London's Dragons

London, the capital of England, is split into two parts. The City of London and the City of Westminster make up London as we know it. In order to tell where one starts and where the other begins there have some symbols in various areas showing where the boundaries are or merely that here you are in this part of the city. 

The dragon symbolises the City of London and the winged creature, bearing the red cross of St. George features in the City's coat of arms.

The dragons near Temple Station, next to the River Thames represent a constituent art of the armorial bearings of the City of London and have been erected to indicate the Western boundary of the city. The dragons, on either side of the road, were formerly mounted above the entrance of the City of London Coal Exchange which was demolished in 1963. 

The other famous dragon is located outside the Royal Courts of Justice in Fleet Street.

The Golden Hinde

The full-size reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake's 16th century galleon has travelled over 140.000 miles, including sailing around the world. 

Drake was knighted in 1581 aboard the original Golden Hinde. Queen Elizabeth I ordered the ship to be preserved and it became the world's first maritime museum.

It is currently located in St. Mary Overie's Dock. It exists since the 16th century and has been a free landing place at which the Parishioners of St. Saviour's Parish were entitled to land goods for free. 

Winchester Palace

The ruins pictured here are all that remain of the palace of the powerful Bishops of Winchester, one of the largest and most important buildings in medieval London. Founded in the 12th century by Bishop Henry de Blois, brother of King Stephen, it was built to house the bishops in comfort when staying in London on royal or administrative business. 

The visible remains were part of the Great Hall, which formerly stood alongside the south bank of the Thames. To the right, the gable wall of the hall has doors which led to the buttery, pantry and kitchen, and it has a magnificent rose window. 

Bellow the hall was a vaulted cellar, where goods such as wine could be stored, with a passage to the river wharf. The hall would have been lavishly decorated, and was often used to entertain royal guests, such as James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort, who held their wedding feast here in 1424. 

The rest of the palace was arranged around two courtyards, and housed many buildings, including a prison, brew house and butchery. As the Bishop's private retreat from the stresses of medieval governance, the palace also had a tennis court, bowling alley and pleasure gardens. 

The palace remained in use until the 17th century, when it was divided into tenements and warehouses. The ruins were rediscovered in the 19th century following a fire, and were finally revealed in the 1980's during redevelopment of the area. 

Millenium Bridge

The Millenium Bridge opened on 10 June 2000 as London's first new Thames crossing in more than 100 years. This modern 320m long structure was designed by the architect Sir Norman Foster with sculptor Sir Anthony Caro and engineers Arup. This whole project cost 18 million pounds for construction and 5 million pounds for various modifications. It was opened by The Queen. 

80.000 people crossed the bridge on its opening day. Although the bridge was designed to take the weight, suddenly it developed a very worrying and obvious wobble, giving it the famous name - the Wobbly Bridge. The structure started to sway and twist in regular oscillations, however the engineers insisted the bridge would not fall down. 

The engineers finally decided that the best solution to this serious problem were damping mechanisms, i.e. giant shock absorbers which limit the bridge's response to external forces. Dampers are used in bridges and buildings around the globe, especially in areas prone to earthquakes. Also the dampers are hidden beneath or within the structure, thus the bridge's icon is not altered in any way.

Temple of Arethusa

Towards the end of my visit to Kew Gardens I spotted on one side, just before the exit, this lovely but small Temple of Arethusa. This temple was designed by Sir. William Cahmbers for Princess Augusta and built in 1758. It was named after Arethusa, a mythiological Greek nymph who was turned into a spring of water. 

The interior contains a memorial tablet to Kew staff who lost their lives in the two World Wars.

Lilliputian Police Station in London

The Lilliputian Police Station is the smallest police station in London, which is located in the South East corner of Trafalgar Square. It is easily missed, since it is so small and it does not remind people that it is a police station. It was built in the 1930s so it could serve as a watch post, since Trafalgar Square is located in the centre of the city and attracts countless protesters, rioters, marchers, tourists and pigeons.  

It is so small that it only fits one person. However it is currently a storeroom for cleaners, that is why all anyone can see now, through the glass window, are several mops. But until its abandonment it was a centre against protesters, having a direct line to Scotland Yard and slits in the walls like the ones found in castles in order to allow the officer inside to shoot at rioters if needed. 

Kew Gardens

Although we do not yet see the spring climate in London, since winter still persists, it is March...who knows maybe this post will 'bring' better weather. Kew Gardens complies of three hundred acres of botanical gardens, which is located on the south bank of the Thames River between Richmond and Kew in the suburbs of South-West London. 

The gardens are Royal, the official name being 'The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew',  because for many years the estates that now form the gardens were owned by members of Britain's Royal Family. King George II and Queen Caroline lived at the Richmond Estate (one of the two estates - the other being Kew Estate -  which form the Royal Botanic Gardens). Their son and heir, Prince Frederick, leased the neighbouring Kew estate in the 1730's.  

Under King George III and under his unofficial director Joseph Bank, Kew Gardens flourished. Banks dispatched botanical collectors across the world to collect unusual, rare and interesting specimens. This resulted in the transformation of Kew Gardens into a depository of the world's plant species and a centre of botanical research. After their death the Gardens declined, until they were handed over to the state in 1840.

The Royal Botanical Gardens, hence, came into being in 1841. Sir William Hooker was the man charged with running the gardens. He was responsible for founding the Museum, the Department of Economic Botany, the Library and the Herbarium. 

In 1848 the Palm House was introduced in the Kew Gardens, followed by the Temperature House in 1860. It is a copy of the Crystal Palace, which was erected during the Victorian Period for the Great Exhibition in 1851, which was the starting point of the modern global capitalist system.

Today it maintains the largest plant collection in the world. Kew Gardens remains one of the world's premier public gardens. 

Kingsbury Station

I thought of writing about the name of the area and underground station which is closest to my house, Kingsbury. The station is located in the northern side of the Jubilee line. This line is going to bear the weight of many venues during the Olympic Games in London, in the summer of 2012.

Kingsbury was recorded as Kynges byrig in 1046 and as Chingesberie in the Domesday Book. The name is derived from Kings and the Old English burh, 'a fortified place' and means the ' Kings manor or stronghold'. The manor was granted to Westminster Abbey by Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042-66) and the association of the area with a King goes back to at least 957, when the woodland in the parish was referred to as Kings Wood. It has had various spellings, being known as Kyngesbury in 1199.

The Station was opened as Kingsbury on 10 December 1932.

Whispering Gallery

St. Paul's Cathedral boasts an impressive series of domes leading up to the main one, all of which are open to the public. In the walkway that circles the great dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London someone can whisper on one side of the gallery and can be easily heard clearly directly across 137 feet. The trick of acoustics is an artifact of the perfection of the dome, which was complete in 1710 by Christopher Wren. 

The visitor has to climb 259 steps up the dome where he finds the Whispering Gallery, which is one of three galleries within the Church and specifically under the centre dome, seen by miles away, making it one of the key attractions of London. Once your up there, the view is breathtaking. All of the Church's interior can be viewed and appreciated. Also there are more steps that take the visitor towards the exterior of the dome, providing an astonishing view of the City of London and the City of Westminster.

The way it works is simple, but yet genius. Sound hugs the walls, allowing it to travel from one side of the room to another without getting a lot quieter.

The most dangerous zebra crossing in Britain

I can't say that I found it dangerous when I drove passed it one Sunday evening, but there were about 100 people standing next to it, which isn't the best thing for drivers, since they do not know if the pedestrians are just standing there or if they are about to cross the road. But Abbey Road in London is considered the most dangerous zebra crossing in Britain since the location has been a shrine to visitors from all over the world, especially due to the known photograph taken in 1969 with the Beatles crossing the road.



Even the Abbey Road studios have installed a web cam which overlooks the zebra crossing..Its funny to see tourists and fans trying to recreate the Beatles photograph, annoying the drivers who by law have to stop to allow for the pedestrians to cross the zebra crossing...Even the Simpsons have recreated the moment in their on way..

You can see Abbey Road through this link http://www.abbeyroad.com/visit/. During the day I am sure you will see many people attempting to cross the road 

Westminster Hall

I visited the British Parliament, which is housed in Westminster Palace, where the most famous attraction and symbol of Britain is Big Ben. After a lovely visit and a very interesting tour of the Palace, which is full of history and symbolism, we ended up in Westminster Hall. This Hall has witnessed a thousand years of British history. It was Built by William Rufus in 1097-1099 and it has served a number of purposes since then.

The Law Courts met here until the 19th century and it also functioned as a law court. The royal family used to hold magnificent banquets in this hall. The last monarch to be coronated here was George IV in 1821. It is also the place where Kings, Queens have lain in state in the hall, as has Winston Churchill.

The hammerbeam gothic style roof depicted above is the largest one of its kind in the world. It spanns the entire width and length of Westminster Hall without the need for supporting columns, hence the massive open space, making it a work of technical brilliance.

For those who are interested in history it would be interesting to point out that on the left side of this picture is the place where William Wallace was given the death penalty. Also right in the middle of the picture is where King Charles I was tried, convicted and condemned to death in 1649.