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a-british-dream:

all-that-good-stuff13:

Victoria Station, London

this is one of the prettiest things ive seen

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Things that make me smile:London

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dai-sy-m:

1-7/50 photos of London

dramatis-echo:

mistletoe and silver snow

(Source: gorgeousphotosets)

fuckyeah-london:

Leading Lines | Mark-Spokes.com

St Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge are illuminated during the twilight hours by thousands of little lights lining the length of the bridge. The Bridge famous for being destroyed by Death Eaters in the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie, spans the width of the River Thames, running from the Tate Modern on it’s Southern Side, allowing a short walk to St Paul’s on it’s Northern Side. Despite being named after the Millennium and initially opening in June 2000, it wasn’t until 2002 that the bridge was fully completed, it originally swayed side to side whenever there was heavy footfall, which required 18 months worth of re-working to counteract this. The bridge allows access to many of London’s most famous landmarks and tourist attractions, including the Tate, the Tate Modern, The Globe Theatre & the City of London School, the latter of which can be seen to the left of the bridge.

St Paul’s Cathedral has dominated London’s skyline for over three hundred years, and as such has become not only much loved, but also massively famous. The most famous aspect of the Cathedral is undoubtedly its huge domed roof, as seen above. The famous dome almost wasn’t built, as Sir Christopher Wren’s sketches at the time showed a large pagoda like squire. However, when the King William III decreed that Wren could make some ‘Ornamental Changes’, many of which where made as construction progressed, the most significant of these was the dome which was inspired both by St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the Val-de-Grâce Military Hospital in Paris. . The Cathedral is 518ft (158m) long, and 365ft (111m) high, a height which, made the cathedral, until 1962, the tallest building in London.

Mark-Spokes.com

nythroughthelens:

Central Park winter - Poet’s Walk in the snow. New York City.

I love heavy snowfall and I found myself braving the super high wind gusts to wander around a mostly empty Central park during one particularly rambunctious blizzard. I don’t really recommend it and thinking back, it was a bit risky considering that the wind gusts were around 55 mph and higher. Wind gusts and trees don’t make for the safest of combinations. However, I have never seen Central Park in such a serene state.

The only people who were in the park that day were small amounts of people who lived in the surrounding neighborhoods, brave tourists and intrepid photographers with giddy expressions on their faces. I could probably count on both hands the number of people I encountered and I ended up covering most of the park on foot that day (I was never so happy to get home and drink hot chocolate that evening).

This part of Central Park is known as The Poet’s Walk or Literary Walk. The reason why this part of the park is known as Poet’s Walk and/or Literary Walk is because at the very end of this section, several statues of famous writers line the path. It’s at the southern end of a section called The Mall.

The Mall is only straight line in Central Park and the trees that line it are its crowning and most distinctive feature. They are American elm trees and are the largest and last remaining stands in all of North America. Over the years, other large grouping of American Elm trees have been destroyed by Dutch Elm disease but Central Park’s conservancy has saved a majority of the remaining trees in the park despite losing around 40 trees in the last few years to this contagious fungus. The recent Hurricane (Superstorm Sandy) also directly impacted the amount of elm trees in Central Park in a negative way.

The Poet’s Walk is one of my favorite spots in the autumn and winter because the trees look their most graceful and beautiful during these seasons. The leaves turn a beautiful golden yellow in the autumn and the elegant branches seem to reach out to each other when covered by freshly fallen snow in the winter.

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(Source: sixtiesqueen)

nythroughthelens:

Central Park winter trees covered in snow. New York City.

Winter crunches underfoot yielding to the heavy enormity of the sheer weight of souls in transition. Trees laden with snow frozen in thought stand dormant until the springtime.

It’s on these sorts of days that the earth feels as if it is caught in a trance somewhere between dreaming and opening its frozen eyelids.

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I love when the snow first falls in New York City - especially in Central Park. The quiet muffled stillness and icy warmth combine to pause the city’s frenetic energy for a few hours.

This was taken the last time we had major snowfall in Manhattan during a blizzard. In truth, it probably wasn’t the safest idea to be walking around Central Park when the wind gusts were so terrifyingly high but during the moments when the winds stopped, it was eerily beautiful.

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Christmas time in NYC

Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The castle was used as a prison since at least 1100, although that was not its primary purpose. A grand palace early in its history, it served as a royal residence. As a whole, the Tower is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat. The Tower has served variously as an armoury, a treasury, a menagerie, the home of the Royal Mint, a public records office, and the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.

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Tower ravens. “If the ravens leave the Tower, the kingdom will fall…” is the old superstition.

Tower jewels. The Tower has been home to precious jewels since William the Conqueror began storing treasure there. Today there are 23,578 jewels, and the most impressive single piece is the Imperial State Crown, which contains 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and five rubies.

Tower zoo. For over 600 years there was a royal menagerie in the Tower of London. It was founded by King John in the early 1200s and was filled with exotic animals given as royal gifts for the entertainment and curiosity of the court.

Tower mint.The Royal Mint was set up at the Tower of London in 1278. At the time, many of the coins in circulation were minted locally around the country.

Tower prison. The Tower wasn’t built as a prison but it was convenient to keep state prisoners there, as it was near the courts in Westminster and was a Royal Stronghold. Bishop Flambard, a former Constable of the Tower, was the first prisoner, and the first escapee, in 1100. 

Tower block. Only 22 executions have ever taken place inside the Tower of London. Most happened on the nearby Tower Hill. The last man to be beheaded there was the Jacobite octogenarian Lord Lovat on April 9 1747.

nythroughthelens:

New York Winter - The New York City skyline in the snow.

Snowflakes swirl over the skyscrapers and buildings: confetti from the sky blanketing the buildings and streets.

And the world transforms into a giant snow-globe, if only for a brief moment.

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What’s more magical than New York City in the snow (when it first falls, of course)? This winter cityscape view is of the skyscrapers of the New York City skyline in midtown Manhattan including the Chrysler Building, the MetLife Building and a barely visible 59th Street Bridge (also known as the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge).

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LOCATION: London, United Kingdom; SEASON: Winter.

(Source: peppergyu88)