Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
bearing right until you reach St.
Bartholomew-the-Great, 6-9 Kinghorn
St., EC1 ( &   020/7606-5171; www.great
stbarts.com). Begun in 1123, this is one of
the best examples of large-scale Norman
architecture in the city. Admission is £4,
and it's open Monday through Friday
8:30am to 5pm, Saturday 10:30am to
4pm, and Sunday 8:30am to 8pm. Oppo-
site, St. Bartholomew's Hospital (“Barts”)
has a small Hospital Museum of medical
curiosities (North Wing, West Smithfield,
EC1; &   020/3465-5798; www.barts
andthelondon.nhs.uk). It's free, and open
Monday through Friday 10am to 4pm.
Guided tours of the collection are given
at 2pm on Fridays (£5).
Retrace your steps back down to
Ludgate Hill and continue east until
the glorious facade of St. Paul's
Cathedral (p. 111), surely the
city's finest church, looms into view. Pass
through the cathedral's churchyard onto
New Change, site of a major new shop-
ping center, One New Change (p. 151),
then right on Cheapside for St. Mary-
le-Bow ( &   020/7248-5139; www.
stmarylebow.co.uk), otherwise known as
the “Cockney Church”; to be a “true
Cockney,” you must be born within the
sound of its bells. First erected around
1,000 years ago, it was rebuilt by Sir
Christopher Wren following the Great
Fire and again, in the style of Wren, after
World War II. It's open Monday through
Friday 6:30am till 6pm; admission is free.
Continue east, then southeast down
King William Street, and finally east
along Eastcheap and Great Tower Street
to All-Hallows-by-the-Tower , Byward
Street, EC3 ( &   020/7481-2928; www.
allhallowsbythetower.org.uk), just down
the road from (and providing elevated
views over) the Tower of London. When
the first church was built here in the
7th century, the site had already been
in use for several centuries. You can see
Roman, Saxon, and medieval remains at
its small museum. The famous diarist
Samuel Pepys supposedly watched the
progress of the Great Fire from the
church's spire. Admission to the church
is free; a crypt museum tour costs £6.
Museum hours are Monday through Fri-
day 10am to 5:30pm, Saturday 10am to
5pm, and Sunday 1 to 5pm. The church
is open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm,
Saturday and Sunday 10am till 5pm,
From here it's a short walk east to
the nearest Tube station, Tower Hill.
4
social aspects—you can walk through “Sailor Town,” a reconstructed Victorian com-
munity—and the global implications of London's rise as a major trading city. The
more unsavory aspects of the subject are examined in “London: Sugar and Slavery,”
and there's also a dedicated hands-on kids' section by the entrance, “Mudlarks.”
West India Quay, E14. &   020/7001-9844. www.museumindocklands.org.uk. Free admission. Daily
10am-6pm. Tube: Canary Wharf/DLR: West India Quay.
V&A Museum of Childhood MUSEUM This branch of the Victoria &
Albert Museum specializes in historic toys. The variety of dolls alone is staggering;
some have such elaborate period costumes that you don't even want to think of the
price tags they would carry today. With the dolls come dollhouses, from simple cot-
tages to miniature mansions, complete with fireplaces, grand pianos, and kitchen
utensils. You'll also find optical toys, marionettes, puppets, board games from
throughout the ages, a considerable exhibit of soldiers and war toys, trains, and air-
craft, and a display of clothing and furniture relating to the social history of child-
hood. Of course, looking at toys, but not touching them, can prove frustrating for
 
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