London, England, UK
and that's the Tower Bridge right by the
Tower of London and over the River Thames.
I arrived in London July 10, 2024 and spent the first three weeks of this long journey there. I didn’t go to any museums this trip, but I did an overnight visit to Cambridge and York. Both were a pleasure, but especially York, with its walls and medieval winding streets.
Then I met up with my friend and colleague Ian and his family, that I’ve gotten to know over the years we’ve worked together. His daughter was born and spent her early years in San Francisco. She married a very cool English guy who trains Ironman Triathlon and they live in the Greater London region.
This is London Fields, a sweet green spot on the East End, well-used on sunny days --->
The video below, with all the bicycles, is where London Fields meets Broadway Market. The road below that is Broadway Market. It's a really lively scene on a weekend afternoon, with lots of street food and beers outside.
Above is Dalston Lane, and the mural at is the entrance to Eastern Curve Garden, an old hippie garden next to the railroad, that today is a nice green space where you can get snax and drinks. The fellow above right is my dear friend Ian. On that day we were enjoying snax at the Eastern Curve Garden.
Dalston
While in London I have been staying in Dalston, which is north central London. It reminds me of Mission District of about 25 years ago in that you see many cultures and skin colours and lots of good cheap places to eat & drink. It also reminds me of Philadelphia (like much of London) in that there are mostly brick buildings.
Below is the intersection of Dalston Lane and Kingsland High Street.
This is Ramsgate St, in Dalston. Got my hair cut at Turkish barbers on Kingsland. Got my morning pastries from Dusty Knuckles -- best bakers in the UK! Below is the Dalston Kingsland Overground station on the Kingsland High Street. There's another Overground station around the corner on Dalston Lane called Dalston Junction. Weirdly, they don't connect. (?!) but going south connects with the London Underground and the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) and the new crosstown Elizabeth Line.
These videos are shot from Dalston Kingsland Overground station looking across the street at the Ridley Road Market. The soundtrack is from a busker noodling on guitar. This stretch of the Kingsland High Street is especially busy.
Abney Park is actually north of Dalston in a section called Stoke Newington, or 'Stokey' as the locals called it. I don't totally understand this park. It was once a cemetery -- that was abandoned? Anyway it's now a very atmospheric park with old gravestones tumbling left and right.
St Paul's Cathedral
City of London
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London.
This can be confusing. The oldest part of London is naturally down by the river, and that's where the Tower of London is, and the section called The City of London.
But that's actually just a small part of the "city of London". It's basically the Financial District, but it's also where some of the oldest buildings are, like St Paul's, and the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666, as well as some of the largest skyscrapers in Europe.
Since it was originally a village, that is, never surveyed and a nice grid sysem never established, it's hard to find your way around what were cow paths.
Cambridge UK
This is the town where the University is located, which comprises 31 semi-autonomous colleges, each with its own buildings. Many were elaborate and beautiful, with huge lawns and gardens. But there were a huge amount off tourists. I didn't expect that, but a student I met said they are all gone during the school year, and the atmosphere is scholarly.
At the Cambridge train station there's something
I'd never seen before -->
It's a multi-story bicycle parking structure, filled with bikes. Really?! That many bikes in Cambridge?
The Round Church
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, generally known as The Round Church, is an Anglican church in the city of Cambridge. It's supposed to represent resurrection, but I'm certain it's original meaning comes from long-lost pagan beliefs
AND BACK TO LONDON
REGENT'S CANAL
and my very favorite thing in London:
Even some Londoners don't know about Regent's Canal. It sits quietly 1 story below street level in a giant arc through north London, starting by the Thames in the far east, at Limehouse Basin, and continuing west through Shoreditch, Islington, King's Cross, Camden Town, Regent's Park and Little Venice. There are branches off to the River Lea -- Limehouse Cut and Hereford Union -- and to just behind Paddington Station, and beyond to Grand Union.
I have walked every foot of all that and more to the west of Little Venice. The system was created to deliver coal and other supplies all over northern and eastern London. It became obsolete in the 1920's as trucks became more convenient.
On the far east side of London the canals connect with the River Lea Navigation channels. On the days I was there, it was a groovy scene with live music coming from various boats, and several cafes serving food on boats and on the banks.
Above is Execution Dock, a site on the River Thames near the shoreline at Wapping, London, that was used for more than 400 years to execute pirates, smugglers and mutineers who had been sentenced to death by Admiralty courts. The "dock" consisted of a scaffold for hanging. Its last executions were in 1830.
Above is Limehouse Basin, a navigable link between the River Thames and two of London's canals -- Regent's Canal and Limehouse Cut (which connects with River Lea Navigation.) First dug in 1820 as the eastern terminus of the new Regent's Canal, it was gradually enlarged in the Victorian era.
Throughout its working life the basin was better known as the Regent's Canal Dock, and was used to transship goods between the old Port of London and the English canal system. Cargoes handled were chiefly coal and timber, but also ice, and even circus animals, Russian oil and First World War submarines. Sailing ships delivered cargoes there until the Second World War, and can be seen in surviving films and paintings. The dock closed for transshipment in 1969 and eventually passed into disuse. Following closure of the basin and much of the wider London docks, the surroundings were redeveloped for housing and leisure in the late 20th century.
River Thames
Bet you didn't know --> 2/3 of London's drinking water comes from the Thames. (It's treated of course.) The London Eye to the right is like a very slow Ferris Wheel (takes an hour to go around). From its gondolas folks enjoy spectacular views.
