South Side

I thought I should start this blog out with a sign that Cheryl and I saw while we were wondering around town back in July. I'm surprised you don't see this sign posted on all the government buildings. Maybe it was supposed to be on the inside of the door as a warning of some sort but I can't really imagine why one would need a sign.

Today's blog focuses (ok focus is probably too strong of a word) on the south bank of the River Thames starting near the Albert Embankment and ending near the Tate Modern. Of course a lot of the pics below are of the north side of the Thames but they were taken from the south side.
Anyway, these poor cycle (bike refers to a motorcycle or scooter over here) blokes were caught in typical London traffic and seemed to have taken root.

If you click on the picture below you can actually see a cyclist through the wheels of the bike, oops I mean cycle. I'm not quite sure how I managed that but unfortunately the person didn't stick around for the other photos.

So in the background of the picture above are the Houses of Parliament (also called the Palace of Westminster) and you can just see Big Ben hiding behind the tree on the right. The tall tower on the left is the Victoria Tower.

The present day Houses of Parliament were built between 1834 and 1864 after a fire had destroyed most of the original structure. Apparently this site has been in use since the early 1000's and was the royal residence of Canute the Great (reigned 1016 - 1035). You just don't see that many people named Canute these days, go figure. Anyway more "interesting" facts can be found here or if you would like to see real time web cam photos go here. It's actually a cool web cam although not much action so don't waste too much time visiting that site. A few more touristy pics below.

You can just see Westminster Abbey (the two whitish towers way in the back) in the background. Ok not the best picture of the Abbey but you'll see those in one of the next blogs.
Now back to the south side. Stormtroopers were called in today to save the public from a giant spider. Really, I'm not kidding. It was a close call for large groups of tourists, just check out the pictures below.

Sorry, couldn't get close enough to see the actual fighting and apparently the government denied that the battle actually took place. But they should at least admit that something pretty strange was happening that day. This alien captured below would have violent pedaling actions when children dropped money nearby.

This picture (below) is of a bunch of kids on skateboards that were totally unaware of the spider and alien invasion. Ok I promised Karen (sister) a picture of the skateboard area near Southbank Centre for Hayden (nephew).

Back to the strange happenings in London. Near the aquarium and the London Eye, I saw this poor man being attacked by an out of control backhoe. If this happened in New York, most people probably wouldn't have noticed. But here it was a big deal. A crowd soon formed and someone started playing an opera sung by Maria Callas through speakers located nearby. No one actually stepped in to help so I thought I should just take pictures like everyone else.

As it turned out, this wasn't an attack either. Apparently the Tate Modern and the Southbank Centre decided to showcase this exotic dance as a publicity stunt. (I will update this section with the performers name and the sponsors name. I left the brochure at the house). By the way, it was well done and very enjoyable to watch. I thought the backhoe was the better performer of the two but maybe thats just me.
Oh, maybe I should clear up some other things while I'm at it. The stormtroopers are part of Star Wars the Exhibition being held at the Westminster County hall which is located above the London Aquarium. It is adjacent to the London Eye and both are across the river from the Houses of Parliament. The web cam is on top of the Aquarium. However the giant spider is in front of the Tate Modern which is a bit under a mile and a half walk from the Aquarium.

The spider is part of the Louise Bourgeois exhibit at the Tate Modern which is on exhibit until 20th of January 2008. That is St. Paul's Cathedral under the legs and across the river.

Last picture is of St. Paul's Cathedral (present building designed by Wren and finished in 1708) from beneath the Millennium Bridge (which opened in 2000 for a few days, was closed to fix the wobble, and reopened in 2002).
That's all for now. Take Care and Beware of the Public.