Another post about London…Sorry! I only have 40 or so working days left until I leave my Hertfordshire home from home. Whenever the trains run on schedule, which is rare these days, I hop on and head to places not previously seen…or not seen in a while. The area around Victoria is one such place and I must say the walk from the railway station to Westminster Abbey is very dull. One building however caught my attention: the Catholic Westminster Cathedral. Entry is free and it really is a beautiful church, plus it offers quite decent views from its campanile, or the bell tower. I was happy to pay £6 for it. No need to climb hundreds of steps either, there was a lift.

The interior reminded me of orthodox churches, but at the same time it’s pretty modern:

Now, having recently bought this excellent guide book for photographers interested in shooting in London, I wanted to take an exactly same pic as the one on the book’s cover. There were people walking in front of me constantly, taking selfies etc so I decided to keep them in the frame and I think it actually added some charm. The statue of Churchill with Big Ben is another Instagram-like pic taken a million times before. Big Ben looks shiny and marvellous after the recent renovation:

The streets right behind the Westminster Abbey were surprisingly calm and quiet, unlike the always crowded Parliament Square. They reminded me of Cambridge a little bit.

The real purpose of my trip however was Winter Lights extravaganza at Canary Wharf. After a short Tube ride from Waterloo station, I was first rewarded with a most incredible sunset. There were several people shooting with ‘proper’ cameras, tripods, the whole shebang. I spent a good 45 minutes there and just couldn’t get enough. Even the skyscrapers looked stunning bathed in the evening sun. Well, I shouldn’t have been for so long. It got so very busy around the light installations I had to queue to some of them and only managed to see a few, sadly. But I had great fun especially with colourful mist and the Earth slowly spinning around on water. Canary Wharf seems like a boring place at first to visit but it’s so much nicer than shabby Victoria and the riverside walk alone is worth it. Thames Clippers boat stops there too.

I am rather pleased with the first photo: I used ‘burst’ mode on my phone and this was the only successful one out of 57 🙂

The next post won’t be about London. Instead, it will be about Bath where I’ll be spending next weekend! I figured it’s a bit easier to get there from here although, in all honesty, it’s still a 3 hour journey, a little shorter than a car trip from Chester. Will it be busy in late January ? Cold and windy ? You’ll find out soon enough 🙂