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The London Traveler

Archive for the ‘Attractions’ Category

June 24th, 2008

Offbeat Museums: Kew Bridge Steam Musem

You might think a museum of waterworks sounds rather dull. But Victorian London excelled in the creation of excellent waterworks - Bazalgette’s huge sewers, fine pumping stations and public fountains - and it’s a heritage that deserves celebration, and gets it at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum.
The museum is set in a superb Victorian pumping […]

By Andrea -- 0 comments

June 12th, 2008

Visit City Hall

City Hall is one of London’s ‘new’ landmarks, a curvy blob on the South Bank that houses the London Assembly.
Designed by Foster & Partners, the building is a tilted glass globe, which purposely has no ‘front’ or ‘back’ - it’s a democratic shape, which can be seen from any perspective. Equally, it’s an energy efficient […]

By Andrea -- 2 comments

June 12th, 2008

Free London

A piece in the Guardian today shows ways you can have fun in London for free, with activities as diverse as gigs, knitting, free movies, and watching a trial at the Old Bailey.
Many of the best museums - including the biggest ones - are free, and so is one of my favourites, the Sir John […]

By Andrea -- 1 comment

June 9th, 2008

Travel tip: The Tower of London

 
The Tower of London is one of the compulsory stops on a tour of London. It’s the oldest complete building in London - parts of it going back to the Normans - with a long and frequently bloody history.
There’s a lot to see, and a lot to learn about it. So make sure you take […]

By Andrea -- 0 comments

June 2nd, 2008

Modern icons - the Goldfinger House

Don’t get too excited. This is nothing at all to do with James Bond.
The Goldfinger in question was leading modernist architect Arno Goldfinger, who built this as his own house in 1939. Look at the horrid half-timber semis being built at the same date all over North London, and you can see just how revolutionary […]

By Andrea -- 0 comments

May 26th, 2008

Walthamstow greyhound stadium to close

When I lived in Stoke Newington I got to know the North Circular pretty well. One of the great sights just off that road was the Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium, with its illuminated facade redolent of the fairground.
A night at the greyhounds isn’t my preferred entertainment, to be honest. I’d rather see a play or an […]

By Andrea -- 8 comments

May 17th, 2008

Effigies of Kings at Westminster Abbey

One of my favourite museums in London is the one I consider the most truly macabre. It’s not the London Dungeon or a torture chamber in the Tower - it’s the museum at Westminster Abbey with its funeral effigies of English Kings.
There seems to have been a tradition of displaying the monarch’s body openly in […]

By Andrea -- 0 comments

April 13th, 2008

Big Ben’s Birthday

Big Ben recently celebrated his birthday -  and so I thought it was time for a post on possibly the most famous of all London icons.
Lots of people call the big clock tower of the Houses of Parliament ‘Big Ben’. But this is wrong; it’s the bell, all 13 tons or so, which is called […]

By Andrea -- 1 comment

February 14th, 2008

London Wetland Centre

You probably don’t think of London as a great place for a wildlife holiday. But the London Wetland Centre offers a chance to go on safari through the reed beds and pools, spotting both native and migrant birds, with a fair number of other interesting creatures.
It’s worth visiting several times in the year, if […]

By Andrea -- 0 comments

February 12th, 2008

Valentine’s Day - a tale of two cities

The Romantic City - I’m in lurve
You can’t have failed to notice that Valentine’s day is coming up. And if you’re in love, and want to show it, what could be nicer - London can be one of the most romantic cities in the world.
Now you could, if you wanted to, take a Valentine’s trip […]

By Andrea -- 2 comments

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