The Meridian Laser

The Meridian Laser is a line beamed into the night sky from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The line sits on the Prime Meridian and is visible up to 60 miles away. The picture below also shows Jupiter just above the observatory roof. :-)

London by Night

The London Eye offers an amazing view of London by night. We visited London a few days ago and the ride on the Eye was the highlight of the trip :-)

There's a spectacular view looking down to the Houses of Parliament in one direction and along the river to Saint Paul's in the other.

London Eye by Night

The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel on the bank of the River Thames and looks quite spectacular by night :-)

The Victoria Memorial

The Victoria Memorial stands outside Buckingham Palace and was sculpted by Sir Thomas Brock. The Statue of Queen Victoria looks east across Saint James Park.

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector

Thornycroft's 1899 statue of Oliver Cromwell stands outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Cromwell served as a commander in the Parliamentarian army and was instrumental in the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a republican commonwealth. He served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1653 until his death in 1658.

Richard I of England

Marochetti's heroic 1860 statue of Richard the Lionheart stands in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament. Richard reigned as king of England from 1189 until his death in 1199.

Along the River Thames

While walking around London at the weekend I took this picture of the Thames from the Golden Jubilee Bridge. The Ferris wheel is the London Eye, the largest in Europe. Westminster Bridge can be seen crossing the river towards the Houses of Parliament, Victoria Tower and Big Ben.

Red Telephone Box

Red telephone boxes used to be a familiar sight in the U.K. but are slowly disappearing. I spotted this example of a K6C kiosk this morning while exploring central London.  The K6 was designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Scott to celebrate the silver jubilee of King George V.

Squirrels in Central London

This morning I wandered around central London and was amazed how tame the squirrels are. They seemed quite happy to pose patiently for photos and were confident enough to climb all over me!