A Weekend In London

30th November to 2nd December 2002

Because we were so busy on the weekend of our wedding we didn't really get a chance to properly enjoy and appreciate our room and the rest of the quite wonderful Great Eastern Hotel. It may be expensive during the week, but at weekends the prices come right down and even we can afford a room there. Using Jacq's birthday as an excuse we booked a Friday & Saturday night there and for two days became tourists in the town in which we live.

We had a ball.

In a change from the norm some of these pictures were taken w/ a 'proper' camera and the prints scanned in. We can wholeheartedly recommend Kodak's rather wonderful TMAX black and white 3200 ASA film. The colour shots were taken with the digital Fujifilm Finepix 4700.

• Saturday morning and the first stop was the Copper Grill. A trip down memory lane for Ed and still a fine greasy spoon.
• Next stop was the British Museum for a look at Anthony Gormley's "A Field For The British Isles". We weren't allowed to take pictures of it, but getting this arty shot of the new roof helped soften the blow.
• On Saturday night after dinner with Sarah and Michael we headed out around midnight into the rain slicked City streets for some nighttime snapping. First stop was the Lloyds Building. Jacqui's the small figure in the distance on the left.
• With all the lights on it it really looks impressive at night. Here's a close-up.
• The night setting on the digital camera makes it look smoother and more 'milky' than it really is.
• Here's a similar shot with the b/w film.
• Next came the main attraction of the evening, the latest eccentricity on the London skyline, we present The Gherkin. The construction company turned on the green and purple lights on the Thursday evening to celebrate the fitting of the final piece of stee. It really is an impressive structurel.
• The Gherkin in moody b/w.
• Reflections of the lights in the pavement at the foot of the building.
• This would have been great if it had worked, but the sign got too bleached out.
• A similar effect in b/w, this one reminds me of the cover of an Ed McBain novel.

Posted on Monday, 9 December, 2002 5:54 PM