Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Both properties are now owned by the Handel House Museum, although only
Handel's former home is currently open to the public. It's been meticulously restored
to its Georgian prime with period fixtures, fittings, and fabrics. Exhibits include two
antique harpsichords, various scores, and a canopied bedroom from 1720.
Classical recitals are given every Thursday (plus the occasional Tues), between
6:30 and 7:30pm and cost £9 (£5 for students). The program is mainly Handel favor-
ites played by harpsichordists, baroque quartets, and the like, although Hendrix tunes
(done in a classical style) crop up occasionally.
25 Brook St., W1.
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020/7495-1685.
www.handelhouse.org. Admission £5 adults, £4.50 students and
seniors, £2 children 5-15. Free for children 4 and under, and all children on Sat and Sun. Tues-Sat 10am-
6pm (until 8pm Thurs); Sun noon-6pm. Tube: Bond St.
Hunterian Museum
MUSEUM The shiny cases and cabinets of the Hunte-
rian may give it a superficially modern, antiseptic feel, but this is a collection with its
roots firmly in the past—and gore very much at its heart. It's made up of medical
oddities and curiosities, most of them assembled in the late 18th century by John
Hunter, the physician to “mad” King George III, for the purposes of instructing
medical students. Bizarre highlights include various body parts pickled in jars (both
human and animal), gruesome-looking teaching models (such as the lacquered sys-
tems of arteries and veins stuck onto wooden boards), skeletons of “dwarfs” and
“giants,” and some horror-inducing items of surgical equipment. Its grimly fascinating
stuff. Free guided tours of the collection take place every Wednesday at 1pm.
Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2.
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020/7869-6560.
www.rcseng.ac.uk. Free
admission. Tues-Sat 10am-5pm. Tube: Holborn.
London Transport Museum
MUSEUM Arranged more or less chrono-
logically, this museum, housed in the swish glass-and-iron confines of Covent Gar-
den's former flower market, traces the history of the capital's transport network from
the days of steam and horse power to the green technologies of today. There are some
wonderful old contraptions on display, including a reconstruction of an 1829 omni-
bus, a steam locomotive that ran along the world's first underground railway, and
London's first trolleybus.
In addition to all the impressive hardware, the museum has displays on the
often-overlooked aesthetics of public transport, particularly the signs, posters, and
logos that together provided London Transport with such a clear graphic sensibil-
ity in the early 20th century. Perhaps the finest example of this is Harry Beck's
1931 London Tube map, one of the most distinctive and user-friendly pieces of
public design ever created.
There's lots of great stuff for kids here, too, including a hands-on gallery where they
can climb aboard miniature buses, trams, trains, and tubes, and trails to pick up at
the front desk.
Insider tip:
The £13.50 entrance fee entitles you to unlimited visits
over a 12-month period—hang on to your ticket.
Covent Garden Piazza, WC2.
&
020/7379-6344.
www.ltmuseum.co.uk. Admission £13.50 adults, £10
seniors and students, free for children 15 and under. Sat-Thurs 10am-6pm; Fri 11am-6pm (last admission
5:15pm). Tube: Covent Garden.
National Gallery
GALLERY Its collection may not be of quite the
same monumental scale as some of Europe's other great galleries, such as the Louvre,
the Prado, or the Uffizi, but for the sheer skill of its display and arrangement, the
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