June 2015 London

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Well, not an exotic destination at all, definitely not a rare one either but a music addict like me couldn't skip visiting the mother of so much music me and most of the planet loved through the years. I was curious to walk the same streets as many of my music heroes did in their pre fame years so got myself into flight to... where else... London!

You can escort my on board cloudy pictures with "In the skies" from Peter Green, or "Young folks" from another Peter, Bjorn this time:

As I arrive at Stansted I take the tube to the city and decide to take my first picture at London bridge looking at the Tower bridge:

There's so many details already worth focusing in one single spot. The sharp contemporary buildings are so different compared to the old ones but in a weird way they all blend in some short of harmony:

The lovely cruise boats:

The Naval history:

And of course the Tower bridge itself which stands out from galaxies away:

So different from today's design:

With all these nicely blended contradictions I arrive at my cousin's place where she struggles to believe that I walked the whole way from London bridge up to her place close to the Isle of Dogs. I love to drive but I love to walk and I'm so glad I don't have to drive in London. The traffic is beyond heavy. We visit a local pub at night and I get a first taste of how these things look at their birthplace. Sweet.

Next day starts with lovely weather and I am more than ready and willing to explore London in mid June. The sun offers perfect light to capture the South dock of Rotherhithe:

Keep in mind though that Thames doesn't look as neat an blue everywhere:

On my way I find this Morris. It screams old with all its wood parts:

There's definitely more wood on the boats docked around there:

I'm still walking around Rotherhithe, happy to capture details like these:

I go to the local Tesco to buy some necessary stuff and when I finish I leave the place wishing I could find same deals on salmon back in Athens. In the afternoon my dear cousin joins me for more walking around. Between London bridge and Tower bridge I capture the HMS "Belfast", no more obliged to defend UK, posing in front of some of the city's highlights:

Walking West, Southwark bridge is one more well deserved eye catcher:

There, my cousin pictures yours truly, a real Greek, in front of the "Real Greek":

A few steps away is the Shakespeare's globe, right between Southwark and Millennium bridge:

And that's Millennium bridge with a busker on the left:

Buskers in London unsurprisingly are among the best you can find by the way.

At the banks of Thames you can find inspired creations :

Be aware, London's watching you: the "London eye":

From London eye you can see Westminster bridge and Palace and (you recognised that didn't you?) Big Ben:

Your truly again and UK's parliament:

Big Ben solo:

And this one Ladies and Gents is where all the coronations took place since 1066:

The sun goes down, London dresses for the night and gives me the following image at Piccadilly Circus:

Next day is a Saturday so I have the privilege to have my cousin as a guide all day. We visit some great buildings at the Naval College gardens:

And of course Greenwich is impossible to miss:

But neither is Cutty Sark. Enjoy it from various angles:

The Greenwich Park offers a lovely break from the city's noise and rush - London's rush is intense if nothing else - and I loved the contrast of this quiet hill with the rest of the city in the background:

You don't have to ask what time it is there (measure units at the bottom too):

Too cloudy for perfect pictures but the hill still offers a nice overview:

For a Londoner squirrels at the Greenwich park is business as usual but for me as a first timer definitely not - quite funny how they eat in ultra fast pace sitting upright:

The National Maritime museum is really nice but I picked these two details of its exterior that I liked the most:

Not a bad day at all isn't it? Next one though is more cloudy. I capture the morning haze on a cold mid June Sunday:

My dear cousin takes me for a brunch where I have the best poached eggs so far:

The British museum is next on the to do list where my jaw drops dead flat on the floor by the amount of foreign stuff there. I mean, they even managed to move complete temples from other countries back in the day. However, I am looking for one specific item:

This is the missing Caryatid (we have the rest 5 of them at the Acropolis museum) and me feeling so special to finally see her, wishing that she meets her sisters one day.

At Covent Garden we experienced some street act, not really attractive but totally British hence interesting for a non native like me:

You know you're walking in Chinatown if things look like this:

And if a lion stares at you this way you know you are at Trafalgar square:

Nelson's column there is VERY tall:

How British is this - a London taxi leading the car queue at the Admiralty arch:

Yes, Buckingham:

A cloudy day is no friend of photos. I have better luck the next day though light wise which helps me picture these expressive statues at Green park:

And of course, Hyde park couldn't be out of the menu especially on such a nice day:

Fantastic. I could spend days there but I have other things to see as well so I walk towards Notting Hill. It's obvious from the first steps that it takes much more zeroes next to my bank account's balance to afford an apartment there:

I return back to Hyde park for some more green 'n blue:

Kensington Palace enhances the beauty of this place:

Beautiful and lucky residents of the Round Pond:

Fancy some pigeon love?

With the sun on my side nice pictures are effortless:

I think the artist nailed it with this one at Grosvenor garden:

St. James park:

By far the funniest moment there is this pigeon incident:

Walking back East, weather is more British cloudy again and I picture the moody sky with London eye:

Whitehall gardens:

As I walk later, I see a teenager crying in front a bunch of flowers left at the spot. I couldn't spoil his moment by asking what happened while his face was full of tears. I sit on a bench a couple of minutes later where I grab the local free press. To my surprise the answer was on the front page:

If only people were fundamentally decent...

I continue walking back when I spot a Mercedes with a roof of gold:

The picture is too rough to tell but the crowd this thing attracted in the traffic lights was similar to Madonna walking topless.

As for me, I prefer images like this:

The above is how my last morning looks, free to walk around there before I take my flight back home the next day. A duck family prepares to start their day too: