England, Scotland & Wales # 1 September 2013

We went on a tour of England, Scotland & Wales. We tacked on a couple nights before the tour to recuperate after the flight and do some exploring, and a night after the tour to relax and unwind before the flight home.

We left 30° C weather in Oshawa, looking forward to the cooler temps that were forecast (at least I was, Jane likes hot), only to find that in London it was 30° there for the first couple of days too. Go figure. Their weather forecasting isn't any better than ours.

It was a busy tour, but we saw lots, did lots and met some wonderful people on the tour and along the way. The weather on the tour could hardly have been better... as some of the natives pointed out to us. There was almost no rain and when it did rain we were on the bus, other than a couple exceptions. So no complaints weather-wise. In fact, we were all very thankful. We had fair amount of overcast skies (which I prefer to the blazing sun) but we had our share of sunny, blue skies too.

My first shot in London... someone's balcony.

Our hotel was in Chelsea, near Imperial Wharf, an upscale area now of million-pound (or thereabouts) flats. I like their round mailboxes. They're cool.

And here's a cool car, parked by a park (a square block) that was strictly for the residents of the area. You needed a key to get into it.

If trees could talk... and this one almost looks like it could. The face, a distended belly-button and hands in the air, as if to say, "Stop!" I know, I know.

We'd seen the main tourist sights of London on an earlier trip so we looked for other things we'd heard of but not seen. Locals told us about the St. Pancras/King's Cross train stations. I love trains. And I love train stations too, especially ones that have some character, so we jumped on the tube and headed to the stations.

The interior has a pretty sharp ceiling.

The high-speed trains that go to Paris & Brussels (Eurostar) through the channel tunnel are here, clocking 186mph (300km/hr) at times on the trip, slowing to 160mph for the tunnel.

England is now planning a high-speed train for certain points within England that will reach speeds of 250mph on its journeys. How fast do our trains go?

Check the sculptures on the 'clouds'.

I love sculptures and Europe has 1000s. There are several in the St. Pancras station.

How good is this... they have a couple pianos (one upstairs, one down) set out that passers-by can sit down and play as they wish. Both pianos were in use when we were there. They sounded great. This group of kids was gathered around one of their buddies that had the musical skills.

This sculpture is about 15 ft tall. The portion below their feet is a series of very impressive sculpted  'images'.

 

Some of the sculpted images, obviously done by a very talented sculptor. Remember, you can click the images to enlarge them. They all tell a story.

English pubs are like no other. So many have wooden facades and flowers. Flowers are everywhere in Europe. They add so much to a cityscape. Some of the pub names themselves are enough to lure me in for a pint.

Though we wandered around the area of the Tower of London on our previous London visit, it was closed, so this time we had to see the crown jewels of course... no photography allowed of the jewels.

This pigeon wanted his picture taken in front of the Tower Bridge.

A Beefeater regaling us with his spiel.

These looked odd but they hearken back to the menagerie that kings kept at the Tower of London.

Enlarge this one for sure and read about our blood-thirsty forebears.

King or not, wouldn't work today would it.

Though I normally love sculptures, these ones (and the earlier ones of the big cats) are just plain weird.

Canadian Mounties and the Queen's Guards share the wow-factor for most tourists and have their pictures taken 1000s of times a day.

Cool busby.

You gotta straighten it bud. Try some 'sneaky' maneuver. Lean against the wall or something.

Out for a sunset stroll near the Tower.

Until installment 2...

- fini -