The Last of London

So here’s the last instalment of pics from my day out in “Big Grownup London,” as the childen used to say.

We emerged from watching the light installations in the subways around the IMAX cinema and started to walk across Waterloo Bridge

from Waterloo Bridge, looking left

from Waterloo Bridge, looking right towards Blackfriar’s Bridge & St Paul’s Cathedral

almost at the far (North) side of Waterloo Bridge, we look down to see our destination, Somerset House

after our visit to the Terrace Rooms, Somerest House to see Richard Bryant’s “Greater London” exhibition

we stood on the terrace and looked across at the House of Parliament, rising out of the cold January sky

Northwards and slightly east and we found ourselves in Covent Garden where I looked down & spotted these colourful tables &  chairs

Don’t forget to look up when you walk around town – you never know what you might see

I do hope the floor inside this inter-building covered walkway/ pedestrian bridge is more level than it looks

There’s “Richard Bryant’s London” in the window of Hatchards, elbowing Diana (Mitford) Mosley’s “Pursuit of Laughter” out of view

some more colourful changing lights as people began to head for home

darkness began to fall and I made my way to Green Park, Vauxhall and eventually home.

Underneath the IMAX

The subways round the IMAX cinema have been treated as a lighting installation. The lights change gradually from one colour to the next. if you look at the green image below you can see that it has just started the red sequence. Very slowly,  bulb by bulb, the lights will switch from green to red until the whole subway is glowing red. It was fascinating to watch but still had that creepy feeling that seems to emanate from subways and underpasses.

Ruth in Wonderland

I don’t know about you but I’m still a bit of a child when it comes to stunning window displays. Yesterday I popped up to London and walked across Waterloo Bridge to see an exhibition by my boss at Somerset House and then afterwards just wandered slowly around a little of London. Maybe I’ll share some photos with you over the next few days.

Everyone was back at work after the break and it wasn’t a weekend, Christmas and Sale shopping seemed to be all done and we’re supposed to be suffering from the credit crunch, so the pavements were relatively uncluttered. Eventually I found myself in Piccadilly and stories told to me by my grandmother came to mind. She told of “the poor children” pressing their noses against the windows of the rich and being amazed at the sights within. They saw houses decorated like palaces, piles of delicacies and sweetmeats, the like of which they could never have imagined, all lit up by candles that cast a magical glow. It felt a bit like that when I caught glimpses inside The Ritz and marvelled at the windows of Fortnum & Masons and the Waterford & Wedgwood shop in the Piccadilly Arcade. So now I propose to present to you a magic lantern show of what I saw.