Chinese New Year

Today marks the advent of the Year of the Pig

St Pancras Old Church

A closed tube station and the wrong bus landed me here at the first parish church ever built in London - St Pancras Old Church. It has been the cite of some interesting events (both historical and fictional.) On the fictional side, Charles Dickens includes it in his A Tale of Two Cities. And historically, it is the place where poet Percy Shelley confessed his undying love for Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the infamous Frankenstein. Another historical, but more modern and much less romantic, fact is that in 1985 satanists attacked the church. A final event of historical significance is recounted below.

These tombstones are jumbled here together (face to face) around a tree as a result of the exhumation of many bodies from a large portion of the churchyard which was cleared (around 1865) to make way for a railway station. Famed author Thomas Hardy was the architect in charge of the (no doubt) dismal task of exhumation. Hence the tree is named the 'Hardy Tree'.

Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath is perhaps my favorite place in all of London (so far). I had been there once before but knew that I had to go back and explore other parts of it. (It is over 800 acres.) This time I visited the far western side of it and came out with these photos.

While strolling around the part, I stumbled upon a huge property around which were these long hallways. I believe the estate used to be the Inverforth Hospital, but I'm not sure.

(It's a shame there was a cloud cover this day. A beautiful blue sky would have made for some more colorful photos.)

Here's what I think is the old Inverforth Hospital. For some reason, it reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.

An old beam

An old lock

Very "horse & carriage" don't you think?

Back to Ben and Abbey

The sun was shining. So I decided to revisit Big Ben (Houses of Parliament) and Westminster Abbey. I have taken similar photos before, but I figured I could get some better shots on such a beautiful day. Enjoy.

Honest Abe: Honored Even Among the Brits

Almost an exact replica of a photo I took the second day I was in London--Lampost outside the Abbey.

Westminster Abbey