It's impossible to take the pictures you are compelled to take of London's many monuments and other famous sights without framing them in street scenes. Here's a selection of these types of photos. Many more appear in the Flickr set.

Whitehall is one of London's most famous streets, a street name that's synonomous with the British government. It connects two of the most famous sights in London: Trafalgar Square and Big Ben. Here are two photos from opposite ends of the street. On the left, you're looking from the Square down towards the River and the Houses of Parliament, and on the right, back up the other way towards Nelson's column in the center of the Square:

And here are two more. On the left is one taken at nearly the same spot as the one on the left above, but with a slightly different angle so it's the Victoria Tower at the end of the street, not the more famous clock tower. And on the right is a shot of some war protesters in Parliament Square across from the Houses, which is technically on Parliament Street, not Whitehall; but they are the same thoroughfare, at least today. Another of London's street-related charms: multiple names for what looks like the same road!

Big Ben and Nelson have been London landmarks for decades. A newer, jazzier icon on the skyline is the London Eye, which is visible, most photogenically, from all over the place. Here are two glimpses of it, from between some government buildings near the Horse Guards, on the north bank of the Thames, and from near the Lambeth North tube station, which is, curiously, on the south side of the Thames. It's the nearest tube stop to the Imperial War Museum and when I emerged from it to make my first visit to the Museum I was so pleased to have picked the right train and stop that I took a look around and captured this neat view of the Eye.

St. Paul's is another traditional London landmark building, and it's striking from all angles and at all times. On the left below is a photo of its dome down one of the streets leading to it, taken late in my stay (note the Christmas decorations). I was heading to the cathedral for evensong. Much earlier in my visit, I actually climbed the dome, and the photo on the right is of one of the side streets (my research suggests it might be Ludgate Hill?) as seen from the first gallery on the way up.

Needless to say, those wonderful red buses you can see from St. Paul's are the best way to get around London's streets, especially if you want to see the streets, as opposed to scooting along under them on the tube. Here's one of the traditional models that run on some of the most tourist-intensive routes, for their benefit. And they were pretty cool, but I enjoyed the newer buses, too, at least the double-decker ones. The bendy-busses—not so much. (This is a number #15 bus; to see, approximately, where its route takes you, look for the line on my London streets map.)

When you're walking the streets instead of riding, in most of the areas where there are any tourist-worthy attractions, you'll find these very simple, and very helpful, black directional signs. They're a great way to point you in the right direction, no matter which of the many famous attractions you're looking for:

Here are a couple of attractions that probably appear on several of these signs around the center of London: a very old street in the Temple Inns of Court (note the cobblesones), and Westminster Cathedral.

Finally, Piccadilly Circus is one of the most famous spaces in London, although it wasn't one of my favorites. It looks pretty cool at night, though. And Piccadilly Street, which leads from Hyde Park Corner to the Circus, has some pretty famous tenants as well, like Lord Peter Wimsey's grocery, Fortnum & Mason, where I bought some Christmas presents.

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