Travel Photos Of Europe

Last week we saw the travel photos of North America. I wanted to get all the travel photos in one posting, for each continent, and on this blog. But I don't miss traveling. With Google Earth and Street View I have been everywhere in the world without the hassle and expense. The usual weekly visits will resume next week.

MY BIRTHPLACE IN LYDBROOK. 

The white house at the center top was a duplex and I was born on the right side. It has since been enlarged and remodeled. The brown and white townhouses to the right were not there when I was a young boy.

HOLY JESUS CHURCH IN LYDBROOK

LOOKING ACROSS DRYBROOK FROM HARROW HILL 

The U-shape to the ground is from glacial movement during the last ice age.

FROM HARROW HILL LOOKING TOWARD CINDERFORD

Harrow Hill is part of Drybrook. The town of Cinderford is visible in the distance.

THE FOREST CHURCH ON HARROW HILL IN DRYBROOK

LOOKING ACROSS AT HARROW HILL FROM RUARDEAN HILL

VIEWS OF WYE RIVER FROM SYMONDS YAT 

The second and third photos were taken from the same point, but fifteen years apart, as were the fourth and fifth photos. In both pairs the newer photo is the top.

MONMOUTH AND IT'S NORMAN ARCH 

The statue is of Monmouth native Charles Rolls, of Rolls Royce.

ROSS-ON-WYE 

The red sandstone building is the Seventeenth Century marketplace. 

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

ME AND BEACH AT WESTON-SUPER-MARE 

The beach pavilion has since been destroyed but has been rebuilt. This place has the second greatest tidal range in the world, after Nova Scotia.

BLENHEIM PALACE, NEAR OXFORD 

This was a home of the nobility, and was not a royal palace.

BILL CLINTON'S FORMER DORM AT OXFORD

BRITISH AIRWAYS CONCORDE 

The Concorde was a British-French supersonic passenger plane. It remains the only successful supersonic transport in the world. The philosophy was to further transportation here on earth, rather than putting people in space as America and Russia were doing. It's cruising speed was twice the speed of sound, nearly three times that of a 747. It flew between JFK and Heathrow in less than three hours. 

The "prevailing wisdom" of the time, that it would produce a destructive sonic boom, proved to be false. The Concorde was actually quiet. For one thing it's cruising altitude was very high, around 15 km or 10 miles, where the air is thin.

The downside was that it couldn't carry that many people, meaning that it was expensive and tickets usually were the preserve of the wealthy. But the Concorde remains special to any Brit.

THE TOWER OF LONDON 

This Norman castle complex is nearly a thousand years old and was England's original royal palace.

TOWER BRIDGE 

This is adjacent to the Tower of London and was built as a compliment to it in the late Nineteenth Century. The bridge was not popular when it first opened, although we couldn't imagine London without it today.

LOOKING SOUTH FROM TOWER OF WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 

Westminster Cathedral is not the same thing as the nearby, but much older and better known, Westminster Abbey. The twin stacks are the old Battersea Power Station.

LOOKING EAST FROM TOWER OF WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 

Below the red line is the Victoria Tower, at Parliament. Below the green line the top of Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower) is just visible behind the spires of Westminster Abbey. Below the yellow line the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral is visible in the distance.

LOOKING NORTH FROM TOWER OF WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL 

The tall tower below the red line is the British Telecom Tower, formerly known as the Post Office Tower. Below the green line is the Victoria Memorial and below the yellow line is Buckingham Palace.

LIVERPOOL 

The fourth photo, of the buildings, is the "Three Graces". These are the prominent buildings along the waterfront, which is the last thing I saw of England when leaving by ship as a young boy.

In the days of sailing ships Bristol was England's primary port. The much larger ships later made possible by steam engines couldn't safely navigate the Avon River and Liverpool became the primary port. If part of continental Europe was hostile, Liverpool was safer for ships because it faces away from Europe. But with Europe friendly, Southampton has the port advantage because it faces toward Europe.

The fact that Britain has multiple rivers named Avon is a legacy from before it was a united country. The one in Bristol is called "Bristol's Avon". "Avon" is from the Celtic word for "river".

LIVERPOOL CATHEDRALS 

The Anglican Cathedral is at top and the Catholic Cathedral at bottom. The Anglican Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Britain and the longest cathedral in the world. People are like ants inside it. But neither cathedral is very old. The Liverpool-Manchester-Birmingham area is the "new" England that is the product of the Industrial Revolution. This is why it doesn't have medieval cathedrals or royal palaces.

PENNY LANE IN LIVERPOOL 

This street is the subject of the Beatles song by that name. You can see that the street signs are painted onto walls because the usual metal street signs were always stolen by Beatles' fans.

MANCHESTER 

The most famous sports team on this planet is Manchester United.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Below the red line in the first photo is the famous clock tower of the Balmoral Hotel. Below the green line in the second photo is the national monuments of Scotland, on Calton Hill.

EDINBURGH CASTLE

ALONG THE ROYAL MILE FROM EDINBURGH CASTLE TO HOLYROODHOUSE PALACE 

Scotland was ruled from the castle before Holyroodhouse was built. Edinburgh Castle can be thought of as Scotland's version of the Tower of London.

Below the red line in the first two photos is the crowned steeple of St. Giles Cathedral. This is Scotland's national cathedral and the central cathedral of Presbyterianism.

Below the red line in the third photo is Holyroodhouse Palace. This was the home of the King or Queen of Scotland before it joined Britain in 1707. The British sovereign spends one week a year here. Scotland's original crown jewels are at Edinburgh Castle. Scotland's Parliament building, from before it joined Britain, is next to St. Giles Cathedral. 

GLASGOW 

The first photo is looking East, along West George Street, toward the Church of St. George Tron. The tower in the second photo is at Glasgow University.

BELFAST CITY HALL, NORTHERN IRELAND

LEAVING HOLYHEAD PORT, IN WALES, BY FERRY FOR DUBLIN

DUBLIN, IRELAND 

All of the photos, except the last one, are north of the River Liffey.

WELLINGTON MONUMENT IN PHOENIX PARK

Arthur Wellesley was from Dublin when Britain and Ireland were one country. As a general he was the nemesis of Napoleon. He was given the title of Duke of Wellington and later became one of Britain's best known prime ministers. This is his monument in Dublin's Phoenix Park.

GUINNESS BREWERY IN DUBLIN 

The company came up with the idea of a book of world records for something to discuss while having a drink. The river in the foreground is the Liffey.

CITI EUROPE MALL, CALAIS FRANCE 

Near the French end of the Chunnel. Britain and France can do great things together. First there was the Concorde and then the 40 km tunnel under the English Channel.

OBELISK IN PLACE CONCORDE, PARIS, WITH EIFFEL TOWER IN DISTANCE

EIFFEL TOWER AND VIEW FROM THE TOP 

The dome below the red line, in the third photo, is Napoleon's Tomb. The modern buildings in the distance, in the fourth photo, is La Defense which is the modern business district.

The Eiffel Tower was only supposed to be temporary, as the entrance arch to the 1889 exhibition celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution. Many people wanted it dismantled following the exhibition. What I think saved it was that radio broadcasts had begun and it was the ideal place for a transmitter antenna.

ARC DE TRIOMPHE AND DOOR OF NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL 

This arch is to celebrate Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, which is also what brought the Holy Roman Empire to an end, after a thousand years. So we could think of it as the tombstone of the Holy Roman Empire.