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| 'Modern Marriage' by Simon Fujiwara (2015). |
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| A wedding ring embedded in the sole of the foot. |
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| 33 Nine Elms Lane, London, SW11 7US. |
Compared to the old embassy building in Grosvenor Square, I find this new building rather boring. Designed as a cube, this block, which is the largest American embassy in Western Europe, has a semi-circular pond, public green spaces and entry pavilions within its grounds.
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| The north side of the embassy, as seen from the River Thames. |
The lightweight 'sails', that adorn three sides of the building, stop direct sunlight hitting the interior and also make the building less likely to bird strikes.
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| Here you can see the sunlight being diffused by the outer structure. |
This design, however, does make for some great photo opportunities.
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| Keilyn with the heart for our friend and colleague Khalid Jamil. |
Sunday July 30, 2023.
Keilyn loves walking through and around London, almost as much as I do, so we decided to walk through a different part of the city, on this visit.
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| On our way to London for another epic walk. |
The day began with our usual walk to the Watford underground station, changing at Finchley Road and then exiting at Westminster.
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| Our starting point. |
We began by crossing Westminster bridge, with its tourists from a myriad countries, before descending the stone steps to the Albert Embankment. and the National Covid Memorial Wall and looked across at the Palace of Westminster.
We decided to follow the Albert Embankment, which stretches for a mile from Westminster Bridge to Vauxhall Bridge, passing St Thomas' Hospital and Lambeth Palace before grabbing a coffee and a hot chocolate from a street vendor near Lambeth Bridge.
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| Lambeth Fire Station. |
We then continued along the Albert Embankment, passing the Lambeth Fire Station, until we were near Vauxhall Bridge, where we had to make a slight detour due to the still ongoing construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel. This did, however, give us a chance to see the main entrance to the SIS (MI6) building, which is a side of the building that I had not really seen.
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| Keilyn with some riverside chairs. |
Soon we were back walking along the Riverside Walk, where Keilyn found some wooden chairs that spun round. A few steps further and we could see the Embassy of the United States of America, which is the largest American Embassy in Western Europe, and looks like a glass cube with small 'sails' covering three sides.
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| Embassy of the United States of America. |
We continued along Riverside Walk before having to make another short detour before finding ourselves in the Tideway Village, with its converted trawlers and house boats.
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| 'St Michael' is a converted trawler that you can stay on. |
One final detour and we arrived at Battersea Power Station, which we entered so that Keilyn could get a sense of the scale of the building. With her suitably awestruck and with us both having made use of the facilities, we headed out of the south entrance and continued our walk.
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| Battersea Power Station interior. |
We passed beneath a railway bridge, passed by Battersea Dogs and Cats home before stopping at a Tesco Express for some extra provisions, before passing beneath another railway bridge and heading into Battersea Park.
It was still quite warm, although the clouds were threatening rain, as we sat in the Rosery Gardens and ate our lunch, while joggers and dog walkers busied there way through the gardens.
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| The Rosery Gardens. |
Suitably rested we headed ever westward along the south of the Boating Lake, before turning north and entered the Sub-Tropical Garden, with its ferns and palms. These were interspersed with colourful bedding plants.
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| The Sub-Tropical Garden. |
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| The Sub-Tropical Garden. |
We then continued along the tree-lined path, passing the Bowling Green Pavilion, the Bandstand, the Tea Terrace and formal gardens, until we reached the London Peace Pagoda, where stopped for another short break alongside the River Thames.
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| The London Peace Pagoda. |
Next to us, in the small car park, the UK Bungee Club were using a crane with a basket attached to jump from. Their screams echoed as they plummeted earthward.
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| Refurbished and reopened. |
Battersea Power Station has been an iconic landmark on London's skyline since the 1930s.
I had only visited the area once, back in 2014, when I visited Battersea Park and took a walk back to Westminster via the north bank. At that time the power station was in a state of neglect, having been closed since 1983.
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| A derelict icon. |
I took a few photos of the building, from the north bank, but never went to close to the building.
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| Battersea Power Station in 2014. |
One of the other reasons for not visiting was that the entire area was more industrial, so didn't appeal to me at the time.
From 2014 a major regeneration of the area and the power station began. The Embassy of the United States opened just down the road in Nine Elms, in 2017 and with houses, apartments and an extension to the Northern line soon following the area was soon on the up.
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| Embassy of the United States, Nine Elms. |
Arriving at the power station, via the aforementioned Northern line extension, we made our way around the outside of the building, grabbing a coffee from one of the street vendors to fend off the bitterly cold wind. We walked around the building, which has numerous entrances on different levels, taking in the landscaped grounds and seating areas, which include a deck on the River Thames. A playground for children to enjoy, in warmer weather, is close by and I can see the entire area being the place to be in the warmer months.
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| An original chimney segment. |
Suitably warmed we headed inside the building and were immediately dwarfed by the scale of the cavernous building. We passed through Turbine Room 'A' to Turbine Room 'B', with Emma checking out the various shops, boutiques, cafes and restaurants.
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| Lots of levels and lots to do. |
