Gas Lamps and Penny Farthings
The first gas lighting appeared on Pall Mall in 1807 and began to spread from 1812 when the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company was created. Early gas was created by heating coal which then released mainly hydrogen. More about present day London’s Gas Lamps and where to see them. The best place being the broad avenue of Kensington Palace Gardens. The gardens do close at dusk but there is information about turnstile exits here.
A more intense light could be created by directing an oxyhydrogen flame upon a cylinder of quicklime (calcium oxide). The resulting light was commonly known as limelight and used for stage lighting. Hence the term “being in the limelight” is used to mean being the center of attention.
These gas lamps are just outside the British Museum with a Penny Farthing bicycle further down the page.
British Museum
Sutton Hoo Treasure
Sutton Hoo Helmet
The replica helmet and mask are part of the Sutton Hoo Treasure (Wiki) with more at Sutton Hoo Site. The original find is further down together with more artifacts from antiquity.
The Museum
The British Museum (for details, admission and location) is probably the largest in the UK and contains artifacts from all over the world, from antiquity to more recent times. Whilst there is some controversy about ownership of some items (e.g. the Elgin Marbles), the museum has preserved what otherwise might have been lost and is free to all visitors. There is a an extensive cloakroom and non-commercial photography is allowed.
Of similar interest is the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is dedicated to design from across the world. More from the British Museum:-
Cosy
Nefer Teapot Nefer did
Rar
Raaaar
Moo see um
What time do you call this then. ……………………………………………………………….Oh mum, it’s only XXII o’clock
The Horniman Museum
20 pics – The Horniman Museum and grounds are free to enter and include the lower gardens and wonderful flower beds⇐ with more spectacular flowers at the upper gardens⇐.. The museum is a mix of natural history, unusual artifacts from around the word and a small but unusual aquarium (there is a charge of £4).
The museum and grounds are located just south of London near Forest Hill rail station and make a good day out at little expense. Please click on information/events⇒ and/or the getting there map⇒. The map shows the route from station to museum as quite short. It is a bit longer than it appears and is better to take one of the buses (listed on the map page) up the steep hill to the museum stop. The museum stop is just past this clock tower at the prow of the hill.
The Museum
The Aquarium
This chap has all the appearance of gnome doing a high-five. You can even see a face.
Pretentious, moi ?
Doh.
Horniman Museum Gardens
12 pics – A view from the upper gardens of the Horniman Museum across London’s Canary Wharf and the Shard of Glass (the tall pointy thing). For a range of quite extraordinary flowers from the upper gardens please click here, for the museum interiors and artifacts please click here.
The dye garden.
I didn’t post process these. They really are this bright.
Alright now I’ve got a pearl of wisdom, what do I do with it ?
I you think I’m strange, wait until you see what’s inside the museum. I was thrown out for being too normal :-D.
The Temple Church
16 pics – The Temple Church dates from 1185 and can be found amidst the Temple Court. More pictures of the Temple Court and how to find it here⇐.
Flowers of the Temple Court here⇐,
Admission to the Temple Church here⇒ (do check for admission dates/times) and its History here. It has some of the most intricate stained glass that I have ever seen and there are pictures further down.
These are four separate windows.
The Temple Court
9 pics – The Temple Court was established in the twelfth century by the famous Nights Templar. Later given to the Nights Hospitaller, it has changed hands frequently but mostly provided chambers for barristers throughout the centuries. It is still one of the centers of English law.
Many of buildings were damaged during WWII and rebuilt. More of its history here⇒.
The Temple Court is haven of peace hidden away amongst the bustle of London. The nearest underground railway station is the Temple. On leaving the station turn left and proceed until you see this portico on our left.
Within the court there are many delightful small gardens and the Temple Church. More flowers here ⇒ and pictures from within the Temple Church here ⇒.
Within the court ⇓.
The Tower of London
The view from Tower Hill (just outside Tower Hill underground station). Click here for more about the Tower History, Events Tours and Admission and here for the White Tower Interiors (Armour and Weapons) and here for nearby All Hallows Church (the oldest in London). Visitors can photograph most places except for the Jewel House (home of the famous Crown Jewels). There will be queues for exhibits such as the Jewel House and it is better to arrive early.
Tower Bridge and the Tower itself. The bridge was originally raised by steam powered hydraulic engines but in recent times by an electrically powered hydraulic system . Visit inside the bridge here ⇒.
There is always one of these standing guard.
The tower once had a menagerie.
Those accused of treason would be transported to the tower by river and entered via traitors gate and might then go to the Bloody Tower. Below the tower is the remnants of a torture chamber. Visitors were queuing up.
There are a number of tour guides, all happy to be photographed.
The cage holds some of the tower’s ravens. They are not all let free at the same time. The legend is that England will fall if the ravens ever left the tower. They are very well cared for and locked up at night. They also think they own the place.
The guards are not allowed to interact with anybody but you can stand beside one and have your photograph taken. Should anybody get too familiar, or just because the guard feels like it, he will let out a blood curdling scream and present the pointy end of his rifle. Then there is vigorous marching up and down. It has the desired effect.
Flowers at the Horniman Museum
These pictures were taken at the upper garden area of the Horniman Museum in mid August of 2014. There will be more about the extraordinary Horniman Museum later.
Flowers at Temple Court
18 pics – To brighten up the winter gloom, a few flowers from the Temple Court gardens, London.
In southern England the kink in the old jet stream has been weaving about all over the place and forecasters have been having a hard time. The other day, thinking it was going to be wet, I took to wearing Wellington boots. The locals were so surprised. It was my own fault, I should have put some cloths on.
The Temple Court Flowers
A big hats off the Temple Court gardeners. There are many flower beds dotted around the place, a very nice little enclosed garden and a beautiful rose garden. They are all in pristine condition and somehow a considerable diversity thrives happily alongside one another.
There will be more from the Temple Court later, in the meantime, here are the flowers photographed in early July of 2014.
The plant (?), in the first picture, ate a corporate banker. I don’t want to say what the second did to a stockbroker. 🙂
This last one is from a small garden adjacent to the Temple Court.
I’ve been saving, what I believe to be, the best flowers until mid February and there will be more about the Temple Court and the Tower of London soon.
Queen Mary’s Gardens
14 pics. Queen Mary’s Gardens was opened in 1932 and named after the wife of George V. It can be found near the southern end of Regents Park, is shown by Google maps as the “Inner Circle” and the nearest underground station is Baker St. The gardens are in part a formal setting with up to 12,000 roses and 9,00 begonias. There is also a landscaped area of tress, bushes and a small wetland.
Photographs of some of the flowers can be found here and more information here.
Flowers at Queen Mary’s Gardens
Queen Mary’s Gardens can be found at the eastern end of Regents Park, London. It is a world-famous horticultural site with a great variety of plants including 12,000 roses and 9,000 begonias. There will be more views later. In the meantime, a little colour photographed in July, to brighten up the day.
Herons
The Grey Heron is resident in the UK and can be found near rivers and lakes. Although it is a water bird it does not have webbed feet and does not swim. They catch their prey of fish, small birds, frogs and molluscs by standing at the water edge. They will also feed upon rodents in fields. There is a broad variety of Heron species, some of which are called Egrets or Bitterns and some species have been known to use bait.
This one, photographed at the east end of Regents Park, was difficult to get close to. Unlike swans, geese and ducks they don’t feed of human gifts unless you happen to have a live fish about you.
Another shot of a Heron at (click on) Kyoto Gardens in Holland Park
Upon Refection I’m Twice the Bird I Used To Be 🙂
Kensington Gardens
Also, Kensington Palace , Kensington Garden Flowers , Elfin Oak , Playful Squirrels , Squirrels up my Leg , and Serpentine Water Fowl ( The Dog and Swan)
At the Queens Gate
The Gardens
On the other side of the Serpentine Lake is Hyde Park. We’ll have a wander over.
Here I am on my holidays, That’s me with the wings. What a hoot, honk.
And, In the Autumn
Back at Kensington Gardens in the Autumn
A beautifully atmospheric autumn evening, at 11 am. I do love the British weather.
Kensington Palace
17 pics. From Queensway Underground station, across the main road, through the main gates and along the broad avenue facing south through Kensington Gardens. After a short walk, a small clock tower and the Elfin Oak ⇐ can be seen on the right. A little further on, also on the right, is Kensington Palace. The palace was built in 1605. More of its history, from Wiki, can be found here ⇐. The official website, with admission prices etc, can be found here ⇐.
Non-commercial photography is permitted but the lighting is dim and there is a certain amount of glare. As a result it was necessary to use a higher ISO setting than I would normally wish and gives a brighter impression than is really the case. Nevertheless, if you like old houses, it is the most atmospheric that I have come across so far.
It is well worth using the map, provided with your ticket, and finding the Queen’s rooms. They are located behind a large wooden door and you may have to ask an attendant for access. However, the staff are very friendly, informative and helpful.
If you wait a little while, the shadow will dance accompanied by the sound of shoes upon the hard wood floor and occasionally a little music.
Above is Princess Amelia, a favourite daughter of George III. The shadow dancers will occasionally move into each others space and dance together.
One can only wonder at how many, during the long past, have gazed at this view from the window and of their thoughts and dreams. You might spare a moment to join them.
And, hats off to the artisans who built this for their skill and diligence.
You might also like to see some of Kensington Gardens Flowers ⇐ or perhaps what the local Water Fowl ⇐ do for fun.
The Elfin Oak
From the North Gate of Kensington Gardens, just across from the station called Queensway, a traveler might proceed along the great path leading south. After but a short walk, can be found on the right, a small clock tower. Very close to this, and beside an outdoor purveyor of comestibles, the Elfin Oak will be found.
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The remaining stump is of an Oak being 900 years of age. Carefully carved by Mr Ivor Innes in the year 1911 to reveal the elfin folk that were hidden within. Thereafter maintained by that same gentlemen for a further 40 years.
Later restored by the efforts of the inimitable Mr Spike Milligan and friends in 1966, the Elfin Oak is now protected by its own cage of steel.
Peeking into this little world, one might still see – Wookey the witch, with her three jars of health, wealth and happiness, Huckleberry the gnome, carrying a bag of berries up the Gnomes’ Stairway to the banquet within Bark Hall, and Grumples and Groodles the Elves being awakened by Brownie, Dinkie, Rumplelocks and Hereandthere stealing eggs from the crows’ nest. Or, these fine characters :-
. . . . and many more
A book, with the title “The Elfin Oak of Kensington Gardens”, was later crafted by Ivor and Elsie Innes and revealed that “for centuries now it has been the home of fairies, gnomes, elves, imps, and pixies. In the nooks and crannies they lurk, or peer out of holes and crevices, their natural windows and doorways. It is their hiding-place by day, their revelry place by night, and when the great moon tops the bare branchless tree the Elfin Clans come out to play and frolic in the moonlight.”
The Dog and Swan
Kensington Gardens, Serpentine Lake and Fauna
15 pics. – Just behind the Albert Memorial is a very nice outdoor cafe and one of the entrances to Kensington Gardens. To the left and a little further north there is Kensington Palace and to the right is the Serpentine Lake with Hyde park on the other side. You might also like Squirrels up my Leg.
At the cafe
“I don’t know what it is, but I shall defend it to my last breath, or teatime.”
Kensington Gardens
At the end of August.
On the Serpentine
First a word from our sponsor.
“No brain cells were harmed during the making of the this travesty but we can’t guarantee the same whilst reading it, and have you got any cake. “
“I say, they’ve got tea and buns”
“Do I look like I’ve got a bun”
Signor
“What do think of my new paint job and have a got any panini.”
Signor briefly broke of the session to give a small dog a thorough hissing and then returned to a perfect composure. What it must be to live in the moment.
Signora and Cygnet
“Don’t look Nigel, Ma’s gone all tipsy again”. “Oh look a shiny thing”
Cygnet
“That Odette, what a diva. Not like me I’m so demure, and modest with it.”
“Me, I’m firm but fair and proof against meteorites.”
“Pay attention class while Mr Flogget demonstrates how we do walking”. “I’ll confiscate that in a minute”
The Flying School
“Ok, now choose a nice soft landing ground, lower landing gear, throttle back and full flaps – tee hee I’m so funny.”
“Alright not bad, now get off that swan. These kids, honestly what can you do !”
Never had a lesson in my life. Wheeeeeeee”
The Preening Salon
“Well of course he got his bill stuck in the mud. I told him, I said if we were meant to do that, we would have been born with propellers. “
The Last Word
“It’s like living in a madhouse around here. Why can’t they be more normal like what I am. “
Just Beneath Our Feet
The Victoria and Albert Museum is dedicated to design but it does not forget the designs of mind that we refer to as philosophy and ideology. On the steps, leading to the main entrance, are these words:-
Step 1 Top – Civil disobedience is not our problem. .. Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem. (Howard Zinn)
Step 2/1 – Greed is stopping human evolution .. the richest people own half the world (Oxfam Charity)
2/2 – What is the crime of the bank robber compared to the crime of founding one (Bertolt Brecht)
2/3 – It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking system for if they did I believe that there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning (Henry Ford)
2/4 – During times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. (Eric Arthur Blair pen name George Orwell)
Step 3/1 – Every effort for progress, enlightenment, for religious, political and economic liberty, emanates from the minority, and not from the mass. (Emma Goldman)
3/2 – No real social change has ever been brought about without revolution (Emma Goldman)
3/3 – Revolution is but thought carried into action (Emma Goldman)
3/4 – A riot is the language of the unheard (Martin Luther King Jr)
3/5 – The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion (Frederick Douglass)
Step 4/1 – There’s no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively – I am one with the people (Huey Percy Newton)
4/2 – The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance the black man’s right to his body, or a woman’s right to her soul ( Emma Goldman)
Step 5/1 – We declare our right on this earth, to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence, by any means necessary (Malcolm X)
5/2 – It is easier to build strong children than to mend broken men (Frederick Douglass)
Step 6/1 – Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds (Bob Marley)
6/2 – Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and passion to reach for the stars and change the world (Harriet Tubman)
6/3 – Question Authority (Socrates)
Step 7 Bottom/1 – Think for yourself act for others (Kenny Zulu Witmore)
7 /2 – The essence of your life is only measured in the way you can help others (Herman Wallace – 42 years in solitary confinement)
7/3 – I rebel therefore I exist (Albert Camus)
7/4 – I am an artist your rules don’t apply. The revolution will be ceramicised ( The Treatmentrooms collective)
Victoria and Albert Museum Entrance
Inside can be found.
Disobedient Objects
London and the UK in general has always had a subversive and irreverent streak. It did not entirely begin in the 60’s but in the 50’s when people sought a better world after the ravages of world war. Many of the quotations stem from the philosophers of that time. Equality of race, gender and creed was fought for in the pursuit of the fellowship of humankind. History shows that the wish keeps on being born and is therefore indomitable. It scared the greedy then and it still does.
We have much to value in the freedoms that were won by those of the past, but the price of that freedom is eternal vigilance. The phrase is attributed to many, but probably originated from John Philpot Curran in 1790. It is not a new recognition. It is not a new problem. It is not a new battle. But there is always a new step, same as it ever was.
Victoria and Albert Museum
21 pics. Entry to the Victoria and Albert Museum is free. The museum is dedicated to art and design from around the world. The items here are just a few of many hundreds on display and non-commercial photography is allowed except for the wedding dress exhibit and the wonderful jewel room. There is also a large inner courtyard with water feature that makes a great place for lunch. Packed lunches can be eaten in the Learning Center’s Lunch room on the 3rd floor . The museum map. The website.
At the museum entrance there are steps that speak.
The nearest underground rail station is South Kensington with the very interesting Science Museum and the Natural History Museum nearby.
The Tea Rooms
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Foyer
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Please click on the figure to fit screen.
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The Albert Memorial and The Royal Albert Hall
Click on Copyright⇐ or at at top right of page. 14 pics. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, was much missed by the queen when he died. Victoria was taken by long years of mourning and fell into a long period of personal decline. Part of the queen’s tribute to the prince are the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall. The memorial can be found on Google maps at the southern end of Kensington Gardens. The Royal Albert Hall is just across the road.
The Albert Memorial
The Royal Albert Hall
Kew Gardens Views
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are extensive enough to spend an entire day there. Admission to Kew Gardens includes the TemperatHouses,e Houses, Hot Treetop Walkway and Kew Palace. And here there are Flowers at Kew and Orchids at Kew
The Pagoda requires a further charge, paid at the main gate. When I was there it was £4. I told them that £4 was not enough they’d have to pay me at least 50 quid to go up that.
The nearest rail station, to the main gates, is Kew Bridge (South West Trains). Then turn right out of the station then left over the bridge and first right to the main gates.
Orchids at Kew Gardens
Orchids in the Hot House at Kew Gardens
7 pics. Hot house is not an overstatement and is also very humid so be prepared to carry clothing. These are just a sample, there are also many other exotics and cacti. Also at Kew; Kew Gardens and Kew Palace.
Hey, hey we’re the Monkeys. It’s worth a click-on for full screen and another click to magnify. 🙂
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There are more orchids here
Kew Palace
14 pics. Kew Palace is within the grounds of Kew Gardens and entrance is included in the price of admission to the gardens. Non-commercial photography is permitted inside the palace but without the use of flash.
The gardens and its many attractions were created by Lady Augusta following the death of her husband Prince Frederick. She was much influenced in this endeavor by Lord Bute. A portrait of the lady can be found further down.
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Flowers at Kew Gardens
From around the grounds.
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From the Japanese ornamental gardens.
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… and just outside on a nearby cottage.
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Freed From Time 
