With the exception of 10 days down with Covid, our month in London’s Royal Borough of Greenwich has been marvellous.
Many of our days were filled with intense sightseeing, but on others we just wandered and took in whatever was around us, drizzle and cloudy skies (of which we actually had very few) notwithstanding.
That left me with a virtual stack of Ted’s photos that didn’t get used in blogs, but are still worth looking back on. So… here are some of my favourite memory-inducing snapshots.
The Red Lion in the centre of London, festooned with flowers as many pubs were.
The London Eye, as seen looking across the Thames from the Westminster Bridge.
Buckingham Palace.
Ted and I at the gates to Buckingham Palace, with a palace guard in the background.
The gorgeous Victoria Monument opposite Buckingham Palace.
Canada Gate, at the entrance to Green Park, adjacent to Buckingham Palace.
The Canadian War Memorial in Royal Green Park, along with its description.
The Florence Nightingale Memorial in Waterloo Place.
The Guards Crimean War Memorial in Waterloo Place, St James, London.
Art installation in Waterloo Place looking toward Regent Street.
Edward VII equestrian statue, Waterloo Place.
Admiralty Gate
St. Martin-In-The-Fields Church on Trafagar Square, dating to 1724 AD
Canada House!
The house at the end of our street. It is a private residence, so not open for tours, but we walked past it almost every day.
The U.K. Supreme Court. The scenes sculpted in Portland stone on the frieze include King John handing the Magna Carta to the barons at Runnymede, the granting of the charter of Westminster Abbey, and the Duke of Northumberland offering the crown of England to Lady Jane Grey. I was particularly enamoured of the gargoyles! Although building only dates to 1908-1913, a Gothic style was chosen for its architecture.
The exterior of Westminster Abbey, featuring its huge rose window.
Statues in Parliament Square: Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, and suffragette Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett.
More Parliament Square statues, this time of famous British Prime Ministers. From top: Robert Peel, David Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill.
People actually line up to take pictures at one of the iconic red call boxes beside Parliament Square. We were lucky and didn’t have to wait.
Zooming in on the clock in the Elizabeth Tower at the Palace of Westminster . In fact, only the largest bell in the tower is actually “Big Ben”.
The Peace Garden at the Imperial War Museum London, dedicated in 1999 by the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
The General Lying-In Hospital was one of the first maternity hospitals in Great Britain. It opened in 1767 on Westminster Bridge Road, London and closed in 1971. Since 2013 the restored building has been part of the Premier Inn Hotel Waterloo.
This stunning building at the corner of Pall Mall and Waterloo Place, with its Wedgewood blue and white decoration, is The Athenaeum, a private members’ club in London, founded in 1824.
Monument to ROBERT FALCON SCOTT CAPTAIN ROYAL NAVY WHO WITH FOUR COMPANIONS E.A.WILSON, HR.BOWERS, L.E.G..OATES, E.EVANS DIED MARCH 1912 RETURNING FROM THE SOUTH POLE. I found the quote from Scott’s diary, after he realized they were not going to return, very moving: “HAD WE LIVED I SHOULD HAVE HAD A TALE TO TELL OF THE HARDIHOOD ENDURANCE AND COURAGE OF MY COMPANIONS WHICH WOULD HAVE STIRRED THE HEART OF EVERY ENGLISHMAN.THESE ROUGH NOTES AND OUR DEAD BODIES MUST TELL THE TALE.”
At 38 m/137 ft 9 inches, the monument to the Duke of York is taller than almost any other monument in London, with the exception of the Nelson’s monument in Trafalgar Square, which is 51.6 m/ 169 ft 3 inches tall. Frederick William (1763-1827), Commander in Chief of the British Army and second son of King George III is likely The Grand Old Duke of York of the nursery rhyme.
Nelson’s monument in Trafalgar Square, and me standing on tip-toe to pat the paw of one of the four lions sitting on the monument’s base.
This random piece of Roman temple is part of a small parkette border along the Greenwich high street. It is an everyday reminder of the long history that is taken for granted here.
A cloudy day view toward The Shard on the opposite side of the Thames.
Built between 1902 and 1910, the Greenwich Power Station is a formerly oil and coal-fired power stationby the River Thames. Since 1988 it has been a gas-fired station, and the London Underground’s central emergency power supply. The old stone wall surrounding it has been inlaid with ceramic tiles, and overpainted with a children’s illustrated story about a young boy taking his dog for a walk along the Thames shore, and finding a strange creature that leads him into the murky depths of the river. The work was created by Amanda Hinge.
Last but not least, one of London’s ubiquitous grey squirrels, this one with a very cleanly peeled chestnut from one of Greenwich’s equally ubiquitous chestnut trees. We also caught glimpses of a red fox several times when we walked home after dusk, but never for long enough to capture a picture.
Our month – frankly most of 2022 – has really flown by. We’re anxious to see #1 son and their family this weekend, and a week later to head west to visit with #2 and his family.
That said, we’ll be ready to hit the road – or more correctly the sky and the river – again in November. A retirement spent travelling the world is a blast!
Lovely meeting you! Our son’s family just sent us stunning pictures of a sailboat tour around Seattle Harbour. Perfect weather – hope you’re sharing in that too.
You’ve captured London well! My grandfather was on leave in London during WW 1 when he read the notice posted at Canada House that his brother had been killed during the Battle of Amiens. I always make a pilgrimage there.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 
Welcome home! I hope Canada treated you as well as the rest of the world … this time! Love you Love the pictures!!!!!
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Thanks for chatting with us while waiting for the Icelandair check-in counter to open up yesterday. It was very pleasant.
Hope you had a nice trip home. Everything went pretty smooth for us. We arrived home about 9:30 PM PDT.
Joe & Barb
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Lovely meeting you! Our son’s family just sent us stunning pictures of a sailboat tour around Seattle Harbour. Perfect weather – hope you’re sharing in that too.
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You’ve captured London well! My grandfather was on leave in London during WW 1 when he read the notice posted at Canada House that his brother had been killed during the Battle of Amiens. I always make a pilgrimage there.
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What a trip! Your nature makes it so interesting. Thanks for sharing!
See you soon.
Al
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