My standard photographic walkabout usually results in hundreds of pictures of practically anything that catches my eye. I eventually throw away around three-quarters of those “negatives” – and use only a portion of the remainder for retrospectives in this space – but my default stance is “shoot first”.
That is the norm for places that I am seeing for the first time, or places that I know I have never really taken pictures of. London is different. My knowledge of it may be dated by a not-too-insignificant absence of 15 years, but aside from a bunch of skyscrapers erected in the last decade-plus, it remains remarkably unchanged from the time I called it my hometown. I hardly have a superior photographic portfolio of this great city, but many of its major sights have appeared on these pages in the past. Frequently erring on the side of “I already have that perspective in my albums, what’s the point of duplication?” I was probably too selective on this latest visit. Here is a small cut of what I ended up with.
Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery.
Big Ben in the distance, as seen from the foot of the Nelson Monument on Trafalgar Square.
Horse Guards Parade and the Admiralty.
An actual Horse Guard atop a horse.
St. Paul’s Cathedral’s dome as seen from across the river.
The cluster of skyscrapers of the City of London, headlined by the “walkie-talkie” (officially the Fenchurch Building at 20 Fenchurch Street).
That view represents the biggest change in the London skyline from what we remember. In our days, it was dominated by 30 St Mary Axe – “the Gherkin”, which my kids called “the pickle building” in American fashion. It still stands somewhere in there, but you cannot really see it from most angles, obscured by taller buildings.
Millennium Bridge seemingly runs all the way towards St Paul’s (it does not, actually).
Another perspective of the dome of St Paul’s, this time with the Cannon Street railway bridge and the Cannon Street station in the foreground.
HMS Belfast, with both the Tower of London on the left and the Tower Bridge on the right filling out the perspective.
The Tower will enjoy a separate blog post before long, on account of its status as a World Heritage site.
These are the remains of the Winchester Palace, a 13th-century bishop’s residence. It is located literally around the corner from the Borough Market, which used to be one of our favorite stomping grounds in the city, but we somehow never stopped by here before.
Here is another perspective of the museum warship on the Thames and the Tower Bridge behind it, as seen from the stern of a river bus emerging from under the comparatively nondescript London Bridge.
The next photo is a clear departure from “why would I need another perspective of this?” approach. It is very similar to the view that already appeared three times in my previous London posts (for instance, here).
Unlike that older photo, it was taken not from the opposite bank of the Thames, but instead from the deck of the river bus.
And in this perspective also taken from the boat, the Millennium Bridge appears as if completely hanging in the air.
In the background are the already seen “walkie-talkie” and the Cannon Street station, and also one of the more colorful of the Thames bridges, the Southwark Bridge.
Also comparatively exuberant, the Blackfriars Bridge.
Moving over to Soho, this is Goodwin’s Court, one of the pedestrian passages in the middle of the big city that you may not even realize is there unless specifically told by someone in the know.
Although not technically a location for a Harry Potter movie, it features on the Harry Potter walking tour, and at least one resident plays up to that association.
Nearby Cecil Court is a wider commercialized pedestrian passage, home to galleries, bookshops, and antiquities and curiosities sellers.
Bedford Square is a grand example of a common urban residential setup in London and other parts of England – Georgian terraces surrounding a central garden.
And a relatively busier street in the City, on this stretch known as Eastcheap.
A few pubs.
That last one is not the Sherlock Holmes Museum located at 221b Baker Street, but rather a themed pub around the corner from Charing Cross, which was our standard point of access to central London from the southeastern direction. We went here for lunch many times during our years in London. When the older kids learned that we were planning a trip to London with the youngest, one of their first questions was, “Are you going to take her to the Sherlock Holmes pub?”
A couple of iconic London sights in a wide shot – the London Eye and the Westminster Palace on the opposite bank.
A few perspectives from the capsule of the Eye, starting with the Charing Cross in the foreground (doubling as the MI6 headquarters in the last few James Bond installments), and the BT Tower and the colorful buildings of Central Saint Giles further back.
The tallest skyscraper in town – the Shard. My erstwhile place of work in Canary Wharf is seen in the distance.
Wider perspectives in the roughly eastern direction, taking in the City and beyond.
The Westminster Palace, Big Ben, and the Westminster Abbey.
We went on a tour of the palace on this trip, and since it happens to be part of a World Heritage site, it will enjoy a separate photo retrospective.
These paparazzi in the Norfolk Square Garden near Paddington were practically the first pictures I took on the trip.
I probably should have made a bit like them, but ended up much less prolific.