Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London

 

Nelson's column. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

You can photograph Nelson's column on every visit you make to Trafalgar Square and get different pictures. Night and day, sun and rain, summer and winter, crowded, and deserted. What do we see here?

Glamour Or Realism? Good or bad?

I took this picture walking away from Trafalgar Square, Unfortunately, the glamour of the column was spoiled by a plebian, workmanlike lorry. (Lorry is what we call it in England, Americans say say truck. However, the vehicle adds realism. It's different from my usual pictures of Trafalgar Square with statues and crowds of tourists. 

Spy the Season

Look closely, making the picture larger. Be a picture detective. You know the season because you can see the leaves on the spring into summer trees in April. 

Britain and England 

It is Britain. England. You can tell by the traffic lights, the red phone box. 

London

It is London. You can tell by the rack of bikes for hire. The double yellow painted lines on the edge of the pavement. The fancy decoration on the lamp post base on the right of the picture. 

It is 21st century, the tourist waring blue jeans and white trainers and a hooded jacket. It is a picture of its time. Totally different from the same scene ten years earlier, ten years later, and in the nineteen forties. 

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Let's Look at London: Trafalgar Square, ice cream and art

Always busy Interesting people. Living and dead.

Trafalgar Square at dusk. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Notice Nelson's column. And the lions at the corners of the plinth of the column. And the modern installation of the giant statue of an ice cream cone. Behind the ice cream cone are the National Portrait gallery and the National Gallery.

Nearby London underground station, Charing Cross. Currently (Sept 22 2021) one of the escalators, going down) is not in use and you have a lot of steps. You might prefer to return via Embankment station which is a short downhill walk.

Time Is Everything : Monuments to Nelson, Nelson Museum, National Day, and quiz

Nelson's Column, London, England.

Time is everything. Five minutes makes the difference between victory and defeat. So said Horatio Nelson, who lived from 29 September 1758 until 21 October 1805.

1 Nelson's Column London
Nelson's statue stands in Trafalgar Square, London. Trafalgar Square is named after the Battle of Traflagar off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson won a great victory there agains the combined Spanish and French fleets. However, he lost lis life on board his ship HMS Victory.

2 Nelson's Monument, Edinburgh, Scotland
In addition to admiring the statue of Nelson atop Nelson's column, you can contemplate the momument to Nelson in Edinburgh. It has a time ball which rise and falls at 1 pm for the benefit of shipping.

4 Nelson's Statue and Ship, Birmingham, England
A statue of Nelson and his ship is in Birmingham at The Bull Ring.

4 Nelson is buried in St Paul's Cathedral, London, England.



5 Monmouth Museum
I drove through Monmouth on my way to Wales for many years, always meaning to stop at the Monmouth, Museum,  and finally made it. I was rewarded by fascinating stories about Nelson.
Monmouth museum is also known asThe Nelson Museum and Local History Centre. The museum contains a model of Nelson's ship.



Prince Charles (Prince of Wales) visiting the Nelson museum in Monmouth, Wales.

5 Nelson's Column in Montreal, Canada

6 Nelson's Statue, Bridgtown, Barbados

Trafalgar Day is celebrated on or around October 21st in Nelson, New Zealand, and in Traflgar, Australia.

International celebrations

The victory is celebrated in Nelson, New Zealand (named after Horatio Nelson) usually in Trafalgar Square and sometimes involves pupils from the local Victory Primary School. Many streets in Nelson are named after Trafalgar and crew members of Victory.

The victory is celebrated each year in the Australian town of Trafalgar, Victoria, in which the small town of 2,200 hold an annual Battle of Trafalgar Festival with the Trafalgar Day Ball held on the Friday or Saturday closest to 21 October each year.

Useful Websites

• Nelson Monument, Edinburgh
• Nelson Monument, Liverpool
• Nelson's Monument on Birchen Edge, in England's Peak District
• Nelson's Column, London
• Nelson's Pillar, Dublin
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Day
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_Museum
• 
  

For more information on the UK, see Wikivoyage, Wikitravel, Tripadvisor, Wikipedia.

Nelson Quiz
1 In which city is Nelson's Column?
2 Nelson's column is in which square?
3 Name Nelson's quotation on time.
4 What did Nelson say, in flags, about duty?
5 Where is the monument to Nelson with the time ball?
6 Where is the statue of Nelson with a ship?
7 What is the date of Trafalgar Day? Month? Day?
8 In which place is Nelson's Day celebrated in New Zealand?
9 In which place is Nelson's Day celebrated in Australia.
10 Where is Nelson buried?

Find the answers in the text above or below.

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Answers to Quiz
1 London, England. (Not London, Canada.)
2 Trafalgar Square, London, England.
3 Time is everything. Five minutes makes the difference between victory and defeat.
4 England expects every man to do his duty.
5 Edinburgh, Scotland.
6 Birmingham.
7 October 21st.
8 Nelson.
9 Trafalgar.
10 St Paul's Cathedral.

Trafalgar Square and the Twelve Days of Christmas

Christmas Tree to see in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square in London always has a Christmas tree, a Norway spruce sent to England from Norway, a custom started the Christmas after the end of WWII as thanks to Britain for supporting Norway.

Why Is the Tree In Trafalgar Square?
Why not Piccadilly, centre of London? Whilst Piccadilly with its statue of eros, god of love, stands at the start of Shaftesbury Avenue, at the lower end of Regent Street, famous for fine shops and toy store Hamlets, Trafalgar Square is an open space where you have room for pedestrians to gather and happy crowds to sing carols. You can stand under Nelson's column, near the National Portrait gallery featuring famous heroes and heroines of Britain and the world.

Even if you cannot visit Trafalgar Square at Christmas, as an armchair traveller, book reader, news reader, shopper, or TV news follower you will see Trafalgar Square in countless souvenirs and pictures and news events.

Why is Trafalgar Square Called That?
Trafalgar Square is named after the Battle of Trafalgar. Where is Trafalgar? The column supports the statue of Nelson, famous for sending the message, 'England expects every man to do his duty'.

How do I know this? I learned all about the message at a museum in Wales, and later I remind myself by checking up on the internet. This easy to remember message and its history is a reminder to keep things simple. Nelson was going to use a longer words but the man sending the message from ship to ship with flags in a hurry needed s simpler message with fewer letters.

Christmas Carols
One of the Christmas carols most useful to people learning English is the twelve days of Christmas.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me: a partridge in a pear tree.

Learning and Teaching English Through Songs
Using The Twelve Days of Christmas:
You learn (or teach) both the simple cardinal or quantity numbers: one, two, three, and the ordinal or order numbers, such as first day of Christmas.

You also learn (or teach) me and my.  My true love gave to me ...

Guide to Stars:
***** Cross the world to see this. Major attraction or landmark in major city.
**** Divert to this city to see it. Major city and major attraction
*** Stop at this city if en route. Top of the list of attractions in this great/small city or town.
** Major site in this city, town, suburb.
* Quirky little thing. If you happen to be nearby, have a look.

Travel Visit Checklist
***** 1 England: Trafalgar Square, London (See Nelson's column)
*** 2 Wales : The Monmouth Museum or The Nelson Museum about Nelson
* 3 Finsbury Square fountain.

http://www.uncoverdiscover.com/facts/the-worlds-10-most-famous-christmas-trees/moscow-russia/

http://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/gallery/2013112815880/top-ten-christmas-trees-in-the-world/1/

Follow my posts of blogger, my pictures and news items on Facebook, like me on Facebook, link to me on LinkedIn, see me reading poetry or talking about restaurant etiquette on YouTube, or read about my books on Amazon and Lulu.com
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, English teacher, author, speaker.