Showing posts with label obelisks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obelisks. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

London Bridge is Falling Down...

Yesterday, my cousin and I decided to go find London Bridge. She's been here before, so she knew where to go...

or so she thought.

We took the long way around because what's the point of being in London if you're just going to stay in the tube the entire time.

On our way, I found another obelisk!

It's called Cleopatra's Needle

I can't believe my little game has gone with me everywhere I go.

We walked down the South bank where we found Shakespeare's Globe.



It's a remake of the Globe Theatre that was burnt down in 1613. It's where Shakespeare's plays were performed. It's also where they filmed some of the Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code."

We then walked a little farther down where we found something called The Clink.


It's one of the oldest, most horrid prisons in London during the 12th century until the 1780s.

They've obviously cleaned it up and turned it into a museum. But it's pretty awful in there. Dark, damp, hot, and a pretty bad smell.


It was very disturbing to see how people were treated back then; the worst conditions you can imagine. Sewage water, torture instruments, and horrible living conditions. I'm so glad we now have laws on torture.

We continued to walk down the bank of the Thames when we saw the bridge.


It's a very nice bridge. Built in 1886 and finished in 1894. It's a suspension bridge spanning 800 feet in length with two towers each 213 feet high, built on piers.

We walked over it (which was horrendously busy) which was cool. I don't understand why they painted it blue. Very ugly colour. They could have at least painted it red like everything else in London.

I probably should have clued in that this was not London Bridge. On the map, we had passed a bridge, which I thought was supposed to be London Bridge, but my cousin said it was farther. And then when we crossed this bridge, I took a picture of the sign before you crossed.

It says Tower Bridge. How daft can I be?
I only realised when we headed back and I looked at the map and saw we were beside the Tower of London.

doesn't look like a tower...


The bridge beside the Tower of London is Tower Bridge. Not London Bridge.

We had walked past it!

We headed back and found the actual London Bridge

It even says "London Bridge" on the right side of the pillar

Well...that was bit of a disappointment.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Gotta Catch 'Em All...Roman Style

(A shout out to Abby for setting me on this expedition!)

In Rome, there are 13 obelisks that were created in Egypt and then moved to Rome at some point. Some before the birth of Christ.

At first, I wasn't planning on finding them all, but after finding almost half purely by being lost all the time, I figured I might as well collect them all.

The first one was on the first day in Piazza Navona when I got terrifyingly lost.

Piazza Navona

I then found three. One while walking randomly around, the other two when my teacher took the class out for a walk around Rome.

Piazza del Quirinale

Piazza di Montecitorio
  
Piazza della Rotonda
In front of the Pantheon
 
I found the next two while trying to find the Trevi Fountain. What should have taken 10 minutes tops took an hour and a half.

Trinita dei Monti
In front of the Spanish Steps
Piazza della Minerva
the elephant base was created by Bernini

I found the one in Piazza San Petro when the class went for a tour of the Vatican



Since I found seven in less than 5 days, I decided to go out and search for some.

Piazza dell'Esquilino
Piazza del Popolo
Just before I got scammed






















The next one I found while showing one of my friends, who had not done much sightseeing, around Rome.


Pinician Hill
Inside the Villa Borghese Gardens


The final three was a grand adventure. A friend and I first went inside the Colosseum and then ran around Rome until 10:30 at night. Gets kind of sketchy. Good thing I had a flashlight (thanks Abby!)

Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano
Tallest obelisk in Rome standing at 150 ft. tall
Villa Celimontana
Some old villa in Rome...lots of mosquitoes

Baths of Diocletian
with thug Roman teenagers sitting at the base





And there you have it. Thirteen Egyptian obelisks!

Now what...