London, England
In 1994 I spent about one month in London, England. I was there from June 6 through
July 6. Below are some pictures of sights in and around London.
Hotel
This is the Kensington Close Hotel where I stayed. It is located in Kensington
just off of Kensignton High Street.
St. Mary's Hospital
This is St. Mary's Hospital located in Paddington. This is where Alexander
Flemming discovered penicillin.
Parliament
This is Parliament viewed from across the Thames River.
Big Ben
This is the famous clock Big Ben located at Parliament.
Harrods
This is the famous department store called Harrods located in Knightsbridge. I, like
most tourists, visited there. The "departments" are located in individual rooms
and I walked from room to room to see the merchandise. They sell just about everything
but mostly what they sell is Harrods (souvenirs).
Royal Observatory
This is the famous Royal Observatory. It is located in Greenwich, England
just a short train ride from London. It straddles the Prime Meridian, which
is 0 degrees longitude. In fact, you can stand across the Prime Meridian and
actually stand in two hemispheres (Western and Eastern hemispheres) at once.
I actually did this and took the picture below showing the marker at the
Royal Observatory that marks 0 degrees longitude.
Cutty Sark
This is the famous clipper ship, the Cutty Sark. This ship was a composite tea clipper ship, built at Dumbarton for Captain John Willis, a London shipowner, who hoped to defeat the famous Thermopylae clipper ship during sailings to China. The ship was designed by Hercules Linton, a young designer at the time. The hull was built by Scott and Linton in 1869 and the rigging completed by Denny Brothers in 1870. Iron and wood comprise
the hull and masts. The ship has 32,000 feet of sail and could produce the equivalent
of 3,000 horsepower. The Cutty Sark is 215 feet, 5 inches in length and has a gross
tonnage of 962 tons. The Cutty Sark was named after the shirt worn by the witch
"Nannie" in Robert Burns' poem entitled "Tam O'Shanter" and bears the distinction
of being the only remaining clipper ship in the world. It could make the trip from
China to England in about 3 months with a cargo of tea. Later it was used to carry
wool from Australia to England. The Cutty Sark did not have a longevity of service as
clipper ships were replaced with steam powered ships soon after the Cutty Sark was
put into service.
For a small price, you can walk on this ship. I did this
took numerous pictures and updated a model of this ship that I was making at the
time. See my Models webpage to see my model.
Below is a side view of the bow showing the figurehead and the decorative sideboard.
Below is a view of the bow showing the tall masts.
Below is a view from the main deck looking aft. You can see the small deck houses in this view.
Below is a view looking aft from the poop deck. You can see the ship's wheel in the center background. The deck house is the top of the dining room below.
Below is a picture of the stern of the ship. It has the name "Cutty Sark" in the name board.
I flew back from London to New York on the British Airways Concorde supersonic
aircraft. A picture of it is shown below.
