To say goodbye to London, here’s one last view of the iconic Big Ben and Parliament sitting on the Thames River.   I look forward to coming to London again.

Big Ben and Parliament and more travel photos are available at BriansArt.com

Moments after my sunset shot over the rooftops of London (http://adventureswithandrea.com/2013/09/rooftops-of-london/), The quiet night was interrupted by a subway train rolling through the neighborhood.

For a better look, we decided to see if we could walk to the roof of our hotel.  As luck would have it, the door to the roof was wide open.  I couldn’t help but think of Chim Chim Cheree:

There’s things half in shadow
And halfway in light
On the rooftops of London
Caw! What a sight!

While vacationing in London, we stayed at a hotel on this street.  Everyday, as we would walk down this street to the subway, a certain song from My Fair Lady would pop into my head.

People stop and stare. They don’t bother me
For there’s no where else on earth that I would rather be
Let the time go by, I won’t care if I
Can be here on the street where you live

Can you tell what this is?

I’ll give you a hint.

It’s in a London museum.

…

Another clue?

I’m guessing it’s about 50 feet across.

…

The hole is large enough for people to fit through standing up.

…

Ok. I’ve kept you in suspense long enough.

…

It’s the entrance to an exhibit about the history of the Earth in the Natural History Museum in London. There is an escalator that goes up through a giant globe. This is a long exposure so the people are blurred.

Here’s another picture so you can see it better.

Buckingham Palace in London is a huge edifice.  Surely there’s more than just this one…

Lonely Guard

Buckingham Palace and more photo prints are available at BriansArt.com

London’s National History Museum is an awesome place.  It’s an amazing building, inside and out.  It’s got a huge collection of educational and entertaining exhibits to see.  And admission is free.  Now, we did have to stand for an hour in the rain to get in.  But, that’s our fault for not getting out of bed until late.  Live and learn.

When we entered this room, I said, “I want to get up there!” for a picture.  We went up the stairs and down some hallways to get to this vantage point. Sure enough, it was a great view of the giant interior front room of the museum.

Natural History Museum and more photo prints are available at BriansArt.com

So I got photo-bombed (sort of) … but it turned out well!

Just in case you didn’t know, the London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel that offers great views of the city.  It’s the most popular tourist attraction in the United Kindom.  I was taking lots of pictures – including one of Parliament (http://adventureswithandrea.com/2013/08/london-parliament/).  I took this photo of one of the pods and a couple of kids decided to make themselves the focus.  Ok – cool.  The Eye is all about tourism anyway.

(You’ll see a bigger version here – http://www.briansart.com/Locations/London/i-mwvDxjh where you can see the two guys giving the peace sign).

London Eye and more photos are available at BriansArt.com

Another icon of London is Tower Bridge.  Completed in 1984, it was built with a raising middle section to allow tall ships to pass.

Tower Bridge and more photograph prints are available at BriansArt.com

And now on to London!  What an amazing city.  One of the first things we did was see great views from the London Eye.  That’s how I got this picture of the Parliament building with the famous Big Ben clock tower.  The iconic red double decker buses are crossing the Thames river.  The rain even held off – for now.  What a great start to a London Vacation.

London Parliament and more photo prints are available at BriansArt.com