Blackfriars Bridge to Victoria Embankment Gardens

Blackfriars to Victoria Embankment Gardens 1 Blackfriars to Victoria Embankment Gardens 2 Blackfriars to Victoria Embankment Gardens 3

My new walk to work is ever so exciting.  I get off the train a stop early at Waterloo East and then take any of a number of routes across the Thames to our offices near Charing Cross.

On my first morning, I decided to go via Blackfriars Bridge and Cleopatra’s Needle.  I saw such icons of London as the Oxo Tower, a blue police box and a red telephone box, a City of London boundary dragon and a plane flying over the London Eye.

Blackfriars to Victoria Embankment Gardens 4 Blackfriars to Victoria Embankment Gardens 5 Blackfriars to Victoria Embankment Gardens 6

I really was having a grand old time until suddenly, I spotted Cleopatra’s Needle (or more formally, the Obelisk). 

Cleopatras Sphinx 1 Cleopatras Sphinx 2 Cleopatras Needle 1

Cleopatra’s Needle is an obelisk from ancient Egypt.  It is one of a trio of obelisks that are erected in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, New York’s Central Park, and, of course, London.  Our obelisk was gifted to London by the ruler of Egypt in 1819.  You can visit Wikipedia to read about the incredible story of the ill-fated transportation of the obelisk from Egypt to London.

Cleopatras Needle 2 Cleopatras Sphinx 3 Blackfriars to Victoria Embankment Gardens 7

A pair of sphinxes flank the obelisk on either side, making this a lovely little spot in London.  During World War II, a bomb exploded really close to the obelisk and sphinxes and the inscription above centre reads:

The scars that disfigure the pedestal of the obelisk, the bases of the sphinxes and the right hand sphinx, were caused by fragments of a bomb dropped in the roadway close to this spot, in the first raid on London by German aeroplanes a few minutes before midnight on Tuesday 4th September 1917”.

Once I'd finished my walk, I stopped off at Victoria Embankment Gardens for a little while to sit and relax.

All of these photos were taken using Instagram, my new favourite obsession.  If you have  smart phone, find me on Instagram (my username is mandytjie) or you can see all of my Instagram photos in one place at Tumblr: mandiloop.  Don’t worry, I’m not defecting or leaving this blog (although I do consider moving to Wordpress, often) but I just love the instant, creative and social aspect to Instagram.  It is a social network based on a common love of photography where words are second to the glimpses into other people’s worlds.

Click on the photos for better views.  I’ve installed Lightbox which I quite liked on other people’s blogs.  Please et me know what you think!  Lightbox is the ability to click on one photo in a post and then have them all pop up in one easy to navigate photo album.

19 comments on "Blackfriars Bridge to Victoria Embankment Gardens"
  1. nice idea to make some changes in the daily routine and see something new!

    Life and travelling
    Cooking

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  2. One of my favourite walks. Stop at Somerset House for a coffee next time

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  3. Nice pics Mandy! That's one cool walk to work you've got!

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  4. Beauitful and intriguing...love your posts..you are so fab! oh yay..I'll check out your tumblr..i opened an account a while back..but cannot figure it out for some reason ha ha!
    Gorgeous photos..and amazing about the obelisk!!
    Victoria

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  5. Very nice to see some of the sites on your walk to work in the morning. Getting off a stop early and walking is good exercise, at least that's what my doctor tells me.

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  6. Oh, I forgot to mention, it looks like the obelisk is from WWI (1917) not WWII. I've been reading the Inspector Rutledge mystery series set right after the Great War. Cheers.

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  7. I so envy your daily walk! What a wonderful setting to "have to" walk through!

    It always has freaked me out that the bomb that damaged the obelisk was dropped in the FIRST World War, you usually just associate that kind of thing with the 2nd. What a century that was! I so hope this one will be better...

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  8. Great pics! As you saw on Friday, I've recently bought an iPhone and joined Instagram, so hopefully I'll be adding some more photos of my own. I work in Oxford Circus (getting on for 3 years there now actually) and I could probably walk some of the way, but would have to travel earlier, get off the tube sooner and walk quite a further - so not sure I would do it all that often. But I might have a few days out in London later in the year :)

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  9. What a great tour! In the sun that will be a good walk each day. Good pics and a really good post!

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  10. Perfect walk... London really is a fantastic town... and be able to see all this just before arriving to work must be amazing...
    thanks for sharing...
    XOXO

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  11. Emm, I can not understand why your comments keep ending up in my spam folder !! :(

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  12. Awesome photographs!!! love the lomographic style

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  13. thank you for this beautiful pictorial tour.
    it makes me want to go there!

    aah, glorious london!

    big hugs!

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  14. wonderful captures! would love to get back to your corner of the world one day.

    do you use the hipstamatic app as well? i tend to use it more then instagram (for no particular reason though.)

    happy shooting!

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  15. Anywhere down by the Thames, day or night, whether it is sunny, raining, or freezing cold is always a great place to explore and enjoy!

    Great pictures that bring London to life...

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  16. such a beautiful walk. the Obelisk looks particularly intriguing. sounds like my kind of place to visit.

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  17. Aw, Blackfriar's Bridge is my favourite London bridge. Many fond memories :)

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  18. I'm still a total ignoramus with Instagram. That walk by the Thames is one of my favourite places in London, although I've never stopped to read the plaque. Intesting about the bombing.

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  19. What a wonderful walk to work! I love getting to see London from so very far away, thank you for showing me around.

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