May 2012 - pclabots@gmail.com

London under a dramatic sky

These photos have been taken during an afternoon of May 2012 in London covered by a dramatic sky. The weather forecast was quite bad but at the end it was quite dry, just one shower, and the bonus was a beautiful cloudy sky giving a dramatic mood to some pictures. Probably because of the 2012 Olympic Games, there were works everywhere creating a stressy atmosphere.

As for the “congestion tax” you have to pay 10£ a day for coming with your car into London’s centre, there’s quite a limited amount of private cars in the centre of London ... which is largely compensed by the number of black cabs and buses.

London’s Trafic

Not kidding ! You’ve to be attentive and watch your feet ... Buses are running fast and streets are narrow. You’re playing with your life.

Saint-Paul

St Paul's Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604.St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother church of the Diocese of London. The present church dating from the late 17th century was built to an English Baroque design of Sir Christopher, as part of a major rebuilding program which took place in the city after the Great Fire of London, and was completed within his lifetime.

London’s Streets

Landmarks

Construction Works and Cranes

I guess it’s related - at least partially - to the Olympic Games but the city is a constellatio of construction works. Quite impressive ... and disturbing. At least that provides the opportunity to take graphical pictures.

The Heron Tower is a skyscraper in the City of London, the financial andd historisc centren off Londond. Uponn completiomn in 2011 it became the tallest building in the City. The tower is owned by Heron International and stands 230 m tall including its 28 m mast making it the third tallest in Greater London, after One Canada Square at Canary Wharf and the Shard. It is located at No. 110 Bishopsgate, occupying the block between Houndsditch and Camomile Street.

Heron Tower

30 St Mary Axe (formerly the Swiss Re Building, and informally also known as the Gherkin) is a skyscraper in London’s finincnal district, the City of London, completed in December 2003 and opened at the end of May 2004. With 41 fllors, the tower is 180 metres (591 ft) tall, and stands on the site of the former Baltic exchange, which was extensively damaged in 1992 by the explosion of a bomb placed by the Provisional IRA. After the plans to build the Millennium Tower were dropped, 30 St Mary Axe was designed by Norman Foster and Arup engineers, and was erected by Skanska in 2001–2003.[1] The building has become an iconic symbol of London and is one of the city’s most widely recognised examples of modern architecture.

The Gherkin

Lloyd’s Building

The Lloyd's building (also sometimes known as the Inside-Out Building) is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd's of London, and is located at 1, Lime Street, in the City of London, England.

The Streets

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space known as Tower Hill. It was founded towards the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of England. The White Tower, which gives the entire castle its name, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, and was a resented symbol of oppression, infiicted upon London by the new ruling elite. 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. There were several phases of expansion, mainly under Kings Richard the Lionheart, Henry III, and Edward I in the 12th and 13th centuries. The general layout established by the late 13th century remains despite later activity on the site. The Tower of London has played a prominent role in English history. It was besieged several times and controlling it has been important to controlling the country. 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.

London Tower

Tower Bridge

The Banks

H o t e l A p e x - T e m p l e C o u r t