If you're going in search of this engaging quarry, then the first thing you need is a map.
And, by the way, there's even an map-covered elephant....
They can be found in the vicinity of many notable monuments, such as Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square...
Tower Bridge and the offices of the London Assembly and the Mayor of London...
Outside the Royal Opera House...
And the Indian Embassy...
The more of these creatures I track down the more I look for the unusual such as this elephant covered with fish-eye windows...
...that allow one to look in and see a city inside the elephant that is, itself, crowded with elephants!
And the Indian Embassy...
The more of these creatures I track down the more I look for the unusual such as this elephant covered with fish-eye windows...
...that allow one to look in and see a city inside the elephant that is, itself, crowded with elephants!
Part of the fun of the Elephant Parade is watching how people respond to the creatures: snuggling up to them...
Making formal genuflections...
Making formal genuflections...
Or just ignoring them...
You can find out more about this art-event-cum-fund-raising project by visiting Elephant Family; and you can see the newly extended Sibley herd (just a few of the 250 currently inhabiting our city) on my Elephant Parade flickr Album.
These heffalumps are incredible - especially the one with the city inside it. Do hope I make it down to see them before they are gone.
ReplyDeleteAnd the photos are not half bad either!
Thanks for the link to the map. That is going to be very useful.
ReplyDeleteI think we're off on our elephant hunt next weekend, depending on the weather. I'm not sure we're going to get as far as Terminal 5 though.
SHARON M - Come and see them - and us!
ReplyDeleteGOOD DOG - Good hunting! But I'd really leave Terminal 5 for foreign huntspersons!
Wow, an impressive lot on the photos and then you drop the little bombshell that there are no less than 250 of them hither and yon around London! But London doesn't seem to be alone in "Elephantmania".
ReplyDeleteNear to where I spent time growing up, along the New Jersey shore, we have a larger, more permanent elephant by the name of Lucy with both a website and a wikipage. Lucy was built in 1881 as a novelty to lure people "downbeach" from the relatively new seaside resort of Atlantic City to purchase property in what became the three other communities sharing the island. Lucy had two cousins, one further south at Cape May, New Jersey and the other at the Coney Island amusement park on Long Island, New York. Lucy is unfortunately the only one that survived.
In addition, Washington DC in 2002 unveiled 200 donkey and elephant statues of a size much like the London ones. (Donkey being the anthropomorphic symbol of the Democratic Party and the elephant that of the Republicans - why those animals is the beyond the scope of this post and the late hour here!) But this is why the statues were cheekily known as the "Party Animals". 200 artists were likewise invited to decorate them with whatever came to mind. The ultimate location of most of the statues is unknown to me; however, one, an elephant decorated like a Grecian urn, sits in the lobby of my place of work at Dulles Airport!
Thanks, CHUCK, I just spent a totally fascinating half-hour reading Lucy's history! What an amazing story!
ReplyDeleteI do urge readers to follow Chuck's links and read the whole saga of not just a architectural curiosity but of human devotion and dedication to preserving heritage for posterity that is truly inspiring.
I now need to check out those 'Party Animals', too!
Great elephants, great photos! They remind me of Liverpool's Superlambanana:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/groups/822356@N22/
Thanks, PHIL, I hadn't heard of the Superlambanana but I discovered more on the official website.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a genetically-modified lamb-banana (exhibited in the city where both products were historically imported) is intriguingly scary.
Loved the lambanana. But where would you keep the car keys...
ReplyDeleteHe he he!(manic cackling).
Roger O. B...
PUTSOR: The inadvertent placement of an object (such as car keys) in an unfamiliar place despite claims "I always keep it..."
Just one question, ROGER, when do you go on holiday...? ;)
ReplyDelete