London - Part 1 - Year of the Horse Parade
Last month I went on a day trip to London and didn't take a single photo. I got my wrist slapped for that - hi Connie :) only joking - so when we visited the capital on Sunday I took lots and lots of photos. As this is going to be photo heavy, I am dividing the day trip up into several posts.
The main reason for our visit was to see the Chinese New Year Celebrations.
We arrived early and after parking, took the Tube to Westminster Station. We immediately turned into Whitehall and walked towards Trafalgar Square. We walked past the Cenotaph
Nowadays you can only look through the gates at the beginning of the road, but when I was a child you could walk right up to the front of the Prime Minister's residence. Sadly, times have changed.
Continuing up Whitehall, we passed the monument to the Women of World War II. On the other side of the road is the Ministry of Defence building with the Field Marshal statue in front of it.
Slightly further up the road, opposite the entrance to Horse Guards Parade is the equestrian statue of Earl Haig.
Opposite at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall
stands the statue of Spencer Compton Cavendish.
Almost at Trafalgar Square with the famous Nelson's Column.
To one side of Trafalgar Square is Admiralty Arch at the entrance to The Mall, which leads to Buckingham Palace. You can just see the palace and Victoria Memorial through one of the arches.
In front of Nelson's Column at Charing Cross is the statue of Charles I. This is the actual centre of London. We have only walked 0.5 of a mile, but there is so much to see!
One of the four bronze lions that guard the base of Nelson's Column.
We walked around Trafalgar Square before the crowds arrived,
admiring the lanterns.
We made our way to one corner of the square where the parade was due to start, in front of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
The dragon was waiting for the parade to start too.
We found a spot to stand
and the parade began ...
lead by the dragon.
There was music
and lions,
Wind and Cloud duelled each other.
There were some beautiful costumes worn by the men
as well as the women.
There was a sweet little horse
and a cute lion.
Some people were dressed as signs of the Chinese zodiac.
The parade ended with a giant inflatable duck! How else!! :)
We then walked to Chinatown, but I will save that for the next post.
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