A place to find Ian's Photographs!
Whooping Cranes
Sandhill Cranes
Rose Breasted Grosbeak
Bald Eagle
Woodpecker
A young buck and several does
Butterflies and flowers
We found elk!
There were plenty of deer around.
We saw some Sandhill Cranes out in the fields.
A few butterflies were in the area too.
We came across and old jeep. I thought my nephew might like to see it.
We also came across a beautiful Indigo Bunting.
My first day back in France I went back to visit Versailles. This time I was able to get into the palace.
My second day back in France I visited le Musee du Louvre. I found the sculptures inside the museum to be unbelievable. There are rooms full of fantastic sculptures which are far too numerous for me to show here. This isn’t meant to replace a visit to the museum but here is a fine sampling of some of the very best.
After leaving the museum I wandered Paris a little bit. I went to a fantastic little ice cream shop called Berthillon. It’s a wonderful place my sister recommended and well worth a visit if you enjoy ice cream. After that I made my way to a fantastic beer bar called Les Trois 8 for a pint. It’s a great place to visit if you’d like a beer in Paris. I followed that up with a final stop at La Fine Mouse for another pint before heading back to my hotel for the night. The next morning I flew back to the States.
One of the first places I visited in the UK was Bletchley Park. This is a somewhat secluded estate north of London. The site was chosen because it doesn’t look like a government facility, was well outside of London and was therefore less likely to be bombed. It was the home of the British and American code breakers who worked to decrypt the coded radio transmissions used by the Nazis during World War 2. This was a continuation of work performed by the Polish intelligence community before the outbreak of the war. The progress made in mathematics, cryptanalysis and computing at this site is staggering. The first programable, electric digital computer was developed here along with a variety of electromechanical code-breaking machines and manual methods for breaking encryption codes. People from Bletchley Park would go one to create the basis for modern computer theory which is still used today. They also went on to design secure communication systems for the US government. The men and women who worked here were sworn to absolute secrecy and at the end of the war much of what they had created was destroyed in the name of secrecy. The site was nearly forgotten but today houses a museum dedicated to the code breakers.
This is a pond at Bletchley Park. You can see the mansion which housed the original teams who came here. It’s likely that the greatest collection of western mathematicians of the generation gathered around the pond daily to unwind.
This is a closer view of the mansion.
This is a recreation of Alan Turing’s workspace located in Hut 8. As the importance of decrypting Axis codes became apparent Bletchley Park quickly outgrew the original mansion. Huts were added over time as number of people working at this site expanded rapidly. Turing is considered by many to be the father of theoretical computer science formalizing the concepts of algorithms and computation. He was one of the first people to join the team at Bletchley Park where his work on cryptanalysis, probability and statistics was crucial.
A monument to the men and woman who served at Bletchley Park
The next day we went to Westminster Abbey. This is the site where many famous British citizens throughout history are entombed or memorialized along with British Royalty. Of note are Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin who are buried here. It is an active church so photography is not permitted inside. The outside of the Abbey is beautiful though.
Big Ben is near Westminster Abbey. We walked past it during our visit to the Abbey.
I was sick the next day and didn’t visit any sites. The following day we went to the Tower of London. We walked along the Thames to get there.
We walked past the Shakespeare’s Globe which is a modern reconstruction of the famous Globe Theater which was on the other side of the Thames.
We walked past London Bridge. If you look closely just above the high water line you can see the name. Thanks to Trisha and Alex for pointing this out! The unique-looking tower in the background is called the Shard.
We also walked past the bridge people think is London Bridge which is actually the Tower Bridge. Again thanks to Trisha and Alex for informing us about this. I definitely thought this was London Bridge before my visit. Whoops.
The Tower of London is actually a fortress castle containing many buildings, towers and walls from different eras. Here you can see several different architectural styles of the castle.
The castle contains one of the few Tudor building to survive the Great Fire in 1666.
In addition to being a historical site, housing the Crown Jewels and containing a large museum the castle is officially designated as a residence of the Queen. The Queen hasn’t actually lived here for many years but since it is an official residence the castle has guards. These men were marching trough the inner courtyard. Someone trying to take a selfie impeded their march and they shouted “Make way for the Queen’s Guard!” before not very politely moving the gentle man out of their way.
The following day Christian left Europe but I was able to stay and do a few more things.
The next day I went to the British Natural History Museum. It’s really massive and I ended up visiting the museum twice while I was in London because one day was not enough. The museum has an extensive collection of fossils and a very interesting section on naturalist painters who tried to produce artwork of scientific value by very accurately depicting the wildlife they encountered on trips around the world. They also have areas dedicated to the planets largest animals in comparison to the blue whale, an area for birds, and area for fish and an area for reptiles which I visited.
A statue of Charles Darwin in the British Natural History Museum.
After leaving the Natural History Museum I went to the British Museum and did the tour that Alex recommended. This tour was quick but hit the highlights. Above is a portion of the Parthenon which is currently being preserved in the British Museum.
They also have the Rosetta Stone.
And a large collection of Egyptian sarcophagi. Most of them were behind glass making it difficult to take pictures but a few were out in the open.
The following day I took a train to Salisbury which is near Stonehenge. From the train station it’s easy to find a tour bus which will take you to the Stonehenge visitors center. From there you can walk or take a shuttle to the henge.
I decided to walk and on my way I encountered some poppies. Westminster Abbey had plastic poppies on the tomb of the Unknown Warrior but here they were growing wild.
At Stonehenge there were a few people who seemed to be shepherds who had stopped along the fence to sort of watch the visitors.
Stonehenge was very cool. It’s difficult to take pictures of it that aren’t over run by visitors because you are allowed to circle the entire henge but I got lucky in a few shots that are mostly visitor free.
After I left Stonehenge I took the tour bus back to Salisbury and went to the cathedral. Salisbury Cathedral has one of 4 original copies of the Magna Carta in it. During World War Two the Nazi pilots used Salisbury Cathedral as a navigation point so it was strictly forbidden to bomb it.
The room that houses the Magna Carta is different from most other interior spaces in cathedrals because photography is allowed. Photography is forbidden, or at least strongly discouraged, inside every other cathedral I visited. Here you can see some of the stained glass and the vaulting in the room that has the Magna Carta. Until recently photographing the Magna Carta was allowed but due to repeated flashes and some sun damage the document is now housed in a small tent and photography isn’t permitted inside that tent.
The next day was my last full day in England. I went to Buckingham Palace first.
It was crazy busy. I never figured out if something special was going on or if it’s just normally overrun with visitors.
After seeing Buckingham palace I went back to the Natural History Museum to see a few more exhibits. This is the most complete stegosaurus skeleton in the world. Oddly it is not with the rest of the dinosaur fossils but rather in front a exhibit about the great forces that drive the planet.
After visiting the Natural History Museum I went to the nearby Science Museum. There was a very cool exhibit on the history of flight but my favorite this was the first prototype of the Clock of the Long Now. The actual clock is meant to keep time for 10,000 years and it’s meant to encourage thinking about the future. The actual clock is planned to be constructed in Nevada and the footsteps of visitors may someday provide the energy to keep the clock ticking.
Up Next: Pictures of the remainder of my time in France!
These are pictures from my June 2016 trip to Europe. I visited Paris and London. I also took day trips to Le Mans (for the 24 Hours of Le Mans), Bletchley and Salisbury during my stay in Europe. You should be able to click on any picture to enlarge it.
This is a picture from my first day in Europe. We got out for the evening and made our way to the courtyard of the Musee du Louvre. From there you can walk through the minor arc called l’Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and into a beautiful public gardens which extends nearly all the way to la Place de la Concorde. Being the dummy that I am I didn’t bring my camera so this was shot on my iPhone. The lighting was challenging but I managed to get a shot I liked.
The next day we went to Le Mans which turned out not to be a very photogenic place. Tall fences and barbed wire surround the track. It’s not a problem for viewing the race but it ruins the photography at least for me. At Le Mans they have a tradition of letting the fans out onto the track after the race finishes so Christian and I got out on the track. Here’s the obligatory selfie from the track which I promise will be the only selfie.
After we returned from Le Mans we went to Versailles. Having planned this extensively we did not realize that the Chateau was closed on the day we visited. The gardens however were not and despite very poor weather we had a good time exploring the gardens. Below you will see the fence which separates the Chateau from the public. It’s iron plated in gold and quite stunning.
These are just some of the immaculately maintained flowers, shrubs and hedges in the gardens.
The Chateau is covered in ornate decoration and sculptures.
The gardens are also filled with beautiful sculptures.
And if sculptures and hedges alone are not enough there are ornate fountains all around the gardens as well.
When we got back to Paris we went to Trocadero which is a monument across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It’s just about the perfect distance to take pictures with a normal camera lens.
The next day we tried to go to le Musee du Louvre which it turns out was closed. It wasn’t a total waste though because they had a fantastic art piece on the pyramid which acts as the entrance. An old picture of the building was printed and meticulously assembled on one facet of the pyramid and if you stood in just the right place it lined up almost perfectly.
Since the Louvre was closed we walked over to le Musee d’Orsay which is basically just on the other side of the Seine. This is a fantastic place to visit. Many of the pieces inside were surprising when viewed in person. Pictures really wouldn’t do them justice so I didn’t take many inside the museum. The building itself is magnificent so I did take some pictures of it.
The walls of the museum are covered in ornate tiles.
There is a grand clock because the museum is housed in what used to be Gare d’Orsay (train station).
The view from the observation area on top of the museum isn’t bad either.
That evening we went to see Notre Dame.
In front of the cathedral is a little star which is considered the official center of Paris. We had to wait to take this picture because every tourist in the area wanted to take a picture of their shoes on the star. I imagine you’ve all seen Nikes before so I just took a picture of the star.
Near by is la Fontaine Saint-Michel.
Next up: Photos from the UK!
And for good measure a nearby rose as well.
