All images by David J. Eicher
The White Tower, the oldest component of the Tower of London, built by the Normans and dating to 1078, London, England, August 8, 2013.
The site in the White Tower, Tower of London, where a chest containing the bones of the murdered princes Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury was found in 1674, 191 years after their deaths, Tower of London, London, England, August 8, 2013.
The face of King Henry VIII in a contemporary wooden figure, White Tower, Tower of London, London, England, August 8, 2013.
The face of Queen Elizabeth I in a contemporary wooden figure, White Tower, Tower of London, London, England, August 8, 2013.
The iconic Tower Bridge as viewed from the Tower of London, with fragments of a Roman wall also visible inside the tower, London, England, August 8, 2013.
Buckingham Palace, the Queen's "weekday office," London, England, August 8, 2013.
Westminster Abbey, coronation and burial site for kings and queens, London, England, August 8, 2013.
Trafalgar Square, whose Nelson Column commemorates the naval victory of Horatio Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar, London, England, August 8, 2013.
St. Paul's Cathedral, Christopher Wren's masterpiece and site of royal weddings and worship, London, England, August 8, 2013.
The masterful dome in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, England, August 8, 2013.
High tea at Harrod's department store, London, England, August 8, 2013.
The Royal Albert Hall, site of some of the most famous British concerts in the history of rock and roll, London, England, August 8, 2013.
Flamsteed House, built in 1675, the original and most important structure of the Royal Observatory Greenwich, which contains the octagon room made for astronomical observations, Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
The Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
A replica telescope stands in the famous octagon room in the Flamsteed House, Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
The octagon room, Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
Editor Dave Eicher straddles the prime meridian of the world, Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
Edmond Halley’s 8-foot iron mural quadrant, built by George Graham in 1725, Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
William Herschel’s mirror set for a Gregorian telescope, dating from the 1770s, Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
The Airy Transit Circle, the telescope used to define the prime meridian of the world since 1884, Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
The famous 28-inch refractor, the largest in Europe, Royal Observatory Greenwich, August 9, 2013.
The celebrated British tea clipper Cutty Sark, built in 1869 and now at the Greenwich, England, August 9, 2013.
Our group enjoys dinner at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England, August 9, 2013.
The Rosetta Stone, granodiorite stele, ca. 196 B.C., discovered in 1799 amid material that had been used for construction at Rahid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta, British Museum, London, England, August 10, 2013.
British Museum, London, England, August 10, 2013.
The reconstructed Nereid Monument, built for Erbinna, ruler of Xanthos, present-day southwestern Turkey, ca. 390–380 B.C., British Museum, London, England, August 10, 2013.
Marble metope from the Parthenon, showing a centaur trampling a falling lapith, the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 447–438 B.C., Elgin Marbles Gallery, British Museum, August 10, 2013.
Skeleton in the remains of a basketwork coffin, Tarkhan, Egypt, First Dynasty, ca. 3000 B.C., British Museum, London, England, August 10, 2013.
The Corbridge Lanx, a Roman Era silver plate depicting a shrine of the god Apollo, which was found by a 9-year-old boy in the bank of the River Tyne at Corbridge, England, near Hadrian’s Wall, in February 1735, British Museum, London, England, August 10, 2013.
Lindow Man, the well-preserved body of a ritual murder victim found in a peat bog near Lindow Moss near Wilmslow, Cheshire, England, in 1984, ca. 2 B.C.–119 A.D., British Museum, London, England, August 10, 2013.
Mammoth granite statue of Ramesses II, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1270 B.C., from the Ramesseum, western Thebes, Egypt, British Museum, London, England, August 10, 2013.
Editor David J. Eicher at Edmond Halley's house, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
William Herschel's 7-foot Newtonian reflector, from the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
A blackboard used by Albert Einstein to lecture on relativity at the University of Oxford in 1931 was preserved and now is in the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
The world’s first large reflecting telescope: The skilled London telescope maker James Short made this 12-foot Gregorian telescope in 1742, from the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
A dial attributed to Thomas Tuttell and dated to 1697 from the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
This beautiful Flemish astrolabe was made by Regnerus Arsenius in Louvain in 1565, from the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
A clock-driven armillary sphere from revolutionary France, made by Antide Janvier in Paris in 1798, from the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
Two Flemish astrolabes and a beautiful armillary sphere from the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
Galilean telescopes from the 17th century in the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
Inside a portion of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford University, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
The hall of Christ Church, Oxford University, Oxford, England, August 11, 2013.
Hanging out at one of Earth’s greatest ancient landmarks, Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, August 12, 2013.
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, August 12, 2013.
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, August 12, 2013.
At Stonehenge, amateur astronomer and Herschel expert Andy Burns sets up solar scopes for our group to enjoy, August 12, 2013.
The Herschel House is one of astronomy’s great shrines, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
Editor Dave Eicher at Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
A lock of William Herschel’s hair, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
A dress owned and worn by Caroline Herschel, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
A letter from Herschel in which he describes discovering a comet, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
The dining room, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
The music room, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
Sometimes the old mirrors used by the Herschels reveal ghosts, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
A reproduction of the telescope used to discover Uranus, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
Part of John Herschel’s mineral collection, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
The garden in which William Herschel discovered Uranus, Herschel House, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
The King’s Bath, adjacent to Bath’s Pump Room, shows what the Romans and later the royals enjoyed, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
High tea at the Pump Room, Roman Baths, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.
Bath Abbey towered in magnificence, Bath, England, August 12, 2013.