A London Vacation

[Mathos]

We were soon making our way along the
Jubilee Bridge and across the Thames.





Some nice views from up there.




Beautiful location.

We were making our way towards The London Eye.





It's a very impressive machine.




Some nice views from this side of the Thames.


Once on-board, a half hour or so passes by and
your almost as high as the wheel can take you.




London Eye Facts
At 135 m high, the British Airways London Eye is the Worlds largest
observation wheel,
offering fantastic views over the Capital, west looking down on the ...
Welcome to WilcoxWorldlondon_eye_facts.htm - Cached - Similar


Simple but interesting facts.




You can see Wembley on this photograph,

Some excellent views.



Very beautiful.

I'll put some more on in due course.

[sunsetter]

well done mate, london is one of my favorite cities, purely because theres so much too see, and the history.....

great thread

[jizzybloke]

great thread

Yep same from me too, thanks Mathos!

[Chuckycheese]

You did a fantastic job with the pictures; thanks for sharing!! Isn't London great? We missed the London Mews, I'm sorry to say. (I'm a yank, by the way!)

[Mathos]

^^^
^^
^

Thanks lads, glad the same is appreciated.
London is an exceptionally wonderful & beautiful City.

It tops the world in my book.


Thanks as well to the management for the movement...

It could get a five star rating with a bit of luck this one.

[Mathos]

Absolutely amazing how much you can take in from The London Eye.



Obviously we were just one capsule from the top here.



Terrific opportunity to take some unique photographs.

The 'Gherkin' stands proud in The Capital.




Major construction, and colossal redevelopment going on
in every corner of the City.

I meant to take a look at the Olympic City Development,
time was an issue though.

[Mathos]

You did a fantastic job with the pictures; thanks for sharing!! Isn't London great? We missed the London Mews,

I'm sorry to say. (I'm a yank, by the way!)

Just noticed this bit Chuck!

What are your personal reasons for being sorry that you are "A Yank?"

Interesting point this Pal.

Please do the gentlemanly thing and enlighten us.

[Mathos]

It's amazing how much The Thames meanders through the city on route to the Channel.




I was told from a reliable source that
The Thames supports a hundred and sixteen different species of fish.




What a gorgeous place it is.



I'm glad Guy Fawkes never got to see his 'Gunpowder Plot'
come to materialisation.

The Houses of Parliament are an outstanding
feature of our history and heritage.

[Bower]

Great thread, well done and thank you.

[Bobcock]

Great thread, lived in London for many years and will probably go back there once the work dries up in Thailand.

You produced some of these pics using HDR?



This one for example? If so was it hand held? Photomatix?

[the dogcatcher]

Cracking stuff.
How much did you spend?

Also it's a small world.
That's a mate of mine driving the rib.

[Bangyai]

.

Time for some family bragging. My parents were once invited to afternoon tea by personal invitation on this bit of turf. Of course , the ' personal invite ' also went out to a few hundred other people who had done something to further British industry so not so exclusive. Nonetheless my mum was as pleased as punch and bought a new ' titfa ' for the occasion. Even managed a few words with one of the royals, prince Charles I think , which was nice. Dad got home and the first thing he wanted was a plate of beans on toast and a hot cuppa .

[terry57]

Cracking top quality thread with well thought out information combined with high quality pictures. Bloody top work with this one.

Cheers matey.

[natalie8]

Great stuff again, Mathos, and yes, good that this was moved to its own thread. You've given me lots of good ideas on what to do and where to go once I'm there.

PS I noticed the grey clouds hovering adn TBH, I miss that. We don't get much of that here, maybe two or three days in the whole year. I'm sure I'll get losts of clouds and rain when I go in November. I'm really looking forward to it.

[Mathos]

Terry said;-

Cracking top quality thread with well thought out information combined with high quality pictures. Bloody top work with this one.

Cheers matey.

Thanks for that terry it's appreciated.


The dogcatcher said;-

Cracking top quality thread with well thought out information combined with high quality pictures. Bloody top work with this one.

Cheers matey.

Cheerrs Pal..

I'll let you know soon as my Card bill arrives..

It ain't cheap though.

[Mathos]

Great stuff again, Mathos, and yes, good that this was moved to its own thread. You've given me lots of good ideas on what to do and where to go once I'm there.

PS I noticed the grey clouds hovering adn TBH, I miss that. We don't get much of that here, maybe two or three days in the whole year. I'm sure I'll get losts of clouds and rain when I go in November. I'm really looking forward to it.

Cheers Natalie, I'm sure you will have a great time.

England swings like a pendulum do,
Bobbies on bicycles, two by two,
Westminster Abbey the tower of Big Ben,
The rosy red cheeks of the little children.

Roger Whittaker.

[Mathos]

Great thread, well done and thank you.

Cheers Pal, glad you are enjoying ther same.

[Mathos]

.

Time for some family bragging. My parents were once invited to afternoon tea by personal invitation on this bit of turf. Of course , the ' personal invite ' also went out to a few hundred other people who had done something to further British industry so not so exclusive. Nonetheless my mum was as pleased as punch and bought a new ' titfa ' for the occasion. Even managed a few words with one of the royals, prince Charles I think , which was nice. Dad got home and the first thing he wanted was a plate of beans on toast and a hot cuppa .

Sounds like they had a great time Bangyai.

They will be proud of that event for sure.

[Mathos]

Great thread, lived in London for many years and will probably go back there once the work dries up in Thailand.

You produced some of these pics using HDR?



This one for example? If so was it hand held? Photomatix?

Hi Bobcock, photographs are taken with a hand held Fujifilm F70 EXR.

It's a cheap, idiot proof type camera I purchased from Tesco.


Flobo has a Fujifilm Finepix S1500. Again a Tesco deal buy.

To be honest with you we use the automatic button on both cameras.

Then I tweak them up if I think necessarry on the Windows Picture Manager programme.

That of course enhances the cloud effect by taking down the
'Highlights Button.'

Obviously this is creating the HDR (High Dynamic Range)
you refer to but I'm not familiar with anything about it,
simply messing about with the various bits and
pieces on Windows.

Some times I make a real hash of things (most times) and
have to revert to the original, then re-set the
same with the automatic button.


I try to guage a good photograph and having
taken so many this last few years
(since digital photography came my way)
I suppose we have both got quite lucky with a few shots.

Attrempting to repeat a sequence though, never seems to work.

C'est la vie.

I've been messing about with a couple of night shots of Big Ben.



Maybe they are alright.





I'm open to advice.

In fact I'd welcome it.


Cheers Bobcock.

[Mathos]

Trafalger square is an outstanding place in London.






Nelson's Column being rather unique.


But I also find those magnificent English Lions
fantastic pieces of art.



The red flag with three golden lions comes from the English coat of arms
(seen in the first and fourth quarters of the United Kingdom's coat of arms).
They are three lions passant guardant, in heraldic terms.


Pity they can't play football for us.

[Mathos]

Barclay's have created a marvellous service with the push bike rental around London.




Nice little money earner for The Bankers of course.




They're attractive machines and from what we saw,
they are already a popular attraction.

Boris Johnson: London Mayor To Launch Barclay's Cycle Hire Project ...
30 Jul 2010 ... The Barclay's Cycle Hire project
will allow people in the capital to use bicycles
stored at docking points in central London. ...
news.sky.com/skynews/...London...Barclays..
./201007415673211

[Mathos]

The Rickshaws too, they are going around London like 'Bats out of Hell'





They appear to be very popular.



Numerous variations.

Welcome to London Rickshaws
Welcome to the official website for London Rickshaws.
Welcome to London Rickshaws - Cached - Similar




This one as well.

Eco Chariots, Rickshaw and Pedicab hire London, promo, weddings
Rickshaw hire in London, 020 7207 3435,
green event hire, private, corporate hire,
marketing, responsible advertising for green London.
Eco Chariots, Rickshaw and Pedicab hire London, promo, weddings - Cached - Similar

A couple of interesting links there.

[Mathos]

There's a tremendous amount of construction
plus redevelopment going on in the Capital.




The Soho area once boasted a marvellous Hotel (in it's day) The Regents Palace.

It was the first London Hotel I ever stayed at back in the 60's.

No en suite, each floor had a block of toilets and
showers at the end of the corridor.

I heard it was being totally demolished.


Apparently it has been, but is also being rebuilt.

The History of The Regent Palace Hotel at Piccadilly Circus
The Regent Palace Hotel opened in 1914 and situated just off
Regent Street, ... Located near Soho,
it was an obvious meeting point for ladies of the night ...
www.regentpalacehotel.co.uk/history.htm - Cached - Similar


There's a tremendous amount of work being carried out in the locality.




Must be seen to be in keeping with
contemporary standards, and it is.





There's no stop to it all.





Great area in general 'The West End'



For tourism especially.

[Mathos]

It's a very special place.




As a tourist a magnificent place, non stop sight-seeing,
marvellous entertainment.


It doesn't stop.

But to others it can be a living hell.


Have you seen the old man
In the closed-down market
Kicking up the paper,
with his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you see no pride
And held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news

____

So how can you tell me you're lonely,
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind

___________

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She's no time for talking,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags.

____________


In the all night cafe
At a quarter past eleven,
Same old man is sitting there on his own
Looking at the world
Over the rim of his tea-cup,
Each tea last an hour
Then he wanders home alone

___________

And have you seen the old man
Outside the seaman's mission
Memory fading with
The medal ribbons that he wears.
In our winter city,
The rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn't care

[Mathos]

So many buildings of such a fantastic calibre in one
City is unique in it's own concept.





It's no wonder Prince Charles makes reference to
some of the modern buildings being akin to a
carbuncle on the landscape.


I can see where he is coming from.




The pattern was surely set many years ago, why spoil it now?