Underground in London, Great Britain

Underground in London, Subway, Great Britain photos
The London Underground is an all-electric metro railway system that covers much of the conurbation of Greater London and some neighbouring areas. It is the world’s oldest underground system, and is the largest in terms of route length. Service began on January 10, 1863 on the Metropolitan Railway; most of that initial route is now part of the Hammersmith & City Line. Despite its name, about 55% of the network is above ground. Popular local names include the Underground and, more colloquially, the Tube, in reference to the cylindrical shape of the system’s deep-bore tunnels. The Underground currently serves 274 stations and runs over 408 km (253 miles) of lines. There are also a number of former stations and tunnels that are now closed. In 2004–2005, total passenger journeys reached a record level of 976 million, an average of 2.67 million per day.

The origins of the roundel, in earlier years known as the ‘bulls-eye’ or ‘target’, are more obscure. While the first use of a roundel in a London transport context was the 19th-century symbol of the London General Omnibus Company — a wheel with a bar across the centre bearing the word GENERAL — its usage on the Underground stems from the decision in 1908 to find a more obvious way of highlighting station names on platforms. The red disc with blue name bar was quickly adopted, with the word “UNDERGROUND” across the bar, as an early corporate identity. The logo was modified by Edward Johnston in 1919.

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City Hall, London, Great Britain photos

City Hall, London, Great Britain photos, great britain pictures

City Hall in London is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London. It stands on the south bank of the River Thames, in the More London development by Tower Bridge. Designed by Norman Foster it opened in July 2002.

The building has an unusual bulbous shape, intended to reduce the building’s surface area and thus improve energy efficiency. It has been compared variously to Darth Vader’s helmet, a misshapen egg, a woodlouse or a motorcycle helmet. London Mayor Ken Livingstone referred to it as a “glass testicle”. Its designers reportedly saw the building as a giant sphere hanging over the Thames, but opted for a more conventionally rooted building instead. The building has no front or back on conventional terms but derives its shape from a modified sphere.

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London, Great Britain photos

London eye, London, Great Britain photos
London eye
Designed by architects David Marks, Julia Barfield, Malcolm Cook, Mark Sparrowhawk, Steven Chilton, and Nic Bailey, the wheel carries 32 sealed and air conditioned passenger capsules attached to its external circumference.
It rotates at a rate of 0.26 metres per second or 0.85 feet per second (about 0.9 km/h or 0.5 mph) so that one revolution takes about 30 minutes to complete. The wheel does not usually stop to take on passengers; the rotation rate is so slow that passengers can easily walk on and off the moving capsules at ground level. It is, however, stopped on occasion to allow disabled or elderly passengers time to disembark safely.
From: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_eye