More from London

London was a city that felt like it has been photographed millions of times (well, there were millions of tourists with cameras on the day we were there), but this page has a few of the photos I took, of things that took my fancy.

The first picture was taken as our bus whizzed by Trafalgar Square. Named after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 (the most decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars), I guess it wasn't surprising to see that Admiral, Lord Nelson abounded. Well, in statue and in ship if not in body.

Something that not all of you Londonites (all those friends and family who have lived in, or near London, or just visited there a long time before me!) will know about the newest shrine to Nelson (erected May 2010) - a giant ship in a bottle, of which I took a photo as our bus whizzed by Trafalgar Square on our second time through.


I was stunned at just how many statues there were in London (and Paris) - something I never have noticed in Wellington (but since returning, I have been looking at the architecture more, and discovered there are statues in Wellington). Funny how visiting other countries makes you much more aware of your own

So, Nelson. I was surprised to see how 'real' Nelson is to the inhabitants of London. In Windsor Castle (many days later), there was a whole room dedicated to Admiral Lord Nelson and the battle of Waterloo (and not a small room either!).

This leads nicely in to my thoughts on World Wars. Here in New Zealand I've never really thought much about the wars - apart from where they touched my own family history. I had a great-great-grandmother, Annie Robinson, who lost two brothers in the First World War. Then, twenty years later, she lost two brothers in the Second World War. Can you imagine her sending away her sons in the knowledge that wars are real, and do kill people? And when I say she lost brothers and sons, that's a euphimism for the fact that they were brutally killed. On purpose. By someone else. In peacetime, that's called murder.

Anyway, for me, the wars are about my ancestors losing people. In London, I saw the results of the bombing of the 1940s. It is in the gaps in the streets (more often than not filled with brutish 1950s buildings) and in the scars on the buildings. We saw some of these scars as we travelled the streets of London. In Poland too, I noticed that World Wars were not far from the surface. I guess that in New Zealand, we are physically remote from the actual events of the wars, so are not reminded of how many lives were affected, less than one hundred years ago. Sometimes distance and isolation is a good thing.

Back to London! Another fascination for me was seeing the names of things that I know - Paddington Station, Edgeware Road, Leceister Square... all names on the monopoly board. Combine this with famous brands, and history - shops that were established in the 1700s for example - for a Kiwi girl, these things made London very familiar, yet hugely different. To me, England is what New Zealand will look like when it finally grows up (in about 1,000 years).

How was this for mixing famous names (Twining), ancient history (I mean, Twinings Tea started operating in 1706. That is 63 years before Captain James Cook set foot in New Zealand, and 136 years before my family decided to settle here (in Nelson)) and a fascinating piece of architecture (check out the size of the buildings either side!)?

Another new thing in London were the many elephants scattered around the streets. Each was painted or decorated in a different way, and apparently represented the work of different artists. They were placed on the 1st of June, and would be auctioned off at the end of June. Fundraising for some charity or other. These elephants were in Green Park, just beside Buckingham Palace. It was a little odd to see them there - from the pomp and ceremony of The Mall and Buckingham Palace, to a group of... fantastically painted... elephants.

Not the Tower of London as our guide hastened to tell us, the Tower Bridge was an instantly recognised landmark of London for me. And for Liliane, who knew its name, and a few nights later, showed me that it featured in her Peter Pan DVD. What surprised me when I watched the opening scene in the DVD is how true to life the London scene is - I was able to tell Liliane that I had seen many of the types of houses in which the Darlings lived. Speaking of the houses, I was surprised to see so many brick houses - I simply hadn't realised that the majority of people in England (OK, so this may be a gross generalisation) live in brick, terrace, houses - all joined together! It was almost odd to come back to Wellington, to each house with its own land, completely separate from its neighbours.

The photo above was taken from a spot quite near the actual Tower of London. I didn't take any photos of that place - some say it is the most haunted building in England, and I have to agree. Terrible things happened there - the building has an horrific aura, and although I would dearly love to see the Crown Jewels, and (before my trip) was keen to go inside, nothing will get me inside that place. Cold, dark, dank and haunted. 1,000 years old (started by William the Conqueror), so ancient and historical - what I went to see, but no way. Nohow. I will leave that for others less aware of ghosts.

Many people seem to remember St Paul's being black. On the day I went, the sky was certainly black, but the church was white. I found the sheer size of this beautiful building hard to understand, but my favourite story (from our guide) was that there were pineapples on the top of the building. Pineapples, guilded in gold. My initial reaction was that the guide was pulling my leg, but no, squinting up (and avoiding the raindrops) I could see these ornaments for myself. This was one of the few stops on our whirlwind tour of London, and I'm so glad I got off the bus, listened to the stories, and had a closer look for myself. Beautiful building, I will be back.

"Look up, way up, and between these buildings on your right!" Doing as our guide had told me, I managed to capture a quick photo of the 'wedding cake church'. Our guide explained that a baker's daughter was getting ready for her wedding, and wanted a fantastic cake (probably one that would blow away her in-laws, and all her friends). The man, wanting to please his daughter sought his inspiration everywhere, until finally, looking to the skies, he saw the steeple of this church. And so was born the first tiered wedding cake. Cool story, huh!