The Shard

(sorry, not in Woodbridge again! In London for a couple of days)

Olympic Marathon

Some London day trip photos from the Men’s Marathon:

(apologies for the blur, they were so speedy!)

Eventual Gold keeping an eye on Silver (on their second lap)

Team GB supporters (me by proxy!)

One of the British runners

Scene cheering on the Olympic Marathon by St Pauls Cathedral

 

 

 

Gymnastics at the Olympics

Where I spent my Saturday morning… Exicting to see a slice of the Olympics!

Session 1 of the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics qualifications at the London Olympics, at the North Greenwich Arena (Millennium Dome).

The video is during one of the rotations between the disciplines. The crowd is clapping to the music.

This was the qualification round with Great Britain, France, Korea, China and a sprinkling of individual country entrants.

It will be fun if some of these gymnasts go on to win golds in their finals!

The Jubilee Edition

I’m in London for the Queen’s Jubilee weekend.

Today was the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant, a festival of all kinds of boats on the Thames. Though it was a grey drizzly day, the banks were packed with people! This was the scene on the South Bank with more than 2 1/2 hours to go before the first boat was expected!

We eventually found a spot to view the boats a little bit downstream from Tower Bridge. Viewed through the sailing boats moored along side, it was easier to spot the pageant boats moving than it seems in this still photo!

The Queen’s barge was docked opposite us. We could just make out a speck of white dress under the gold canopy, which was the Queen!

Exhibition & Exhibition Road

I visited the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition today with friends, at the Natural History Museum in London.

I had too many favourites, this was one of them: Tern, by Ilkka Rasanen. In one of the children's categories no less.

I would say it is well worth visiting, but today was its last day! I think it will be touring the country now, so in fact not too late to see it. It has inspired me to plan more photography focused outings, as well as just carrying my camera around for opportunistic snaps.

And one of my own, much more boring photos!:

Exhibition Road, by the Natural History Museum, V&A, Royal Geographic Society and close to the Royal Albert Hall, has recently undergone a makeover, turning it into 'shared space'. With reduced road markings and no pavements, it is meant to be more pedestrian friendly and less car orientated. Its had mixed reviews, but considering that I was with two other landscape architect friends and none of us could agree on the 'rules of the road' in this scheme, I don't blame the general public for being a bit confused too! General consensus is that unless its a very quiet Sunday afternoon, as it was today, it is probably still best that pedestrians don't cross the road with a blind fold on!

Scullers in London

Not on the Deben, but on the Thames by Hampton Court, I had a weekend away in London!