Whitby Abbey in Monochrome

Recently, while praying for the rain to stop, my friends and I drove over to Whitby for the day. 
Whitby is a picturesque town on the coast of Yorkshire, and the ruins of Whitby Abbey sit on the top of a cliff looking down to the town's harbour, giving the landscape a sense of derelict grandeur.
As luck would have it the rain stopped on our arrival, leaving behind only heavy grey clouds and the ominous threat of further downpours. The silver lining to all these clouds however was that the poor weather gave the Abbey and grounds a sense of atmospheric drama.

Whitby Abbey on the coast of Yorkshire.

Whitby Abbey, just look at how tall the windows on the first floor are - I would love to know what the Abbey looked like during it's finer days.

Whitby Abbey. I always wonder how often buildings like this suffer from a new collapse or loss of structure. How long does the Abbey have left until it is reduced to foot high walls marking the space where this past beauty once stood?

I find it amazing that the sense of the past beauty and grandeur of this building still linger in the ruins at Whitby Abbey.

Whitby Abbey as seen from the pier on the harbour. Idylic location.

The sky was blanketed in a wall of grey clouds, I loved how stark this stood against the drizzly mass.

View out to sea from the pier on Whitby harbour and a break in the clouds finally!

Shoreline of Whitby; even though the day was cold and gloomy it was very still and serene.

Tower of London

While we were in London in November I got to go to the Tower of London for the first time. It was a really interesting day and I learnt a lot that I didn't know before, what with most of my history lessons coming from things like the BBC's 'The Tudors'!

The White Tower, Tower of London, a really forbidding and impressive facade

I loved these guys! Close up of one of the many Tower of London Metal Soldiers

Another Tower of London metal soldier standing guard over the battlements

Tower of London metal soldier re-loading his crossbow

Tower of London metal soldier protecting the water gate entrance

One thing I learnt while here is that for a long time the Tower of London had an impresive Royal menagerie. This included a Polar Bear who had an iron chain cuffed to one of it's hind legs so it could swim in the water surrounding the Tower

Lions were also kept in the Tower of London's Royal Menagerie. At one time there was a Lioness called Elizabeth who died shortly before Queen Elizabeth I. The lioness' death was seen as a bad omen, which was soon to come true.

As they are famed for, apparently the monkeys kept at the Tower of London's Royal menagerie were rather mischievous and caused more than their fair share of trouble!