To London Again

Early September I traveled to London again. (http://sbelenkaya.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html ) This time with Patrick. It wasn’t daring but rather fabulous journey.













Even though the upper class tickets were a bit dear, the anticipation of the London holiday made economy class flight more than bearable


 London is a capital a former world empire. As a DC resident I cannot wait for America’s fall from world domination and the District of Columbia becoming more like London.



On Trafalgar Square domesticated marble lions and the ultimate ship in a bottle



The first day walking around
left no doubts - the Russians
are here

















Discovery - Texas finally got its independence

The window shopping is a stunning experience. Splendid museum pieces for sale

Among so much luxury merchandise some treasures like these Martini sleepers

The astonishing price (160 pounds) for  seemingly ordinary swimming trunks. Is it the turtles?

Black gold – white diamonds: De Beers customer on Bond Street

The art of being British - all you need to be a real Gentleman

Even garbage looks fabulous behind such an elegant iron fence

Street musicians at Covent Garden

The truly international nature of London restaurant scene

The Goat memorial. Don’t ask me why

One of the striking changes in London is how much better looking Londoners have become. I think the reason is food. We are what we eat. The food is spectacular. London shows traditions (in this case bad cooking) can be defeated. Here are just a few shots from the famous

Best strawberries ever

Marvelous olives


And sales girls to die for


   

Of course London is not imaginable without the Royal parks. They are gorgeous 

and well taken care off with specialized deposit containers

London has its share of gated community in this case with lions signifying the exclusive disposition of the inhabitants

We had an extensive cultural program. It included the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden with all the glory of Italian opera (Puccini Il Trittico). That was obviously a once in a lifetime experience

National Gallery - 3 times, no pictures allowed, so I had to do some fast sketches and notes to remember the pieces which impressed me the most 

And of course the mighty British Museum

with required educational experience

Tate Modern is a major modern art museum. It has many interesting pieces which make one wonder what artist wanted to say to the world

and what he told museum curators In order to sell his/her art

 

Late 20th century left many scars on London cityscape
 

They even redesigned old classic phone booth

can it possibly be considered an improvement?

Glorious bridges with stunning views over the city were my favorite discovery and visual experience this time around

I'm missing London already...