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I always imagined London as described by Conan Doyle and portrayed by Basil Rathbone: a place of cutpurses and ruffians...

London

Hank Shiffman
2003-11-26 17:16:52

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My first major business trip coincided with a transfer from Upstate New York to Southern California when I was all of twenty-five. I was fighting for more money. My new manager offered me two months in London. I accepted. Eight and a half months later I finally made it to California. Below are some images from that trip and the much shorter ones I've made since.

I always imagined London as described by Conan Doyle and portrayed by Basil Rathbone: a place of cutpurses and ruffians whose activities were held in check by well-meaning but often inept officials with the help of the odd talented amateur. Scotland Yard, home to Inspector Lestrade and his ilk, was a landmark I knew as well as Big Ben. Actually, this is New Scotland Yard. The original Scotland Yard is a couple of streets away and got its name from the fact that a road called Great Scotland Yard is at its rear. That building was just reopened as stables for the Metropolitan Police. And New Scotland Yard? It's been replaced with a boring chrome and glass structure near Victoria Station. It too is called New Scotland Yard, although it's a lot newer than this New Scotland Yard. Do they do this just to confuse us tourists?

A couple of views of the clock that adorns the Houses of Parliament. We all think of it Big Ben, although a purist will point out that that's the name of the clock's bells and not the clock itself. When I first saw the tower I was a little disappointed; somehow I expected it to be a lot bigger than it is. In the second volume of Following The Equator, Mark Twain talks about this phenomenon: how your own image of great landmarks is far greater than reality but how the two come together again after repeated visits. And so it is with Big Ben; after almost twenty years I can't imagine how I wasn't impressed. Smart man, Twain.

Tower Bridge is the easternmost and by far the most interesting looking of the ...

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