eventually Rome. It is taking me some time to process my photos, and also make time to write up descriptions to go with them.

I am writing right now from my hostel in London. My trip, including my first Ryanair flight, went OK. Despite what people say, I was actually impressed with the quality of Ryanair. The tacky interior did not bother me. I was just impressed that my large book bag filled up fit no problem into the overhead compartment.

France does have a dirty secret though. Their airport security in Poitiers was worse than what I expected in Saint John and Montreal. They confiscated my combination lock because it was a dangerous item, containing too much metal. What was I going to do with it, honestly?! Throw it at someone, knock them out, and then lock them up (without giving the combination)? Certainly a week-old French baguette (which would be allowed on board) is more dangerous, since those things get hard as rock, and become quite the weapon (the only useful purpose after a week, since they’re not a joy to eat anymore).

London, what little I have seen so far, is interesting and expensive. I dined tonight at McDonald’s since I arrived too late for dinner at the hostel. It is weird seeing cars drive on the wrong side of the road, as it is for many tourists, since all crosswalks in central London are labeled with a “Look left” or “Look right” message. It is also interesting that they don’t use the words “trash” or “garbage”. Instead, you put your weekly admail, homework assignments, etc. “rubbish” into a “rubbish bin”. That’s pretty much where my combination lock of many years has ended up.

I have no pictures yet. I’ll hopefully have plenty tomorrow in my first day around the motherland of the Commonwealth.