I wasn’t sure if guards existed in a less-than-formal environment, and here they are. I came upon these men, who were casually chatting and walking together, while running past Wellington Barracks, which house the Guards Museum and five regiments of Foot Guards (the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards, and Welsh Guards). On […]
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St. Paul’s Cathedral
Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece has adorned the British skyline sine 1710. It was constructed after the previous building was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. But this isn’t #2; over 1400 years, a total of five places of worship have stood on this site. The first service was held in this building in 1697. […]
Horse Guards Parade
If you’re thinking these grounds look ideal for, say, a beach volleyball competition, you won’t be surprised when the Olympic event takes place right here this summer. The Horse Guards Parade hosts various ceremonies throughout the year, including Trooping the Colour (monarch’s birthday) and Beating Retreat (a military ceremony). Back in Henry VIII’s day, it […]
Charles Dickens Museum
The Charles Dickens Museum is always a must-see for me. This four-story house is his only remaining London residence. Here, he wrote The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby. The museum opened in 1925 and packed ten rooms with 100,000 memorabilia items including manuscripts, photos (Dickens was prolific in every part of his life, […]
Museum of London
If you’re interested in London’s history, go right to the source. At the Museum of London, you can witness the city’s development from, oh, 450 million years ago to the present. You can take in the Roman era, then Saxon, medieval and Tudor periods. I particularly like the extensive Great Fire display and the 1960’s […]
Moti Mahal
Moti Mahal is currently the top Indian restaurant in London for good reason: the traditional-style food is so good you will want to eat there every night. This restaurant opened in 2005 and is the offspring of the Delhi restaurant of the same name. The original restaurant, which opened in 1959, was the first to […]
Buckingham Palace
Since 1837, Buckingham Palace has been the official royal residence. It was originally built in 1705 for the Duke of Buckingham. The royal family moved in when their residence, St. James’s Palace, was deemed insufficiently impressive. Buckingham Palace remains a main tourist attraction. Unless you plan on going inside for a very limited tour that […]
The National Gallery
The name says it all. This is one of the largest, most comprehensive collections of European paintings in the world. All major traditions are represented. The color-coded layout is as good as a GPS as you wind your way through the crowded galleries to view works by artists such as Van Eyck, Holbein, Titian, Botticelli, […]
Tate Britain
Younger, shinier Tate Modern gets all the attention, but Tate Britain remains my favorite museum in London because of the Turner-filled Clore Gallery. When JMW Turner died, he bequeathed his works to the nation. The Tate was the largest beneficiary; the haul was 300 oil paintings and 30,000 sketches and watercolors. The current exhibition, “Romantics”, […]
Victoria & Albert Museum
This museum is a perfect destination for a group whose members have divergent tastes since there’s a bit of everything – sculptures, paintings, jewelry, photographs, artifacts, manuscripts, etc. The enormous collection is devoted to the applied arts of all disciplines through all periods and corners of the globe. A healthy sampling of every sort of […]
