Elaine's Diary: 2019

London and Europe 2019 trip - first post

Buckingham Palace

Well in October this year we went all around Europe including London. First stop was London and where did we go for our first outing? Buckingham Palace ofcourse!

Queen Victoria Memorial

In front of Buckingham Palace was the Queen Victoria Memorial. We stayed for about 20 minutes just walking around taking photos. Quite interesting but we didn't go inside.

Queen Victoria Memorial

We drove around London and saw among other things, Westminister Abbey.

Westminister Abbey

We drove past Trafalgar Square...(don't worry when we came back to London at the end of the trip, we did a stopover in Trafalgar Square and then went into the nearby The National Gallery).

Trafalgar Square

We went past Waterloo... below is The Guards Crimean War Memorial by John Bell in Saint James. It is located on Waterloo Place, at the junction of Regent Street and Pall Mall, about a quarter of the way from the Duke of York Column to Piccadilly Circus.

The Guards Crimean War Memorial

Then it was a short maybe about 1 hour, stopover at Saint Paul's Cathedral. Outside was a statue of Queen Anne and there was a security check which was a brief check of bags.

Statue of Queen Anne, St Paul's Churchyard

Inside Saint Paul's Cathedral

The Wellington Monument to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington by Alfred George Stevens

The dome of Saint Paul's Cathedral is painted by Sir James Thornhill

The interior of the dome showing how Thornhill's painting continues an illusion of the real architectural features.

The choir, looking east

Then we went underneath Saint Paul's Cathedral to the Crypt where all the tombs are kept.

Saint Christopher Wren's Tomb

A bell in the tombs of Saint Paul's Cathedral

Then we were off to the Tower of London.

The White Tower dates from the late 11th century.

Changing of the Queen's Guards in Tower of London

At least six ravens are kept at the Tower at all times, as they believe that if they were absent, England will fall. They are taken care of by the Ravenmaster, who is one of the Yeoman Warders.