England Excursion Part 1

Joe made it home from England with a slight accent, a new vocabulary, and a new fondness for tea the English way, with a little milk! (The photo above was taken in the York Train Station, by Joe. It's one of my favorites.) He decided to remain in England to avoid the high travel costs, plus he found there was so much to see that he was satisfied with a one country adventure. He has a gazillion great photos, more than I can post up here, so I am beginning a revolving display. Check back every week or so for a different display on a different topic.

Today's entry contains photos of a few of London's familiar landmarks. Enjoy!

Joe took this self-portrait of himself in front of St. Paul's Cathedral.
















Big Ben, which is the name of the bell, not the clock or the tower.
























Trafalgar Square
















Tower Bridge

Buckingham Palace












This guard at the Palace was in the process of turning while on his back and forth patrol. He had just come into position, and was stamping his foot quite loudly as he proceeded in his turn. Joe was impressed with how high he raised his knee, and the level of noise his stamping made. No, Joe didn't try to make the chap laugh!








This next photo is taken one rotation after he'd stomped, turned and continued patrolling. The gun he's holding is a loaded SA80/L85A1 with bayonet, which is the standard British assault rifle. You'll notice the foregrip is shrouded with a dust cover.



The British Museum (below) is full of GREAT THINGS! Joe says he saw mummies, an old Roman 20 sided die (as in dice), sculptures from all over the world, those long Tibetan horns used in ceremonies, innumerable busts of Romans and Greeks, crocodile hide parade armor, old swords, arrows, shields, and gladiatorial armor (he went through the Roman stuff a lot, he says), hieroglyphics, cunieform, sarcophagi (which are mummy coffins, think King Tut), jewelry from around the world ("It looks just like the stuff you buy downtown that the hippies would make. It does! It looks just like that!"), ancient money, and the equipment they used to make the money including stamps and presses all the way up to the 1950's era lathes etc., plus that famous statue from Egypt of the cat with the ring in its nose, and more. Too much to list here!













This is what Joe calls, "A Mossy Old Church" and they were everywhere. It's part of what we think of when we think of London, huh.














Next week's entry will showcase the Tower of London.

Toodle-oo!