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Hey, guysth!
Most of you know that I was in Britain a few weeks ago. It was incredible! Here are ALL of my digital camera pictures!
Winchester
When we arrived in London, we immediately got on a train and rode to Winchester to see Winchester cathedral. We hadn't even stopped at a hotel! We were dragging all of our luggage around with us to the sites the entire first day!
The first thing we stumbled on was this little cathedral built on the site of William the Conquerer's old castle. It was really small, and also really awesome.
This first picture is one of my favorite from the entire trip!
Here was the main attraction of Winchester. The cathedral.
This is a picture of the side of the cathedral. You can get a good view of the arches and some of the stonework
This is a view of one of the arches on the outside of the cathedral as you enter. the carvings were really intricate in all the cathedrals we entered.
These two are of the knave of the cathedral, which was just as big as it looks in the picture!
This is the top of a chantry chapel in the cathedral, which is a monument of sorts to a person of importance buried at the cathedral
These two are of the ceiling. You really get a good view of how detailed everything is.
Portsmouth
This is the HMS Warrior, the first Iron reinforced ship in history. It never saw action, but it did scare the crap out of Napoleon III when he was considering a revival of his grandfather's empire.
Here you can see the figurehead. I thought it was cool.
These two are looking down the ship from atop the bridge (which is actually a bridge spanning the width of the ship)
One of the masts
This is the front of the ship, near the head.
This is the gun setup for the Warrior in the officer's quarters.
This is the last surviving example of a ship of the line, which was a style of ship built between the 1600s and the mid to late 1800s. It has 64 guns, and carried Admiral Lord Nelson to his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. This is the HMS Victory.
Since I couldn't get the entire ship in one shot, I thought you'd like to see a model of what it looks like.
This is the HMS Monitor as viewed from the HMS Victory.
These are some miscellaneous pictures I took while in Portsmouth. Just different things I thought were cool in a garden.
London
We arrived in London via Waterloo station, which this is a picture of. I didn't get any pictures of King's Cross, but watch Harry Potter one or five and you'll see it. They actually filmed it there.
This is Buckingham Palace. In front of it is the statue of Queen Victoria, the ruler at the height of the British Empire. On the whole, Buckingham was pretty boring looking. Kind of like a government building.
The next three are of the changing of the guard. Apparently it was special the day we watched it, because it was the two year anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. The guard changing was boring anyway though. XD
This last picture is just so you can see that British police ACTUALLY dress like that. They even have the funny hats!
These are pictures taken in Hyde and Kensington Parks. The first is of Kensington palace, which is where lesser royals live, like Diana, were she still alive.
This was a weird gold ball at the palace that I thought was cool looking.
Prince Albert (husband of Queen Victoria) memorial.
Here's Big Ben taken from Trafalgar Square
up close, on the corner of Parliament
and here's Parliament. Again, I couldn't get a shot of the whole thing. Way too big.
This is St. Paul's Cathedral. We lived right down the street from it, and we got to hear them sing in Latin! It was cool. The statue out front is Queen Victoria again.
This is the Old Bailey, which we also lived down the street from. It was the old court of London, which is now used for showboat style cases.
The famous Tower Bridge, which is right next to the Tower of London (go figure)
Here's a scale model of the Tower of London. This is how it looks today, but it was constantly built up and used for hundreds of different things starting with William the Conquerer. Most recently, it was a jail and torture chamber.
The white tower, which is the center of everything, is where the torture happened.
Moat gate leading in and out of the tower, complete with Portcullis.
These Tudor style buildings were used to hold high profile prisoners like Queen Elizabeth I's sister Queen Mary during their feud after the death of Henry VIII and his son Prince Edward.
I don't know what building this was, but it looked cool.
This is Tower Bridge taken from the Tower of London. You can see how close it is.
As with every old building in Britain, here's the chapel.
This is the executioner's axe. I like this picture because the lighting makes it look kind of spooky.
Brits like to show off their guns in really intricate designs to demonstrate how well defended they are. Here are some examples.
This was the King's bed when he would come to stay here.
I thought it was hilarious that there were still some medieval people living in the Tower. As shown here. They're REALLY OLD!
This is a Yeoman Warder, and our tour guide. He lives in the Tower, along with 150 other people.
and of course these fuzzy hat guys were everywhere.
Westminster Abbey! I loved this place. It was really awesome. Unfortunately, again, I couldn't take pictures inside
These are some of the arches as you enter the cathedral. Again, incredibly detailed.
These two pictures were taken of the front of the cathedral via the cloister through a cool looking gate. You can see the flying buttresses really well in the first.
Then this is the whole cloister. One of the few places I was allowed to take pictures. :)
Then, finally, my miscellaneous pictures from London.
This first, Kate says, is probably from the gothic revival. It was on a street and I thought it was an interesting contrast to the buildings around it.
This was the view outside my hotel room window. Into a cool back alley with a blue door.
These next three are crazy street pictures, just to give you an idea of what London streets look like.
We stumbled on this building as we walked toward a building we called the "faberge egg building". It's obviously being dismantled, but we couldn't figure out why they were going bottom up. It looked like there were still offices up there toom
Cool placard
If you've been to Europe, you've seen the street performers. This was a lizard on a bike that squeeked and spun his pedals a few times if you gave him money. It was hilarious. Some of the performers are incredible. It took me a moment to convince my parents that a statue was, in fact, a person.
Windsor
Now we enter Windsor, and Windsor castle. We took a side trip while staying in London to come to this castle, which the queen stays in during her weekends.
Here's a full view from the inside of the castle, including the main building straight ahead, and cathedral to the left, and outer walls to the right. I did a lot of photoshopping to make that sky look right. Be proud. I am. It think its my favorite picture of all of them.
These two are of the cathedral.
This area was high above the town below. It was just next to Queen Mary's dollhouse, which was massive and detailed.
Center of the castle, where the Queen stays. She was there when we were. We knew because the royal standard was flying. You might be able to see it on top of the flagpole, but I doubt it.
Sidewall
Turret
Sidewall
These little crowns were on all the lamps. I found it amusing.
Then there were, of course, the soldiers standing completely still. They didn't have fuzzy hats though. :(
Edinburgh
Finally, Edinburgh, Scotland.
The first thing we saw was Edinburgh castle, which was monstrous, awesome, and had a perfect defensive position. Even so, it was invaded more than a dozen times.
The castle from the rocky side.
This is the start of the interior of the castle. We're looking at the cathedral now.
This is a cool archway. I think it was called Foog's gate.
This is the site of the great escape of four men from the cells of the castle. Five escaped, but one fell from the heights of the castle, and was dashed on the rocks below.
Crazy amounts of building near the top of the castle.
These two are the entrance and the portcullis, which is actually relatively far up into the castle.
This is looking out over Edinburgh from the top of a really long flight of stairs.
These are some shots of the designs of the inside of the castle.
Cannon shot at a memorial from atop the castle.
These are shots of the view from the castle.
One of the few kilted men I actually saw in Scotland. Obviously acting like Braveheart. He kept telling women he didn't have any underwear on and showing them his butt.
The small and dark St. Guile's Cathedral. I wasn't actually supposed to take that second picture. I almost got fined for it.
This cathedral was cool looking on the outside, but it didn't have a name and the inside was converted into a mall. It was kind of sad. :(
We went on a hike! We don't do that often, so I was really excited when we did!
Here's how big the hill was.
These are us starting to move up the hill.
This one and the next will hopefully show how high up we were.
These are some of our views from atop the hill.
This is Holyrood house, the official residence of the Queen in Edinburgh.
Finally, my miscellaneous pictures from Edinburgh!
So there you have it, my entire vacation in some kind of a nutshell of some sort.
Let me know if you liked/disliked any of the pictures. I'm working on my camera handling skill and I'd like to know if you have any points for improvement.
Most of you know that I was in Britain a few weeks ago. It was incredible! Here are ALL of my digital camera pictures!
Winchester
When we arrived in London, we immediately got on a train and rode to Winchester to see Winchester cathedral. We hadn't even stopped at a hotel! We were dragging all of our luggage around with us to the sites the entire first day!
The first thing we stumbled on was this little cathedral built on the site of William the Conquerer's old castle. It was really small, and also really awesome.
This first picture is one of my favorite from the entire trip!
Here was the main attraction of Winchester. The cathedral.
This is a picture of the side of the cathedral. You can get a good view of the arches and some of the stonework
This is a view of one of the arches on the outside of the cathedral as you enter. the carvings were really intricate in all the cathedrals we entered.
These two are of the knave of the cathedral, which was just as big as it looks in the picture!
This is the top of a chantry chapel in the cathedral, which is a monument of sorts to a person of importance buried at the cathedral
These two are of the ceiling. You really get a good view of how detailed everything is.
Portsmouth
This is the HMS Warrior, the first Iron reinforced ship in history. It never saw action, but it did scare the crap out of Napoleon III when he was considering a revival of his grandfather's empire.
Here you can see the figurehead. I thought it was cool.
These two are looking down the ship from atop the bridge (which is actually a bridge spanning the width of the ship)
One of the masts
This is the front of the ship, near the head.
This is the gun setup for the Warrior in the officer's quarters.
This is the last surviving example of a ship of the line, which was a style of ship built between the 1600s and the mid to late 1800s. It has 64 guns, and carried Admiral Lord Nelson to his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. This is the HMS Victory.
Since I couldn't get the entire ship in one shot, I thought you'd like to see a model of what it looks like.
This is the HMS Monitor as viewed from the HMS Victory.
These are some miscellaneous pictures I took while in Portsmouth. Just different things I thought were cool in a garden.
London
We arrived in London via Waterloo station, which this is a picture of. I didn't get any pictures of King's Cross, but watch Harry Potter one or five and you'll see it. They actually filmed it there.
This is Buckingham Palace. In front of it is the statue of Queen Victoria, the ruler at the height of the British Empire. On the whole, Buckingham was pretty boring looking. Kind of like a government building.
The next three are of the changing of the guard. Apparently it was special the day we watched it, because it was the two year anniversary of the 7/7 bombings. The guard changing was boring anyway though. XD
This last picture is just so you can see that British police ACTUALLY dress like that. They even have the funny hats!
These are pictures taken in Hyde and Kensington Parks. The first is of Kensington palace, which is where lesser royals live, like Diana, were she still alive.
This was a weird gold ball at the palace that I thought was cool looking.
Prince Albert (husband of Queen Victoria) memorial.
Here's Big Ben taken from Trafalgar Square
up close, on the corner of Parliament
and here's Parliament. Again, I couldn't get a shot of the whole thing. Way too big.
This is St. Paul's Cathedral. We lived right down the street from it, and we got to hear them sing in Latin! It was cool. The statue out front is Queen Victoria again.
This is the Old Bailey, which we also lived down the street from. It was the old court of London, which is now used for showboat style cases.
The famous Tower Bridge, which is right next to the Tower of London (go figure)
Here's a scale model of the Tower of London. This is how it looks today, but it was constantly built up and used for hundreds of different things starting with William the Conquerer. Most recently, it was a jail and torture chamber.
The white tower, which is the center of everything, is where the torture happened.
Moat gate leading in and out of the tower, complete with Portcullis.
These Tudor style buildings were used to hold high profile prisoners like Queen Elizabeth I's sister Queen Mary during their feud after the death of Henry VIII and his son Prince Edward.
I don't know what building this was, but it looked cool.
This is Tower Bridge taken from the Tower of London. You can see how close it is.
As with every old building in Britain, here's the chapel.
This is the executioner's axe. I like this picture because the lighting makes it look kind of spooky.
Brits like to show off their guns in really intricate designs to demonstrate how well defended they are. Here are some examples.
This was the King's bed when he would come to stay here.
I thought it was hilarious that there were still some medieval people living in the Tower. As shown here. They're REALLY OLD!
This is a Yeoman Warder, and our tour guide. He lives in the Tower, along with 150 other people.
and of course these fuzzy hat guys were everywhere.
Westminster Abbey! I loved this place. It was really awesome. Unfortunately, again, I couldn't take pictures inside
These are some of the arches as you enter the cathedral. Again, incredibly detailed.
These two pictures were taken of the front of the cathedral via the cloister through a cool looking gate. You can see the flying buttresses really well in the first.
Then this is the whole cloister. One of the few places I was allowed to take pictures. :)
Then, finally, my miscellaneous pictures from London.
This first, Kate says, is probably from the gothic revival. It was on a street and I thought it was an interesting contrast to the buildings around it.
This was the view outside my hotel room window. Into a cool back alley with a blue door.
These next three are crazy street pictures, just to give you an idea of what London streets look like.
We stumbled on this building as we walked toward a building we called the "faberge egg building". It's obviously being dismantled, but we couldn't figure out why they were going bottom up. It looked like there were still offices up there toom
Cool placard
If you've been to Europe, you've seen the street performers. This was a lizard on a bike that squeeked and spun his pedals a few times if you gave him money. It was hilarious. Some of the performers are incredible. It took me a moment to convince my parents that a statue was, in fact, a person.
Windsor
Now we enter Windsor, and Windsor castle. We took a side trip while staying in London to come to this castle, which the queen stays in during her weekends.
Here's a full view from the inside of the castle, including the main building straight ahead, and cathedral to the left, and outer walls to the right. I did a lot of photoshopping to make that sky look right. Be proud. I am. It think its my favorite picture of all of them.
These two are of the cathedral.
This area was high above the town below. It was just next to Queen Mary's dollhouse, which was massive and detailed.
Center of the castle, where the Queen stays. She was there when we were. We knew because the royal standard was flying. You might be able to see it on top of the flagpole, but I doubt it.
Sidewall
Turret
Sidewall
These little crowns were on all the lamps. I found it amusing.
Then there were, of course, the soldiers standing completely still. They didn't have fuzzy hats though. :(
Edinburgh
Finally, Edinburgh, Scotland.
The first thing we saw was Edinburgh castle, which was monstrous, awesome, and had a perfect defensive position. Even so, it was invaded more than a dozen times.
The castle from the rocky side.
This is the start of the interior of the castle. We're looking at the cathedral now.
This is a cool archway. I think it was called Foog's gate.
This is the site of the great escape of four men from the cells of the castle. Five escaped, but one fell from the heights of the castle, and was dashed on the rocks below.
Crazy amounts of building near the top of the castle.
These two are the entrance and the portcullis, which is actually relatively far up into the castle.
This is looking out over Edinburgh from the top of a really long flight of stairs.
These are some shots of the designs of the inside of the castle.
Cannon shot at a memorial from atop the castle.
These are shots of the view from the castle.
One of the few kilted men I actually saw in Scotland. Obviously acting like Braveheart. He kept telling women he didn't have any underwear on and showing them his butt.
The small and dark St. Guile's Cathedral. I wasn't actually supposed to take that second picture. I almost got fined for it.
This cathedral was cool looking on the outside, but it didn't have a name and the inside was converted into a mall. It was kind of sad. :(
We went on a hike! We don't do that often, so I was really excited when we did!
Here's how big the hill was.
These are us starting to move up the hill.
This one and the next will hopefully show how high up we were.
These are some of our views from atop the hill.
This is Holyrood house, the official residence of the Queen in Edinburgh.
Finally, my miscellaneous pictures from Edinburgh!
So there you have it, my entire vacation in some kind of a nutshell of some sort.
Let me know if you liked/disliked any of the pictures. I'm working on my camera handling skill and I'd like to know if you have any points for improvement.