Bank of England

Bank of England on a sunny autumn day.

Lloyds reflections

Reflections in the City of London.

Lloyds to Docklands

I showed the view West from the Lloyds Building two posts back. Here's the view East to Docklands. You can make out the Lloyds Building's distinctive outer fixings.

Lloyds of London

It seems my automatic posted didn't work! Apologies for prolonging the suspense. I spent Open House London at Lloyds of London, an amazing 1980s concrete structure that was just made a listed building. Here we see "The Room" where insurance brokers meet do their thing.

Open House: view to St Paul's

The wonderful Open House weekend lets the public visit hundreds of buildings not normally open to the public. I thought about waiting in a 4-hour queue to get inside the Gherkin, but the rain today put me off.

Saturday, however, was gorgeous and I visited two very cool, very famous buildings. This a view from the first. Anyone wanna guess what it is?

Women's Marathon

I managed to see some of the women's Marathon yesterday as they ran a few laps around Museum of London. Quite exciting.

The frontrunners.

One of the American runners, pursued by cameras.

waiting for the athletes

Some Olympic events are taking place on the streets of London. I managed to see part of one of these events. Check back tomorrow to see which one.

hole in the city

Construction is a common sight in London. Much of it will be finished for the Olympics, though this giant hole in the middle of the financial district looks like it's got a while longer to go.

sunny sunday at mol

Nothing like a sunny Sunday at Museum of London to make you fall in love with the city all over again. (Because in all the rain and cloud we usually get, I sometimes forget how truly beautiful the city can be in the sun.)

St Paul's YHA

One of my favourite things to do on the weekends is wander around the City, the central business district of London. It's mostly offices, plus some landmarks like St. Paul's Cathedral and the Bank of England. Because it's a place where people tend to work rather than live, on the weekends it can get very quiet and peaceful, especially in the side streets.

Last weekend I ran across this stunning building right near St. Paul's. From the Latin inscription along the top, it looks like it might have had some function related to the Cathedral in the past. Now it's the local youth hostel!

shard with a top!

I can see the Shard! And it's almost finished!

men (not) at work

Deserted work site. I love capturing this little still lifes throughout the city. It makes London somehow feel smaller or more personal.

muscly soviet man

Public art designed by the 'People's Artist of the USSR'.

reflections

Reflections!

hydrogen bus

Hydrogen bus! I couldn't help but think of the Hindenburg...

st dunstan part 3

St Dunstan from another angle. Always remember to look up.

st dunstan part 2

I've posted about St Dunstan in the East before, a bombed-out church that's been turned into a park. I imagine it's packed with office workers having their lunches during the week, but on the weekend it's a calm oasis in the middle of this metropolis.

riverfront

Riverfront in the sun. I live for days like this.

sun dappled

The last post showed us how depressing London can get. The flip side of that means that whenever we get sun, the city seems to jump to life and look even more beautiful than usual.

Occupy LSX 2

Another view of Occupy London. There were a lot more tents than I had expected and, unfortunately, the square wasn't smelling too great.