Buckingham Palace - London, England

Buckingham Palace from The Mall.- London, England 

While we were in London we visited Buckingham Palace hoping to see the changing of the guard. We got there quite early and as we had time to kill, decided to go for a walk instead of hanging around outside the Palace. We walked up The Mall towards Trafalgar Square, when the photograph above was taken, and back through St James Park. I decided to capture this image when I noticed the black cabs, which are quintessentially English, travelling towards us with the Palace in the background.

More images and Info after the jump

Buckingham Palace from Spur Road - London, England

Spur Road, which runs in front of Buckingham palace, is quite busy. I actually had to hang around a while to take a half decent image of the palace without getting any cars or cyclists in the frame. During the changing of the guard the road is closed as the Grenadier guards come in along this road.

Buckingham Palace from St James Park - London, England

St James park runs all the way down to Spur road. It was also one of the few places from where I could photograph the palace without including too many people in the frame. By this stage the crowds at the fence were about 6 or 7 people deep. As a result of our walk, we didn't get to see the changing of the guard but did see the guards coming in and leaving after the ceremony.

The crowds in front of the Palace

All images were captured with a Canon 7D and a 24-105mm lens.

The Palace of Versailles - Versailles, France

The Apollo Fountain - Versailles, France 

The Royal palace in Versailles was the seat of power in France from 1682 during the reign of King Louis XIV. It was originally a hunting lodge but was expanded in to a palace in 4 separate phases of building. King Louis XIV's decision to move the court from Paris to Versailles was based on his need to extract more control over the government from the nobility. The Royal family was forced to return to Paris in October 1789, once the French revolution started.

More images and info after the jump.

The Palace of Versailles - Versailles, France

The palace was designed by an architect named Louis Le Vau while gardens were laid out by Andre Le Notre and the interior decorator was Charles Le Brun. The Russian Tsar, Peter the Great, stayed at Versailles during his visit in May 1717. He studied the Palace and gardens during his visit and this inspired Peterhof, on the Bay of Finland, west of St Petersburg. 

Interior Detail - Palace of Versailles

Getting into the Palace was a bit time consuming as tour groups have an allocated time and  for some reason or the other they were running late. When we actually went in, it was very crowded and you were hustled along from one room to the next. We had a good tour guide and she described the rooms and pointed out a number of the more important pieces of art and architectural features of the palace. 

A ceiling - Palace of Versailles 

The Museum of the history of France was founded at the Palace in the 19th Century. A number of the rooms were taken over to house art collections.  The hall of Battles was also created to display works depicting famous battles in French history. The palace is now home to a number of masterpieces by artists such as Delacroix, David and Renoir. One of my favourite paintings, "The coronation of Napoleon" by Jacques Louis David can also be seen at the Palace (there are two versions of this painting, the second one is at the Louvre) .

A Ceiling - Palace of Versailles

An exhibition of Japanese modern art was on when we visited the Palace of Versailles. We were very disappointed with it as placed in the middle of every room were these huge, hideous objects which took  away from the interiors of the palace. I obviously don't appreciate Japanese modern art but I feel that there is a place for everything. The Palace of Versailles was definitely not the place for Japanese Modern art. Imagine seeing a massive Pokemon-esque character in the middle of the hall of mirrors.

The Palace of Versailles - Versailles, France

These images were captured with a Canon 7D and a 24-105mm lens.