|
London - Westminster Abbey
Church, burial ground, coronation site and much more, Westminster Abbey continues to attract visitors over 900 years after its founding.
In many respects the architecture is common. There's the traditional cross-shaped floor plan with a nave, north and south transepts and several round side areas. But both its execution and use raise The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster (the official name) to among the highest examples of church construction.
Continue reading London - Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is the center of England in more ways than one. At its south end lies what used to be Charing Cross, the point from which all distances to London are measured. Long since, the cross erected by Edward I in 1290 (as a tribute to his wife, Eleanor) has been replaced by a statue of Charles I atop a horse.
The major construction was completed in 1845 and has enjoyed continual popularity since - sometimes to the regret of its sponsors. The large open piazza-style area is often the preferred site of political demonstrations, and has been from its beginning.
The centerpiece of the center of England is unquestionably the 185-foot column, with the 17-foot statue of Lord Nelson at its peak. This is fitting since the square itself was designed as a tribute to Nelson's military victory of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
Continue reading London - Things To Do
If you have five years for a vacation you might be able to see about half of what London has to offer. No matter your tastes - whether modern or classical art, monuments and museums, zoos and gardens, nightclubs, theater, music, and on and on - it's here in abundance.
A perfect blend of ancient and modern, London has over 200 galleries and 300 museums, and 150 events a day to interest the traveler. One could see the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels in the morning and the Tate art museums in the afternoon. Or visit Parliament early then shop at Harrods later.
Continue reading London - The West End
For the London traveler looking for variety, the West End is the place to be. Piccadilly Circus is next door, where antique book shops mix with the latest restaurants and Covent Garden is not far. And, then of course, there's the world-renowned theater - the rival (some would say tutor) of Broadway.
Soho is a short walk away. For those interested in the red-light district in the home of the Puritans, that's here - and has been for over a century.
Continue reading London - The Tower of London
Few prisons can claim to be as popular as the Tower of London, an attraction - unpleasant for some - for over 900 years. Its twenty towers are filled with an ancient tradition of royal blood, armor and jewels and the history to match.
The central structure began as a fort - used by the original builder William the Conqueror who completed the first tower around 1100 AD. At its completion it was the tallest building in London. Henry III had it whitewashed in the 13th century and the name, White Tower, has stuck.
Continue reading London - The Nature Experience
London has such a long history, filled with great churches, monuments, art and history museums that seeking nature here often isn't what immediately comes to mind. But that's an error, since London is home to one of the oldest zoos in existence and one of the newest aquariums.
The London Zoo was first established in 1828 to house animals for scientific study. (At the time, Britain could boast the foremost naturalists in the world. Probably no single country could claim the number one spot today. Science, like business, has gone global.) Nearly twenty years passed before the facility was opened to the public.
Continue reading London - The Natural History Museum
Since its founding in the mid-19th century, the Natural History museum has offered one of the largest, most diverse collections in the world. The dinosaur exhibits are world-renowned, but there are dozens of others equally deserving of a visit.
The building itself makes the trip worthwhile. Completed in 1880, the Italian Renaissance design sports an ornate terracotta facade with several stepped arches. It looks as much like a Gothic cathedral as a museum. Terracotta was popular, as it stood up well to Victorian soot. The exterior is festooned with hundreds of carvings that reflect the contents of the interior.
Continue reading London - The National Gallery
Throughout its troubled history, the National Gallery in London has persevered to maintain one of the greatest art collections in the world.
Having no Royal collection with which to begin, the museum found its start with the purchase of a mere 38 paintings from the estate of a recently deceased banker, J.J. Angerstein. Housed in his home at 100 Pall Mall for the first 10 years of its existence, the National Gallery opened to the public there in 1824.
Finding the museum frequently overcrowded and ill-adapted for the display of paintings, the directors finally persuaded Parliament to sponsor a new home near Trafalgar Square. The move was fortunate and the collection expanded accordingly.
Continue reading London - The London Eye
One of the best ways to see London is from the air. Unfortunately, that was fairly difficult until recently. Now it's as easy as stepping onto a platform that moves slower than the average escalator into the London Eye pod.
The London Eye can only approximately be described as an enormous Ferris Wheel. The designers beginning with the originators Julia Barfield and David Marks have produced an engineering marvel. True enough it rotates in a circle through a vertical plane. But it never stops or starts apart from the occasional need to accommodate the elderly or handicapped.
Continue reading London - The British Museum
Like most museums in London, The British Museum is free of admission (though some events and special exhibitions have an admission charge). But were it the most expensive attraction in the city, it would be worth the price. Often rated the number one tourist attraction, it houses millions of artifacts from around the world and through history.
Beginning with the collection that branched off to the Natural History Museum, for over 250 years the institution has offered viewers a chance to see history up close in large and small.
Continue reading London - St Paul's Cathedral
For three hundred years St Paul's Cathedral has served as one of the enduring symbols of London, a role it richly deserves. Completed in 1708, Sir Christopher Wren's masterwork is recognized the world over by its large dome and classical architecture.
The fame of the dome is particularly ironic since the plans, third in succession after two rejected models, didn't call for one. Wren took advantage of a clause in the commission permitting him to make 'ornamental' changes.
Continue reading London - Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre is in fact long gone - closed by Puritans in 1642 and taken down 2 years later. Fortunately for fans of the bard, there's a faithful reproduction housed only a few hundred meters from the original site.
The consuming passion of too-little known American actor Sam Wanamaker, the Globe offers performances of Shakespeare's plays during the summer along with tours of the facility. Wanamaker died shortly after construction began.
Continue reading London - Royal Observatory, Greenwich
To most, the question "What time is it?" is mundane. But to the men and women whom, over the centuries since 1675, have worked at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich it is of huge importance.
Evolving from an era when, in 1386 at the Salisbury Cathedral, the time was measured in quarters of an hour indicated by the gong of a bell, the atomic clocks of today are precise to one second in a million years. Fortunately for visitors to Greenwich, approximately 23 minutes east of Big Ben, dozens of artifacts from everything in between those extremes has been preserved.
Continue reading London - Piccadilly Circus
At the junction of Regent Street and Shaftesbury Avenue lies a trapezoidal area near London's West End known to the world as Piccadilly Circus.
It's an odd name, since there's no circus there, but even odder is that 'circus' usually denotes a round city area where several streets meet in a circle. After the Roman plan. But that eccentricity fits Piccadilly, since this area of the great British capital attracts the most diverse set of people in an already diverse town.
Continue reading London - Madame Tussaud's/London Planetarium
Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum is one of the very few attractions in London that is both centuries old and completely modern.
Madame Tussaud learned her unusual craft of modeling figures in wax by creating death masks of those executed by guillotine in 18th and 19th century France. Among her 'clients' were Louis XVI and Marie Antionette. That mixture of precise art and macabre display is reflected in the modern museum - but with a much greater sense of fun!
Continue reading London - Kew Palace and Gardens
"It's good to be king!" announced the Austrian ruler in Amadeus. Well, it wasn't so bad to be a wealthy merchant either. Kew Palace, known at Dutch House until 1827, was built in 1631 for the Dutch merchant Samuel Fortrey.
Mr. Fortrey's descendants wisely leased the Jacobean mansion to Queen Caroline in 1728 for 99 years for 'the rent of Ĺ100 and a fat doe'. The Queen made an excellent bargain.
For the price, she received a palace and gardens that are now the rival of any in the world. Though small by contemporary standards the 21m(70ft) by 15m(50ft) structure has been recently restored to its former splendor. The ten year project has had stellar results, even down to some excellent and unique Flemish brickwork.
Continue reading London - Kensington Palace/Kensington Gardens
Kensington Palace has been home to royalty from long before Queen Victoria's birth there in 1819 to Princess Diana's residence until her death to today.
Still in use as a working Royal Residence, there are nonetheless many areas open to public viewing - and have been since Queen Victoria opened the State Apartments to the public in 1899.
Continue reading London - Hyde Park
Perhaps most famous for the Speaker's Corner, where citizens stand atop a soapbox and shout their views to the crowd, there's much more to see and do here than listen to political opinions.
The land forming the park was first acquired by Henry VIII from the monks of Westminster Abbey in 1536. While Henry used the park for deer hunting, the horseback riding today is strictly not for sport.
Continue reading London - Harrods
Much of London, for the tourist anyway, is historical. Ancient buildings and centuries old monuments. Palaces and works of art from the ages. But not Harrods. Harrods, even while its origins are from over 150 years ago, is as up-to-date as the latest computer.
The world's greatest department store was established on its current site in 1849 by Charles Henry Harrod, a wholesale grocer. Harrod's son Charles Digby rapidly grew the business and by 1880 employed 100 staff.
Continue reading London - Buckingham Palace
Though one of the most popular tourist attractions in London, Buckingham Palace is still the official residence of Britain's monarchy, as it has been since Queen Victoria's designation in 1837.
Much of the building was constructed as early as 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham House (as it was then known) was purchased in 1762 by George III, who used it as a private residence. Over the following 75 years the house was expanded to form three wings around a central courtyard.
Continue reading London - Along Whitehall – Banqueting House, Churchill Museum & Parliament
To many the name 'Whitehall' evokes 'British Government'. And, indeed, the Houses of Parliament are at one end of the road running north from Parliament Square. But there's much more along this major London artery than the Palace of Westminster, home to the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The name derives from the original Palace of Whitehall, home to royalty and its ministers for centuries until destroyed by fire in 1698. Fortunately for today's visitors The Banqueting House, completed in 1622, survived.
Continue reading
|
My booking
