London & the Olympics, July 2012

London is my favorite European capital to visit. I was lucky to be there in summertime, during the 2012 Olympics.

-o0o-

Flight to London

First, some fligh deck views short before leaving French airspace.

In this nice sunset photo we can clearly identify the place: somewhere near Brest.

-o0o-
The Gherkin

Temperatures in London were insanely high those days. My first capture while visiting was the famous Gherkin skyscraper. 

-o0o-
Tower Bridge

The most obvious indication that the Olympic Games were taking place in London (other than the event site itself) was the Tower Bridge.

And it was also a great opportunity for some plane spotting! What about this Korean Air Boeing 747?

Or this tiny BAe 146 and/or Avro RJ?

And the other side of the bridge.

-o0o-
The Shard

This brand new skyscraper was probably the biggest highlight of this stopover in London. Its construction was completed only twenty days earlier, the same month of July. It is located not far away from the Tower Bridge.

Yet another opportunity for plane spotting...

And various perspectives taken very close to the building. Really impressive!

-o0o-

Monument to the
Great Fire of London

To end this wonderful summer day in London, a photo of this column.

PASSAGE by Serge Maheu, February 2022

As it happened with the Botero sculpture I am always looking for new things to see in New York so I have motivation to get out of my hotel room even if it's winter and fucking cold outside. The goal of this stopover in New York was to see the installation artwork "PASSAGE" by Serge Maheu.

-o0o-

Newark Liberty

This journey would start this time with a dead head flight to Newark Liberty Airport. I flew on the A321LR that would become my own long range aircraft one year later. But this time I was only qualified on the Airbus A330.

Nice to be parked side by side with this El Al retro dreamliner.

-o0o-

PASSAGE

PASSAGE is an itinerant installation that was on display in the Garment District of Manhattan, in January/February 2022. It is basically an immersive tunnel of lights/colours and sounds.

-o0o-
I <3 NY

Finally a photo in Times Square and its Disney Store; one of the many Gift Shops branded "I <3 NY" with a super nice Air Force One scale model; and a last photo in the Americas Avenue:

There is always something new happening in New York!