13 Jul '14

Photo of the Week 161: London

Posted in Photos of the Week– USA

66 comments

Greetings from London! I wave goodbye to this city with a heavy heart and a very, very full stomach — at times it seems my mission was to do little more than eat and drink my way through England’s epic capital. It was a week full of reunions and reminiscing as I bounced from one sleepover to the next with three of my favorite girls I’ve meet along the road, who all happen to call London home. While I loved catching up with them and exploring new sides to the city I once misguidedly declared was a bore, I did find the weather and the prices to be somewhat of a shock to the system and am looking forward to my move to sunnier and hopefully marginally more affordable pastures in Malta today.

Wishing you a beautiful Monday, and looking forward to your votes!

Photo A
London from above

Photo B
Scenes from the street

Photo C
Locks for love

Photo D
Intensely English

Photo E
Hyde Park highlights

Photo F
Chic Shoreditch

Which photo is your favorite?

66 Comments...

Dad
July 14 2014

I am going with C, the locks for love. Would love to know the story behind it but I have a feeling it may be the subject of or included in a future post.

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Actually I will have to do a little research, because that was just a gate that I came across walking through Shoreditch! I’ll try to sniff out the story 🙂
  
  - Lucy
    July 16 2014
    
    I love these types of gates! I think the first one was in Paris, in the Pont des Artes bridge – couples would come and put a lock on the mesh and throw the key into the river as a sign of everlasting love.
    
    There’s bridges like this in London, Rome, Prague and now they’re popping up all over the world. Wooh! Good spot! x
    
Tyrhone
July 14 2014

Hey that’s my home town! Well one of them anyway. I think I would go for Photo F as it rather honestly states that we very often need to “endure” other human beings, and there are very many occasions when I have had to do exactly that while on our travels.

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Yes, I LOVED that statement and mulled it over quite a bit. I often find the ones we adore the most are also the ones we must endure at times 🙂
  
Erin
July 14 2014

Love B – think and thank – inspiring words to live by

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Couldn’t agree more. Beautiful sentiment!
  
Justine
July 14 2014

Clearly London is a photographer’s dream because I love all of these. But I’m going to go with A…it’s just stunning. And I completely feel you on the cost of traveling in London. It’s crazily expensive!

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Yeah, that photo was taken from a rooftop bar… where my tab was over $100. Yikes! Most expensive bar bill of my life, but I think worth it for the view 🙂
  
becky hutner
July 14 2014

aahhh, londontown. a bore it is definitely not. expensive & full-on at times? yes. photo B for me bc lavender & wrought iron gates. and what looks to be a sunny day? lucky!

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Indeed! I think I had about 40% sun while in London? Not a bad stat actually.
  
Ashley
July 14 2014

Love photo A!

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  There’s nothing like a view from above!
  
Rika | Cubicle Throwdown
July 14 2014

I love F!! I’m glad you enjoyed London more this time around. Can’t wait to hear about Malta 🙂

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  So far, it’s hot. More later 🙂
  
Maddy
July 14 2014

Photos A and C are my favs, love the different perspectives! Can’t wait for Malta updates!

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  I will be Instagraming it up starting today!
  
Steve
July 14 2014

I am choosing photo D. The royal swans look so gracefully. You they are the property of the Queen.

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  I didn’t know that, fun factoid! Thanks for sharing Steve 🙂
  
2 tickets to Wonderland
July 14 2014

I like photo C. There are locks for love also on the bridge in our home city Ljubljana 🙂

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  I think I actually heard of a bridge collapsing somewhere because of them!? Crazy!
  
Leah
July 14 2014

B! Street scenes! How lovely, that purple wall…I love it! xx

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  And my poor Freya being forced to pose 🙂 I’m like “AHHH! Purple wall! Go stand there while I take a billion photos!” It is so fun traveling with me.
  
Carrie
July 14 2014

Although it’s a tough choice, today’s fave is Photo B: Scenes from the Street. The “Think and Thank” gate is brilliant, and the purple doorway adorned by friend and flowers is lovely! 😀

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Thanks Carrie! It was funny, my friend lives right around the street from the Think and Thank gate and said she’d never noticed it before. I think you sometimes see more with a camera in hand!
  
- Carrie
  July 15 2014
  
  Absolutely! The camera lens catches so many (otherwise not seen) great sights and moments! 🙂
  
Karisa @ Flirting with the Globe
July 14 2014

C – Gorgeous!

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Seems to be the popular choice this week — I never would have guessed!
  
Chris
July 14 2014

It’s F for me this week!

Did you know those railway carriages on the roof actually featured in a TV episode of “George Clarks Amazing Spaces”

🙂

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  No I didn’t! But I’m definitely going to go look for it now 🙂
  
Jade
July 14 2014

Ahh you are making me miss home!! Love photo F.

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  It will be there waiting for you whenever you need it 🙂
  
Katie @ The World on my Necklace
July 14 2014

I love A – is most quintessentially London to me. Oh I miss it!

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  I know how it feels to miss home. I always just remind myself it will be there when I’m ready to return!
  
Emily from Let's Roam Wild
July 14 2014

Photo F!!! Loveeeeee 🙂

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Thanks Emily 🙂 Me too, I couldn’t get enough of that wall!
  
Kristen Noelle
July 14 2014

cannot wait to experience all of London’s culture and extreme amount of cool things to do, places to eat, sights to see. Gonna go with A first cuz I love an Aerial, and then B’s combo. The thing & thank gate is lovely + Purple is my fav!

xo, Krist

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Are you heading to London sometime soon? You will love!
  
Miriam of Adventurous Miriam
July 14 2014

Uuh, you’re off to Malta today? Enjoy, and I hope you’ll have a great time with Anders <3 For that reason, I vote for photo C 🙂

- Alex
  July 15 2014
  
  Aw, I love it! Thanks Miriam 🙂
  
Melanie Fontaine
July 15 2014

My favorite is Photo A – I absolutely love London and am already aching to go back again soon and that picture just seems to capture the spirit of the city so well! 🙂

- Alex
  July 16 2014
  
  You sound like my mom (or mum, as the Brits would say…) she ADORES London and has been super jealous I was there!
  
Carla Turun
July 15 2014

Beautiful photos once again, you’ve made london look the prettiest i’ve seen it ! I’m moving out to Malta in 6 weeks for a few months so i am very excited to see your posts on it…i hope popeye village is on your list! 🙂

- Alex
  July 16 2014
  
  That’s exciting, Carla! What inspired the move?
  
Josh
July 15 2014

For me I love the lighting and angle of the left side of the D. They are all great though and I’ll have to add a London trip to my list of places to go see soon.

- Alex
  July 16 2014
  
  That was a very cool little pop up mall-type thing in Shoreditch. Great restaurants and bars! I would highly recommend it… if only I could think of the name, ha.
  
Sara @ The Let's Go Ladies
July 15 2014

I love photo A the most (it’s kind of dreamy and definitely beautiful) but I also really like the phrase in photo F!

- Alex
  July 16 2014
  
  I know, I fell madly in love with that as soon as I saw it! So clever and poignant.
  
Lucy
July 15 2014

Hmmmm I love ’em all to be honest, my hometown rocks. At a push, I’d go for B — love a statement house!

Seems like this trip turned your feelings about London around?!

- Alex
  July 16 2014
  
  Well, I guess I’d describe it this way… I don’t get that “I’m in love and I want to move here immediately!” feeling with London. But I have such a good time with my friends and being shown around by them that I love my experiences there 🙂 It grows on me!
  
Erika
July 15 2014

I love photo A! So pretty, and it really captures a unique view of the city.

- Alex
  July 16 2014
  
  Thanks Erika! Always good to get a view from above 🙂
  
Joella J in Beijing
July 15 2014

Alex, I’m glad you liked London time 🙂 I have to go with F as I used to live in Shoreditch (Although it was just one of 4 different parts of London I lived in!). It’s a fun area.

- Alex
  July 16 2014
  
  I think Shoreditch might be my fave, probably because it reminds me a bit of Brooklyn!
  
Laura
July 16 2014

Definitely London from above! I loved it when I was there a few months ago, can’t wait to get back!

- Alex
  July 18 2014
  
  It’s a pretty cool city and one I know I’ll keep going back to due to my lovely friends there. Glad you enjoyed it too.
  
Miquel
July 16 2014

Love the sentiment and colors in photo B!

- Alex
  July 18 2014
  
  Thank you! They were some good finds.
  
Carla Turun
July 17 2014

Its a long and complicated story, it centres around my husbands visa, we decided malta would be the best place for us due to the relaxed lifestyle over there 🙂

- Alex
  July 18 2014
  
  Awesome! Hope you will enjoy 🙂
  
Rashaad
July 21 2014

Photo D is my favourite – because it combines the flags of this year’s World Cup participants with the classic British phone booth.

- Alex
  July 22 2014
  
  The remnants of World Cup fever are visible all over this trip! It was fun watching the final in London.
  
MCVK
July 23 2014

I like Bo.

- Alex
  July 23 2014
  
  Me too! Seems like a crowd fave this round.
  
A
July 28 2014

I’m going with F. Had no idea Shoreditch had such interesting spots!

- Alex
  July 28 2014
  
  It’s amazing! Definitely the most Alex-approved area of London 🙂

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