Mr NYC in London

I've been to London, England many times, most recently in 2008 (I even blogged about it at the time). But I never really took a lot of pictures when I was there until I travelled there quite recently and did just that. 

I didn't have a lot of time or energy to do anything too ambitious so I did the typically tourist route of walking from the Houses of Parliament up to Buckingham Palace (making a stop at the National Gallery along the way). Here are some of the pictures of my walk, starting at Big Ben and walking up Whitehall, the enormous city block that contains many of the government ministries including Number 10 Downing Street, the residence and workplace of the British Prime Minister:

Along Whitehall there is a giant arch leading to the House Guard Parade which is a massive field, right in the heart of central London, where you can see where the royal horses are trained and "paraded" around (most recently for the King Charles III coronation).

Then up to the palace, crossing under the Admiralty arch, where I caught the tail's end of the changing of the guard, and saw the outgoing regiment march along the Mall and vanish into nearby St. James' Palace:

Around the palace, in the nearby parks, are some other interesting things to see, including the Canada Gate (a gift from the Great White North to its imperial masters), Clarence House (where the King and Queen currently live, and which is interestingly not on any public maps of the area), the rather dull and old pile of St James' Palace, statues of King George VI and his wife, the Queen Mother, and a huge monument to a forgotten 19th century Duke of York (the Prince Andrew of his day) who was a great battlefield commander -- and the joke of why his monument is so high up is because he had huge debts so he didn't want his creditors to be able to get to him:

I went back to Trafalgar Square, the very center of London, where I stopped for a bite to eat a Pret'a'Manger (there are Pret'a'Mangers EVERYWHERE in London) and I saw a rally of sorts of Iranian dissidents who seem to want to bring back the Shah:

Right off Trafalgar Square is the beautiful small church St Martin's-in-the-Field (an interesting name for a place that's in the heart of a huge city). It's shockingly small and intimate, and not crowded at all -- and very beautiful and quiet (it also has a restaurant downstairs in its old crypt and it holds outdoor concerts during the summer):

I especially love this somewhat hokey, somewhat profound public art structure that contains the words, "Here times leaps up, and strikes eternity." 

Then I went to the National Gallery which will be a whole other blog post. 

Afterwards, I walked north and stopped at Sicilian Avenue, a small little side-street with a restaurant that I remember going to with my mom on my first night in London with her 1986 (I even remember what I ordered -- fish). It was nice to go back and check it out 37 years later:

Finally, I stopped off and had some gelato in Russell Square, a big park-like place with a beautiful fields and restaurant and benches -- and right next to it is a huge gorgeous (and expensive) hotel called the Hotel Russell (my mom and I had dinner there one night in 1986 where I ate more food in one sit-down then any other time in my life):

And that was my day! I always enjoy going to London and hope to be back there someday -- although I'd like to see many other cities in the UK sometime soon. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!