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My friends and I visited England early this year. It was my first time in UK thus made the trip exciting. But I will not talk about the trip all together, I will rather divide it per entry.

When we took a boat ride at the Thames River for our Jack The Ripper trip (I will share this in my future entry), the river itself was wonderful enough to see. With British Airways London Eye standing on its bank, that makes it even more a breathtaking view…at least in my opinion (the tourist in me.)

History
Since opening in March 2000 the British Airways London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain. The London Eye is the UK’s most popular paid for visitor attraction, visited by over 3.5 million people a year. A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye’s capsules can see up to 40 kilometers in all directions.

The London Eye is the vision of David Marks and Julia Barfield, a husband and wife architect team. The wheel design was used as a metaphor of the turning of the century.

British Airways is the main sponsor of the London Eye and up until November 2005 were joint shareholders with Marks Barfield Architects and The Tussauds Group. British Airways also privately funded the London Eye project from the early stages of conception.

The British Airways London Eye is now operated by the London Eye Company Limited, a Merlin Entertainments Group Company.

I did not experience riding a capsule (ticket should be purchased in advance) but I just had a good time photographing it from under.

Have you seen the movie Braveheart with Mel Gibson as William Wallace? I found it to be a very very bloody gory movie thus only have watched half of the film. Anyway, here’s a memorial near the place where he was executed in 1305.

London, England

The 23rd August 2005 marks the 700th Anniversary of the execution of the hero of the Scots Wars of Independence, Sir William Wallace, by being hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield, London. The site is marked by a memorial on the wall of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, West Smithfield. The Latin couplet was taught to the young Wallace by one of his uncles, the Priest of Dunipace.

A great deal of mythology attaches to Wallace, much quite recent, as a result of the film “Braveheart”, starring and directed by Mel Gibson, though the film has brought much needed attention to the period and its main protagonists. We had, for example, the Battle of Stirling Bridge without a bridge, lowland Scots in kilts, Wallace’s face painted blue and white and much else. Much artistic licence was used to convey the spirit of the times.

The real Wallace was born between 1270 and 1276, originally thought to have been in Elderslie, near Paisley, in Renfrewshire, though there is a more recent view that he was born in Ayrshire. The recent discovery of his seal shows he was the younger son of Alan Wallace of Ayrshire, whose name appears on the Ragman Rolls (Waleys, Aleyn (tenant le Roi du counte de Are)). He was educated by two uncles, both priests, in Latin and French.

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Camera: Sony DSC-W15
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NOTE: please don’t forget that my (this) main domain is now purely a PHOTOBLOG. My personal blog you can access HERE, thanks guys!

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Big Ben is one of London’s best-known landmarks, and looks most spectacular at night when the clock faces are illuminated. You even know when parliament is in session, because a light shines above the clock face.

The four dials of the clock are 23 feet square, the minute hand is 14 feet long and the figures are 2 feet high. Minutely regulated with a stack of coins placed on the huge pendulum, Big Ben is an excellent timekeeper, which has rarely stopped.

The name Big Ben actually refers not to the clock-tower itself, but to the thirteen ton bell hung within. The bell was named after the first commissioner of works, Sir Benjamin Hall.

This bell came originally from the old Palace of Westminster, it was given to the Dean of St. Paul’s by William III. Before returning to Westminster to hang in its present home, it was refashioned in Whitechapel in 1858. The BBC first broadcast the chimes on the 31st December 1923 - there is a microphone in the turret connected to Broadcasting House.

During the second world war in 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the Commons chamber of the Houses of Parliament, but the clock tower remained intact and Big Ben continued to keep time and strike away the hours, its unique sound was broadcast to the nation and around the world, a welcome reassurance of hope to all who heard it.

There are even cells within the clock tower where Members of Parliament can be imprisoned for a breach of parliamentary privilege, though this is rare; the last recorded case was in 1880.

The tower is not open to the general public, but those with a “special interest” may arrange a visit to the top of the Clock Tower through their local (UK) MP.
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Camera: Sony DSC-W15
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All photos were taken last April, during my UK visit.

‘Used max 3 optical zoom, Sony Point and Shoot camera

Did you know…

* Stonehenge was constructed in three phases.
* It has been estimated that the three phases of the construction required more than thirty million hours of labour.
* Speculation on the reason it was built range from human sacrifice to astronomy.

Quick guide
Age estimated at 3100 BC
Location Wiltshire, UK
OS Reference SU 122 422
Type of stone Bluestone, Sarson, Welsh Sandstone
Worship Lunar, Solar
Access English Heritage - there is a charge to visit the stones
Extra notes Except on special occasions, visitors are unable to walk amongst the stones

See the little black bird?

FAQs on Stonehenge

Did the Druids build Stonehenge?

The stones were built by three different cultures, Windmill, First Wessex and the Beakers - so named because when they buried their dead they had their pots interred with them.

Why has one of the stones got a smooth base?

One of the stones has experienced a lot of wear over the years and to support it and to prevent it from falling, a concrete core was put in to keep it upright. This was done in 1959.

Where are the Bluestones? None of them look blue?

The Bluestones are the smaller inner stones, which originate from Preselli mountains in Wales, and when they become wet they turn blue.

When did the ropes go up around the stone circle?

The ropes were erected around the stones in 1978 to help protect the stones from further damage.

Is Stonehenge the largest stone circle?

Stonehenge is not the largest stone circle in the world but it is the only one that has lintels around the top, making this unique.

Why was it built here?

There is no explanation as to why the site was chosen. Various theories have been put forward but no conclusive evidence has been found to support them.

Why can’t we go into the centre circle?

The stone circle has had a lot of footfall over the past few centuries and for conservation purposes it has to be roped off. We do, however, have out of hours Stone Circle Access which allows us to monitor numbers.

Why do we have to pay as this is our heritage?

The stone circle was given to the government in 1918 by Sir Cecil Chubb with the provision that a charge was to be made to pay for the upkeep.

What happened to the rest of the stones?

A lot of the original stones have been taken by our ancestors to build their houses and roads. Also, a lot of stones have been chipped away by visitors and taken away as souvenirs over the past couple of hundred years.

~~Inside of the stone, it was raining but it didn’t turn blue…maybe it wasn’t wet enough?~~

~~Would have been a fantastic experience (or course maybe shot) if it wasn’t foggy, if we were closer to the hills and it was summer. Even missed seeing those famous crop circles! Curved out of the chalk hills, white horses such as this are a feature of Wiltshire landscape. ~~