I started out by taking the bus to St. Paul’s. I wanted to back to the cathedral, maybe take some pictures since it was raining when I was there before and today the sun was actually out! Well, I got off and just started walking toward what looked like a nice cathedral spiral. Um, it wasn’t. But that was okay. I never did go to the church; I did find a nice little place called Café Nero, where I got tea and a crescent since it was almost lunch time. While I was there I read the book of Luke, which was part of the assignment for tomorrow. Then, I went out and walked down the street. The street kept changing names, but it was basically the same road until I got to the Tower of London. I took pictures from several different angles, still experimenting with my camera, and got some that I was really quite pleased with. The picture below I actually took from across the Thames, but it’s the same thing.
I then went down to Saint Katherine’s Wharf and browsed through shops looking at all kinds of things. I did end up buying an umbrella, since I’ve been looking for one since the day after I got here and realized that I really was supposed to have one. This one was about a third of the price of similar ones I’ve been seeing and was within what I thought was a reasonable umbrella price, (as opposed to thirty dollars) which was nice.
I then went over to the Tower Bridge (please note, this is not London Bridge. I had been confused on that, and I don’t know if I was the only one. London Bridge is the next bridge down the river, on the other side of the Tower, and just looks like a bridge. Tower Bridge is the one that is the ‘London Icon’. See picture below.)
There I went up to the top walkway (some hundred plus stairs). On the way, I was stopped to have my bag searched and my picture taken. Like Parliament, I suppose they are on the lookout for terrorists. I then walked all the way across the one side, taking pictures and absorbing the view and information posters on the walls. I then went back and went down the other walkway. It turned out that I couldn’t actually get down the other side, so I went back down the way I came. After crossing the bridge, I went down to the Engine rooms on the other side to see the mechanics of the hydraulics that lift the bridge. It was pretty neat.
This brought me to the other side of the Thames, from where I took the Queen’s Walk down to Hay’s Wharf. I looked at the shops there, wandered around and felt like a tourist, and left. I’m trying to avoid the tourist feeling, although I’ll admit that with my camera I’m sure it’s obvious! So, pictures are my one concession to the fact that I really am a foreigner, and am knock-out amazed by London. I do try to avoid gaping at spectacular sights, however wonderful they may be, and go past the river with a minimum of glances. Summary of a paragraph that probably should be edited: I’m trying to be inconspicuous, but I make exceptions when it comes to taking pictures, and I refuse to sacrifice seeing things that are incredible just to look like I’ve seen them before – I just try to avoid staring. Okay, that didn’t help anything! (In order to maintain credibility as a writer, I must say that this entire paragraph says exactly what I want it to say.)
After Hay’s Wharf I followed the Queen’s Walk down to London Bridge. I went out on the bridge and took another picture of the Tower Bridge, with the sunset lighting and the HMS Belfast in the foreground. I’d been watching it as I came up the river, and was quite pleased with the way it turned out. I feel like at last I’m starting (note the emphasis on beginning) to notice some of the things about lighting, slant, and flash vs. no flash that will, hopefully, improve the quality of my pictures. I then took the Northern tube line to Angel, walked and window shopped some more, and eventually got on a bus to go home. It turned out that I had walked almost the entire distance, but that was okay and I got off a stop or two later, caught another bus for the station right near the Centre, got off a stop early (oops) and walked home. I was (am) tired, but it was a good day out there and I got my readings finished this evening, and have been hanging out with Bethany while writing this, listening to the Dvorak Cello Concerto in b minor, and relaxing. It has been a good evening. GStQ
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