Europe Trip #21: London - 6 - St Pauls Cathedral View

As I was alluding to in my last post, it is amazing the amount of access the public can have to such an old building. The crypt was interesting, but was impressed me the most was the view from the top of the 500 odd steps to the highest viewing area. With hindsight it is a shame that I didn't take a couple of pictures of the landing I was on.

From memory, the guardrail is an old wrought iron structure, and in many places, it is so narrow that there is only room for a single person to stand. Awesome! :-)

Pictures consist of another shot of the outside of the cathedral, followed by the views from the top viewing area.

Europe Trip # 20: London - 5 - St Pauls Cathedral

A highlight of a trip to London was my visit to St Pauls Cathedral. It is very much a working church rather than purely a tourist attraction [worship services continue in the midst of the tourist traffic], and there's a lot to see.

Unfortunately, photography is not welcome inside the cathedral itself [although fair enough], so I can't show you the internal architecture, the whispering wall, the walk up to the tower on narrow steps and with low ceilings or the crypt [you'll just have to go and see yourself!], so I've selected a range of the external shots which might help to give you an idea of the size and presence of this building.

In my next post, I'll show you the view of from outside on the tower/ dome walkway. Impressive!

It is almost hard to believe that such an impressive structure was not only built 100's of years ago, but that it is still standing, is fit for purpose, and you have a great deal of freedom to explore parts of it. Thankfully, the Brits appear to have a substantially more sensible approach to health and safety than we do in New Zealand - if the Brits were to adopt our model, they'd have to instantly shut down most of the access to this building... and perhaps to many other buildings and in fact towns more than 50 - 100 years old! Three cheers for common sense!

Europe Trip #19: London - 4 - Buckingham Palace

A couple of days after arriving in London, we decided to go for a walk to Buckingham Palace, via Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. Thankfully, being a weekday, there were not the massive crowds that I expected at the palace, so it was easy to get a good look.

Actually, after multiple warnings of how busy the city is, there was hardly any time that I felt I was in a big crowd - no matter if it was a week day or a weekend...? Perhaps this is because September really is the end of the summer tourist season, and from what I understand, all of the schools were back also.

Anyway, on to the photos. The first one is of the Palace. The second is of a statue opposite the entrance to the Palace. The third of of some police and soldiers on horseback as we walked back to a tube station.

Lastly, and I can't tell you where I saw this [or I'd have to kill you...], but I may have found an American government organisation's secret hideout! :-)

Europe Trip #18: London - 3 - London Eye

Immediately after the Thames river cruise, we decided to go on the London Eye to get a different view of the city.

Surprisingly, there were no queues to contend with, and so within a few minutes we were on our way. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get a look around, although pick your day - a rainy or smoggy day would be no fun at all. Anyway, here are some of the photos I took on the 30 minute trip.

The second picture is an aerial view of the London Aquarium [and other businesses], the fourth is the Parliament building. Enjoy!

Europe Trip #17: London - 2 - River Trip

This post consists of more pictures from the Thames river cruise. The first building is apparently where the Bible was first translated into English and printed on a printing press. The Tower Bridge is pretty obvious and the Traitors Gate is part of the Tower of London complex [more later]. The HMS Belfast is a WWII battleship that is open for tours. Finally, the Gherkin [not the official name] building stands out from all over the city.

Europe Trip #16: London - 1 - River Trip

We arrived back in England [staying in London] a few days ago. After a good night´s sleep, one of the first things we did was a river cruise on the Thames up to Greenwich, stopped for lunch and a look around, then back.

For this and the next posts, I have simply put together some of the photos from that trip. It´s a nice little introduction for anyone not familiar with this part of London. More on the places I have visited over the next few posts.

I don´t claim any knowledge of the particular buildings, although the round glass building is city hall, and you might be able to spot the OXO building [home of the famous flavouring cubes!] and lastly, the clock is Big Ben.

Europe Trip #15: Salzburg - 4 - The Cathedral

This final post in my Salzburg series covers the Cathedral located in the middle of the old part of town. This cathedral is a Catholic church [apparantly there are about 42 Catholic churches in Salzburg - and 1 Protestant church!]. Entry is by donation, and they are happy for people to take photographs! I did see a sign [written in German of course] which said something about photographs - I presume it referred to not taking photos during services?

The first two photos are of mosaics on the ceilings, followed by part of the organ, then other bits and pieces. Obviously it was quite dim inside which made taking photographs quite challenging.

I won´t say much more here except that it´s well worth the visit [actually, Salzburg itself is well worth the visit]. Enjoy!

Europe Trip #14: Salzburg - 3 - Hohensalzburg Fortress

Hohensalzburg Fortress is an impressive structure, built up on a hill overlooking the entire area. The first building and much of the wall was present in 1077 AD, so it certainly qualifies as historic! Given the size of it, it must have been quite a busy place in it´s day. What I haven´t included here are pictures of the cannons, so they must had had a few enemies from time to time also :-).

Access is by either walking or by a very steep cable-car, entry is EUR$10.50 including access and return cable-car trips [I´m lazy - you can guess which option I took!]. I get the impression that much of the structure is off-limits to tourists as it didn´t take that long to get around and through it, but it was still well worth a visit.

You get panoramic views all around the area, and inside there is plenty to see and do including including places to eat and buy the obligatory souvenirs [if you´re not after a fortress-specific souvenir, it´s cheaper in town :-)].

It was a bit drizzly the day we went up, so the pictures don´t really do justice to the place - all I can say is that it should be added to your to do list if you visit Salzburg!