London

Ok, I've reached the end of my journey. The last day was hanging out in London. Started the morning with a walk down to Westminster and clipper up to Greenwich followed by a run to Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. I ended up being out for 14 hours and walked over 22km's. Wore my shoes right out!  My Fuji X100S took around 900 shots this trip and have nothing but praise for the work this little camera does.

Crossing the Thames early in the morning.

Although it was one of the first days of the trip that had sunshine I couldn't help but capture this backlight in mono.

Anyone need a lock?

The "eye"

Looking for different angles.

London Bridge from the clipper

Finally arrived in Greenwich, this is the painted chapel on the grounds of the old Naval Academy.

Painted chapel on the left and the painted hall on the right.  Unfortunately the hall was closed and I couldn't get inside.

Looking across the Thames, you can see the O2 in the center.

Inside the painted chapel.  They freaked out over my camera, yet they want my money?!?.  Apparently their issue was due to someone singing up at the front....   Snuck a few shots anyhow - bite me.

Can you see how I'm impacting that singer up at the front?  lol  Kept trying to get a picture without this goof looking at me but he was relentless haha

A display of the Baltic Glass Exchange in the Maritime Museum.  (Check it on Wikipedia, pretty cool story)

The rain came down on me while walking up to the Royal Observatory but the upside was catching this lovely rainbow over Greenwich.

And another one over the Royal Observatory

Standing on the Meridian Line.   Those are the shoes that are now wore out, no padding left at all after this trip.

Heading back to London.  Shard on the left, London Bridge in the center.

Trafalgar Square at dusk.

The national arts center in Trafalgar Square.

The craziness of the round-about in Trafalgar

Finally made it to Piccadilly Circus!

Not hard to find the underground

One of the more famous tourist stores around.

Even crazier traffic

Very cool Xmas decorations

The colours keep changing.   Way cool

Do you get a prize for finding a blue bus??

More xmas greatness.

Blenheim Palace

Continuing with my UK tour, onward to Blenheim Palace.  This is my first visit to a palace and like Salisbury Cathedral it was something to behold.  The only downside to this visit is that there is a horrible art exhibit taking place inside the palace by Michelangelo Pistoletto.  Personally I call it crap, not art.  Ultra-modern shit of mirrors, writing on walls, yellow car in the pond and piles of rags. Doesn't match the decor of the palace at all, no matter how much money they are paying to be in place, it should not be inside this beautiful palace. (Click the images for a bigger view)

Even adding as a pano it was tough to capture the size of the palace

From the front doorstep looking down one side

The tents were part of a Christmas Bizarre that was setup.  Some really nice arts, crafts and clothing but the prices - ouch.

The front foyer of the palace.

The ceilings throughout are amazing.

Even the walls!   Many of the scenes were subtly capturing the dominance of the British over the French which was a big thing during this timeframe.

A sample of some of the crap "art"

More crap and what a shame that it's on the ceilings and floors of such a magnificent library.

The library.

An organ at the other end of the library.

Winston Churchill grew up and Blenheim and proposed to his wife there.   A very interesting display is there regarding his entire life.   These were his ribbons and decorations.

The grounds in the "backyard".

There were a few of these around the grounds and I kinda like them.

The side of the palace.   This is apparently used for the movies.   Nothing to really remove to make the scene timeless.

Can you image living in a place like this?

The doorstep

The view from the doorstep.  Those are lawnmowers (sheep) off in the distance.

Inside what they call the "secret garden".   Would be much prettier in the summer or earlier in the fall.

Out the front door you can just see on the other side of the gate there is a long walkway over a bridge up to a tower.  You can see it in the video I linked in the first sentence of this post.   Very cool.