United Kingdom / London

During the Japanese holiday of Golden Week, last week of April actually, I made my first trip to the United Kingdom and visited the cities of London, Edinburgh, Leeds and Cambridge.

Above was my first view of the UK, looking back on Paddington Station after exiting the train from the airport.

April is rainy season in the UK and almost daily some rain would fall.  I was lucky to constantly be leaving the place where it was raining and going to the place in the country where the sun was shinning.  Above is the Marble Arch, not far from were I stayed in London.

Above is Buckingham Palace, home of the queen.  I missed the changing of the guard by one day.

All over the city these red phone booths still exist.  Japan, the city of Nagoya still has lots of phone booths, but I think the US has more or less got rid of these.

My first day in London it was raining, so I decided to visit some museums. Above is a view from the 4th floor of the Imperial War Museum.  They have great preserved planes on display.

All over London and the United Kingdom are old-school pubs.  I had fish and chips at many of them, great dish but more food than I'm use to eating.

Craft beer was normal everywhere!

I visited St. Paul's Cathedral and felt a little guilty about snapping a few photos, which is not allowed.

But this past week, I saw the Diamond Jubilee, the queen has allowed to take video and everything in here.  After that, I did not feel so guilty.

You can walk up to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, all over the UK are monuments where you can walk up 100's of steps to get a great view of the city.  Above I'm 1/2 way up the cathedral.

Looking west from the top of the cathedral.

St. Paul's seen from across the street.

Above is the Monument to the Great Fire of London.  Like the St. Paul's Cathedral, you can walk up there.

Here is a view looking down through the spiral stair case from near the top of the Monument.

London Bridge!

I walked all over London and my path to and from where I stayed took my past the Palace of Westminster twice.

It's an amazing building, very parliamentary.

Hyde Park still uses gas lamps.

All over London was signs about stuff you can't do.  For example, the sign above is missing 'NO FUN.'  Other popular signs was no cycling or no pickpocketing.

This restaurant near Marble Arch called Nagoya did not serve any famous Nagoya foods.   I did not bother having Japanese food in the UK.