Just a dusting here.
I glanced out the window at just the right moment – to see snowflakes swirling madly through the air. A snow squall was passing through our neighborhood in London – the first snow I’d seen in England – so I pulled on my coat and scurried outside. The snow had ended as quickly as it began, leaving only a dusting on the pavements and nearby garden squares.
Random scenes – I just wanted to share.
In my wanders about the streets of London, and visits to its famous sights and museums, I photograph scenes that capture my eye or my imagination. Some just don’t justify a whole blog posting. So here are these random scenes, tidbits to tickle your fancy – below and in the gallery.
Continue reading “London miscellany”Favorite photos and videos.
Wow, 2025 was quite the year. With a dozen or more hikes in New Hampshire, and travels to Australia, England, Greenland, Iceland, New Zealand, Colorado, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and South Carolina, I had many opportunities for photography. Check out some of my favorite photos!
Last sunset of 2025!
I wanted to capture the last sunset of 2025 with an expansive view of London. So I climbed to the top of the famous dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, squeezing my way up the ever-narrower spiral staircases and internal alleyways until I reached the Golden Gallery that circles the spire on top of the dome. It was 3:30, so I had a half hour to wait for sunset. Today the sky was clear, but the cityscape was filled with a light haze. As the sun sank lower, and the other tourists snapped their selfies to my left and right, I realized the sunset would be perfectly aligned! Below is the view just before the sun disappeared into the southwestern clouds, seen right through the London Eye, past Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower), Westminster Abbey, and our flat in Pimlico. Neat!
The iconic castle, prison, royal residence, and home to the Crown Jewels.
No visit to London would be complete without a visit to the iconic Tower of London. Originally built in the 1070s by William the Conquerer, it was the first stone castle in England, and has been expanded and revised numerous times over nine hundred years. Today, it serves largely as a tourist attraction, and as secure storage for the Crown Jewels. We arrived early for our ticketed entrance time of 11am, and wound our way slowly inward following a queue of hundreds of other visitors. The Tower (really, several towers surrounded by concentric defensive walls and a moat, now dry) was decorated for Christmas and thronged with holiday visitors.
London is beautifully decorated for the holiday.
London goes all-out for Christmas, with homes, stores, streets, and squares boasting elaborate decorations. The long nights encourage beautiful light displays, often including massive designs that are draped along major shopping streets. Throughout December I’ve snapped photos of some of my favorites – and even my full gallery of photos doesn’t begin to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the decorations across the city. Perhaps the most elaborate was produced by Anabel’s, an exclusive club on Berkeley Square, London. Its entire façade has been overlaid with an fantastical scene inspired by the Narnia stories.
Merry Christmas!
Preparing for the holiday in London.
Part of the joy of spending Christmas in London is the opportunity to explore the city as we prepare for the holiday. We began by attending a production of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It was a real treat to see one of my favorite stories, on stage, in the city where the story is set!
Beautiful weather, and light crowds, the day after winter solstice.
The ancient site of Stonehenge is one of those world-heritage sites that really must be on anyone’s life list. It’s only two hours from London, so I’ve been eager to visit. And, because it was designed with exquisite solar alignment to the winter and summer solstices, with winter solstice being (likely) the more significant date, I sought to arrange our visit for yesterday, the winter solstice.
My research quickly dispelled that notion. Stonehenge was anticipating thousands of people to show up for sunrise, many of whom would need to walk miles alongside the road (in the pre-dawn dark) from remote parking locations. All the tour operators were sold out, and would require departing London before 4am. I decided, instead, to book a private tour for the day after solstice. Wow, was that ever a good move!
Winter solstice in London
Today is the winter solstice. (Technically, it is the December solstice, which in the northern hemisphere is the winter solstice.) I thought surely there would be many photographic opportunities for the solstice, in and around London. (Solstice is a big deal at Stonehenge, of course, but I envisioned massive crowds today and decided to wait.) So I asked ChatGPT for advice. It provided a remarkable response, listing a half-dozen locations suitable for sunrise, another half-dozen for sunset, and more; it listed specific times, provided information about transport to and from each site; it suggested camera settings; and it even built a busy day-long itinerary for a sequence of sites to visit. Although impressive, I decided to keep it simple and went to Primrose Hill for sunrise.
An extended walk along Regent Canal and through Kensington Gardens.
It isn’t always necessary to leave London to enjoy a lengthy hike that offers plenty of interesting things to see, along with some natural spaces. Today, for my thirteenth consecutive weekend hike, I walked over Primrose Hill, along the towpath of Regent Canal, and across the west end of Hyde Park known as Kensington Gardens. Along the way I enjoyed broad views of the London skyline, intimate views of a narrow canal, backside views of London Zoo, and a distant view of the London Eye. I capped it all off with chai and a croissant at Guillam in Gloucester.
David Kotz 