London

Left last Friday for a business trip to London. Arrived on Saturday. Weather was beautiful all week. Hopped on the open top tour bus for a ride around all the sights in London. Included a river cruise, although I slept through part of that.
This is the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben to the right, and Victoria Tower to the left.







Here is a closeup of Big Ben.












Pretty sure this is Westminster Abbey, although I wasn't paying too much attention to the narration.










I don't remember the details on this one other than the clock kept such poor time a minute hand wasn't needed.






This is the Tower of London. The Crown jewels are kept here now. In years past it was a notorious prison and place of executions.






This is an apartment building across the street from the hotel we stayed in.








Here is a typical pub.








On Wednesday afternoon, I took the subway down to Portobello Road. This is a famous flea market on Saturdays, antique shops during the week.







Tom, Lauren and Mike will be glad to know that Portobello Road is in Notting Hill of the movie and soundtrack fame. Interesting (high end) neighborhood. The apartments have private parks behind them that serve the entire city block.












I think this is a look at the Houses of Parliament from the other side.








Another view of Big Ben.








Across the street from the previous picture.






I think this is the back side of Westminster Abbey. On several of these pictures I worked in Photoshop to correct the perspective. This keeps the ends from leaning in and corrects the "leaning back" effect.





This is what it looked like before the perspective adjustment.












This is the outside of Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament.











This is, of course, the London Eye. We didn't go on it.







The British are big on arches. This is Admiralty Arch between Trafalgar Square and The Mall.








This is Marble Arch. I think this is the one Queen Victoria thought was ugly so she had it moved to the current location. The two models are my colleagues Naresh Alle and Rick Legg.






This statue is in the center of Piccadilly Circus. It is not Eros the god of love. It represents the Angel of Christian Charity. We saw a lot of other impressive sights from the tour bus as well.







This is Wellington Arch. If you want the history please google it.








Two of the more impressive sights spotted from the bus.






This a picture of one of the folks at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park. Apparently, every Sunday there is a tradition of folks showing up to make their argument. This guy was extolling the virtues of Islam. Next to him was a Christian evangelist. Two down was a guy with an Israeli flag. Not sure what his message was exactly. It seems to be interactive. You can ask questions, debate, etc. Seemed pretty civilized while we were there.




This is Buckingham Palace. The queen was in Scotland so she couldn't see us.












This is not the London Bridge. It is the Tower Bridge.









Another view of Big Ben.











Another view of Big Ben.












On Sunday we took a walk to the British War Museum. We stopped for a pint of beer on the way. It was a long walk.








This is the outside of the museum.














This is a buzz bomb from WWII.








A tank.








A V2 rocket.
















Several planes.

Amphicars Come to Newburgh

Friday afternoon 10 or 12 of these Amphicars came to Newburgh. They were in Evansville for one of the club's events.








Interesting vehicles. You just drive right in. I looked around the internet to get some more info. These were built from 1961 to 1968, roughly. Around 3 or 4 thousand.









And drive right out. I chatted with a few of the folks. Looks like a fun group. It is hard not to smile when you see one of the cars. Watching them in the water they didn't look all that sea worthy - not much freeboard.








Another shot. They say if you roll up the windows and put up the convertible top they are quite reliable. Allegedly, 2 of them crossed the English Channel in 20 foot seas.








The plan was for them to boat back to Evansville. It must be 8 or 10 river miles. However, the water was high with a lot of debris after the 6 inches of rain in Louisville a few days earlier. This guy dented his rocker panel in the water when he hit a log or something.

Gurnee, Ottawa, and Blue Grass Wildlife Area

Sort of a mish-mash on this entry. First, a few pictures from Ottawa area. This is north of town on Rt 23.








This is downtown Ottawa from Prospect Street.









This is the Fox River looking toward the Dayton Dam.







After Ottawa, I met Margot in Gurnee to visit with Greg and Theresa. It was a pretty cool weekend but we did take a ride on the boat one day.








Here's a nice shot of the Captain. Sorry, no pictures of the ladies.













Patriotic, I guess. A lot of other crap in the yard, though. The Chain of Lakes is almost completely developed. Houses on almost every stretch of shoreline.






This is back in Newburgh. The corn was growing like crazy after a late planting.









This is Blue Grass Wildlife area. Hard to believe this used to be a strip mine.








Another shot near the same area.








I think this is a Red Tail Hawk. Please correct me if that isn't correct.







I thought the light was nice on this picture.










Same on this one.











Some sort of wild flower.