London



We boarded an early mornng ferry from Hook of Holland for English Channel crossing to Harwich. On arrival, we boarded a coach and set off to London, a great city of more than 11million people.


My tourmates and I on a ferry to London

Here, we see the Houses of Parliament, the "Big Ben" (which is actually a bell), Westminster Abbey, Downing Street, which is the home and office of the Prime Minister. Next, we proceeded on to Trafalgar Square that commemorates Lord Nelson's defeat of the French Fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Not to be missed is the Tower Bridge, which has always been mistaken to be London Bridge.


Palace of Westminster (left) Houses of Parliament (right). The point of separation is the boundary of the red and green color as illustrated in the photograph below. The Big Ben is on the far right, which cannot be seen on this photograph.


Saw the red and green boundary?


St. James Palace                                       Buckingham Palace


Tower bridge


Tower of London

Next to the Tower of London, whose origin dates back to William the conqueror. Here, we see the legendary ravens and the immaculately dressed beefeaters. These magnificent birds, large members of the genus Corvus, the crow family, respond only to The Ravenmaster. They are likely to attack if approached too closely by anyone else. In common with many other members of the Crow family, ravens are eaters of carrion and live mostly on dead flesh. For centuries, ravens have guarded The Tower of London. Legend has it that, should the ravens ever leave, The White Tower would crumble and a great disaster would befall England. Fortunately, these respected residents, since the reign of King Charles II, have been protected by the royal decree.

Besides that, we also saw the world famous Crown Jewel.


The tower of London (Some resemblance to the one in "The Gladiator")


Beefeater and raven


The Great British Museum

The Great British Museum has the world's famous objects from Egypt, Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe, China etc. They even have real mummified bodies from Egypt and lots of ancient objects from all over the world. Do visit the British Museum if you go to London. It's a real eye-opener. You can take the Underground (commonly known as the Tube) to Russel Square or Tottenham Court Road Station. It's a short walk from the underground stations.

Some pictures taken at The Great British Museum

	Miniature of a Ming Dynasty Court yard house (15-16 AD)
	Buddhist Mandala (Qing Dynasty, Qianlong AD 1772)
	Money from 2500 BC to 600 AD
	Money of the modern society

Apple market                                         Umm... what's this?

Hope you enjoy the tour!

Back to Travel Page