Travel Tuesday – Westminster Abbey and Parliament Area

Yet more photos from England for you, this time of the area around Westminster Abbey and Parliament (aka the Palace of Westminster)!

We had a great time strolling around this historic area. The only bummer was that you couldn’t take photos inside Westminster Abbey. There was so much to see there and that I wanted to share with you. But the good news is that Westminster Abbey has some great information and photos. You can click here to see some of the sights and get an idea for yourself of the immensity of this cathedral which was built in 960 and holds hundreds of tombs and monuments.

My favorite was the Poet’s Corner where many famous writers are honored, starting with Chaucer. Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Rudyard Kipling are buried in the Abbey and there are monuments to Jane Austen, William Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot just to name a few you might know! We also took a moment to check out where Charles Darwin was buried beside a number of other famous scientists because the geek in me just couldn’t resist.

Big Ben (apparently the name of the big hour bell and not the clock!) is nearby as are the Houses of Parliament. Unfortunately Parliament was closed due to the “bank holiday”, so we missed seeing the House of Commons and House of Lords, but the outside is quite impressive and we had the treat of getting a glimpse at English politics at work when the Prime Minister asked the Queen to disband Parliament and set a date for new elections.

In Britain they only have a month to campaign. What a grand idea! Too bad we can’t do that here!

Almost directly across the way from the Westminster area is the London Eye — a giant ferris wheel of sorts. I wanted to go for a ride, but the lines were very long and my family – knowing my fear of heights – feared I’d freak out since it takes at least 45 minutes to make a complete loop on the Eye.

I hope you enjoy the sites of this part of London! If you can’t see the slide show below, you can also visit my Facebook Page to see the photos of Westminster and Parliament!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058803&id=1130005412&l=a5a6721ca7

Travel Tuesday – London Gardens 2010

I’m back! Sorry I wasn’t back yesterday as promised but computer issues ate up most of the day.

So you may have been wondering where I’ve been. Well, hubby and I had been planning this trip for some time and we cashed in all our frequent flyer and hotel miles and headed off to London for a variety of reasons.

We visited our best friend in London and I got great inspiration for new stories and research one in particular.

We had a wonderful time and the break from legal and writing work did me a world of good. After feeling a wealth of frustration over a number of projects in the last few months, all the new sights, sounds and foods revived my flagging creativity.

I hope the sights and info will inspire you as well as over the next few months Tip Tuesdays become Travel Tuesdays as I share some of the 600+ photos that I took all over London and nearby environs.

Today’s photographs are from some of the parks in London as well as the gardens in the area. The Brits love their gardens and it shows in the neatly manicured plots in front of many of the homes. In particular, the camelias caught my eye as they were in full bloom in an assortment of colors. I’ve always wanted to plant a camelia, but NJ is just too cold. Surprisingly, London which is far more North of NJ, has more temperate weather and because of this palm trees, camelias and other plants seem to thrive there.

The weather during our visit was a little drizzly, but not cold which made it just fine for the long walks we took through the various neighborhoods and parks. We even had two beautiful sunny and warm days and when that happened everyone seem to come out of their homes and offices and head to the nearest greens.

The photos in this collection are of three different parks:

St. James Park is located directly behind 10 Downing Street and Whitehall Chapel and in front of Buckingham Palace. It is a lovely park with a lake in the middle of it. Lush lawns, trees and flowers were all over and since this park was close to offices, Parliament, etc. it was mobbed when the sun came out.

Regents Park was right near our hotel in the Camden area of London. It’s also right next to the London Zoo or ZedSL as they call it (ZSL in American Speak). Even bigger than St. James, Regents likewise had lovely gardens and an immense lake filled with an assortment of very interesting water fowl.

Finally, St. John’s Wood Church Grounds was a smaller park along the route to the Tube (aka the subway). We passed by the park several times as they had closed our Tube line for servicing during their “bank holiday” (aka public holiday) over the Easter weekend. Take a moment to notice the very old tombstones scattered in the park and buried beneath the flowering camelias. It was rather creepy to walk past them at night, but it got my writer’s mind going about what might happen in such a place in the dark!

We spent over a week in London and also did a daytrip to Stonehenge and Bath, so look for tons more photos in the coming weeks as well as some video.

I hope you enjoy!

If you can’t see the slideshow below, you can click on this link to see the London Gardens 2010 photos!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055743&id=1130005412&l=7d26d54995