Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Warhol. Head up Long Acre to
Covent Garden
(p. 71), the former fruit and
vegetable market, now full of shops, cafes, sandwich bars, and, often, street
entertainers. Treat yourself to a swift lunch break.
Wander along the
Strand
back to Trafalgar Square, and straight across and
up the
Mall
all the way to
Buckingham Palace
(p. 86). Stare at the guards-
men, and maybe even pose with one for a photo. Turn around and head into St.
James's Park where you can walk by the lake, coming out near Parliament
Square. Head across Westminster Bridge again, and walk along the river, past
the London Eye, and onto the South Bank arts area. Here is the 1950s grand
Royal Festival Hall
where you may be able to pick up good-priced tickets for
a play (which is likely to feature top stars). Whether you do or not, there may
well be free music in the foyer (which has a bar), or there are a number of other
places, mostly with outside tables, where you can relax with a glass of wine.
On
Day 2,
start at the world's most impressive city castle, the
Tower of
London
(p. 112). There's an hour-long guided tour by a Yeoman (a “Beefeater”)
plus exhibitions of Royal treasures, so allow 2 hours here. Afterward, walk out
onto Tower Bridge and marvel at the Victorian engineering feat. Turn back and
head down onto the embankment, past the Tower Hotel, and into St. Katherine
Docks. The old dock is now full of yachts and gin palaces, plus coffee houses
and restaurants. From St. Katherine's Pier hop aboard a river bus for the short
ride past the Tower, the South Bank, and the Savoy Hotel to Embankment Pier.
Hop off and walk up Charing Cross Road, full of old bookshops, and to the
British Museum
(p. 86). This is the mammoth home of one of the world's
greatest treasure-troves—much of it plundered from other parts of the globe
when Britannia ruled the waves. The most exciting of these treasures are the
Elgin Marbles, taken from Greece, and the Rosetta Stone, taken from Egypt.
You'll need at least 2 hours for the most cursory of visits.
Now walk east along Holborn and veer off into London's legal quarter, taking
in placid Lincoln's Inn Fields. Drop down onto Fleet Street, once home to Brit-
ain's newspaper industry, which has gorgeous views of St. Paul's Cathedral up
Ludgate Hill. This whole walk may take an hour. To bolster your energy levels,
pop into El Vino, a dark, old wine bar, once the Fleet Street haunt of journalists,
who are now outnumbered by lawyers.
St. Paul's,
masterpiece of architect Sir
Christopher Wren,
is your next stop
(p. 111). And you can get up to the dome,
for London views and nerve-jangling looks down to the ground.
Your work's almost done. Just wander down the footpath to the river and onto
the Millennium Bridge, a narrow footbridge, which has terrific views up and
down the river. On the other side is the
Tate Modern
(p. 154), a vast, brick
power station converted into one of the world's most exciting art museums. If
you have the energy you can have a walk around (it's free); if not, just poke your
nose in and retire to the riverfront cafe-bar for a drink, or maybe to the 7th-floor
restaurant for dinner with one of the best views in London.
Day 3: Windsor Castle
This is a perfect day trip, and calmer than the previous 2 days. Windsor and
Windsor Castle
(p. 199) are just half an hour's train ride from London's Water-
loo or Paddington. Windsor is a place the Queen loves, and she spends lots of
time here. There's pageantry to rival the Changing of the Guard ceremony at
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