Evening walk along the Thames

The day after our trip to the Tate and all of the other adventures, we decided to try to go see the sun set over the Thames and Parliament. We took the tube to the Green Park station and got off. We were a little too late thought, and were in the middle of Green Park as the sun was going down.


This was the most of the sunset that we saw, but it was pretty just the same. The park was a great place to watch, and there were a lot of other people sitting on benches doing the same thing. Unlike Hyde Park, Green Park is more planned. Almost all of the trees are in straight rows, with paths, benches, and street lamps going down the middle. In a way, I kind of like it better. We decided to keep walking to Thames anyway, despite missing the sunset.


There will be more to this post than trees in the park, I swear! But these street lamps were interesting. You will notice that they do not have the normal bulb, but instead are gas fed and have mantles like the coleman lantern you use for camping. This style of streetlamp has been maintained in certain areas of many European cities to preserve a historic look.


This is the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace. It was built in 1911 as a tribute to Queen Victoria who died in 1901.


Westminster Abbey at night.


Here is the clock tower at Houses of Parliament. Most people would call this "Big Ben," which is incorrect. "Big Ben" is actually the name of the bell, not the clock or the tower.


Looking at the Houses of Parliament from the over the Thames.


Kevin and Jessica posing for a picture!


Allow me to explain. My roommate Kevin has a tradition of having his picture taken while jumping in front of various famous places around the world. I'm not sure how this started, but here is the British Parliament edition. While the blue bag on the left is not ours and had been there already, I think it's fitting that there is a bag with an empty bottle in it in this particular shot!


The London Eye! We are definitely going to shell out the money to do this before we leave. We'll do it during the day though when you can actually see something and take pictures. We had dinner at an all you can eat Chinese buffet in the building on the right. The food wasn't great, but we were starving and the price was right. This has pretty much been the case for all of the Chinese buffets we have encountered so far in London - even in Chinatown.


Along the Thames near the Eye there all sorts of attractions. We stopped in a game arcade, passed by the London Aquarium, and got ice cream at one of the many little food stands. There was also this carousel. I like the motion effects that came out in this picture, especially with Kevin's silhouette as he walked towards the edge of the frame on the left.


It was getting late, so we made our way back to the nearest Tube station to take the train home. We crosses another cool pedestrian bridge over the Thames. This one had a rail bridge that was either part of it or built right next to it.


Finally, a nice picture to capture the essence of nightlife along the river.