ODE TO LONDON

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I guess being born 20 miles from a city makes you a little partisan, but I would like to assert that London is the best city in the world.



Yes it’s noisy and crowded and dirty…isn’t this part of what makes a great city? But it’s also exciting, surprising, fun and beautiful. In the style of all good travel websites I would like to propose my Top 10 best of London, based on our last week there:

1. Walk along the Thames embankments – it doesn’t matter where you start, a circuit from Westminster Bridge upstream to Tower Bridge downstream will give you all the main icons in one go.

2. A river cruise - most tourists do one of the many on offer downstream to the Thames barrier, but the best part of the river is upstream, through Kew, Richmond, along the course of the Oxford Cambridge boat race, past homes of the rich and famous, up to Hampton Court.

3. Art galleries and museums – the best are free; Tate Modern, Tate Britain, National Gallery, British Museum – all that beauty and information just there for the taking.

4. Markets – Camden; irrepressible, crass, colourful, touristy but still wonderful; Portobello Rd for antiques, vintage clothes and a long walk if you’re going to do it all; Borough market on the south bank for gourmet food that confirms Britain is part of Europe and not just the home of soggy fish + chips + mushy peas.

5. The tube! It’s like Marmite, you either love it or hate it, but the Underground is the best way to get around the city, people watch and practise your pole dancing. Get a 7 day pass with an Oyster Card and the city is your…oyster!

6. Go to a festival e.g. the Notting Hill carnival, packed with Londoners enjoying their own city.

7. Go to a west end show – if you’re not fussy which one, you can get last minute half price tickets.

8. Eating precincts – you can eat around the world in London – China Town in Soho before the theatre, Brick Lane to bargain for the best value and quality Indian, Borough market in Southwark to prove you don’t need to go to Spain to have paella, olives and jambon.

9. Southbank – choose a hotel here and you can walk to the river and the hub of tourist insanity – the big bicycle wheel in the sky they call the London Eye. Or be much smarter and take in a Shakespeare at The Globe.

10. Bridges - the Millennium walking bridge with its view of St Paul’s from one end and the Tate Modern from the other, Tower Bridge like two castles holding hands over the water, London Bridge that looks utilitarian by day but magical at night, Westminster that’s so jammed with gawking, picture taking tourists during the day it’s a health hazard to walk along. Also the more sedate bridges joining together the Thames villages upstream.



We left London for Paris, which many claim to be the best city in the world, particularly Parisians.

It’s certainly stunning - elegant buildings, organised, colour coordinated and beautiful, the Seine serine and well behaved, impressive monuments lined up along expansive boulevards, the Louvre, Musèe d’Orsay, the Pompidou (well…let’s not count that shall we…) the street corner cafes decorated with beautiful people being seen and scoring the passers-by.

Paris is self-assured and possibly smug. It doesn’t have the schizophrenic Jekyll and Hyde of London – the edginess where you feel anything could happen and probably will, but then come across families queuing happily on a hot afternoon just for an ice cream and the chance to sit in a pop-up sand pit and pretend they’re at the beach.

London…missing you already XXXX Hilary

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Photos

Jubilee Walkway
with the London Eye and Westminster in the background

that great Jubilee photo...
...on the southbank building

Westminster and Big Ben
... which is the bell, not the clock

London Embankments
icons all round

Globe Theatre
The wonderful reconstruction of Shakespeare's theatre forms the centrepiece of the Southbank

The fabulous millennium bridge
with London’s newest icon (not open till next year) the Shard on the right

Bridge with views
the Millennium walking bridge between the Tate Modern and St Paul’s Cathedral

Waterloo sunset
Whenever I gaze on
Waterloo sunset
I am in Paradise -
(Ray Davies, The Trogs)

London by night
with an illuminated London bridge

Richmond
upstream of London on the Thames river cruise

The Thames at Hampton Court
– our riverside lunch stop on the river cruise

Hampton Court
big, touristy, expensive and not on the National Trust list, so we just admired the outside

Thames river cruise
some of the boat houses - worth way more than our house

Modern apartments
housing the rich and famous along the Thames

Notting Hill carnival
part of the crazy, loud parade

A fuzz of London bobbies
at the Notting Hill carnival – friendly, helpful and fun

Notting Hill carnival
Crowds at Notting Hill

Camden High St
– an urban work of art

Borough Markets
on the Southbank – the best of epicurean Europe

Borough markets
Even Spanish jambon on the hoof

The Shard
– a new landmark for Southbank

Comments

[Jody]

Awesome!
You can never tire of London or the UK! It looks like you are having such an awesome time - I love to hear all about it enough it makes me miss London hugely! Enjoy Europe cheers Jody

[taracloud]

Great list!
Thanks for the list of your faves and fun photos--the panorama was especially impressive. I love that we all like such different things. I tended to walk any place (up to an hour away) because the tube was so expensive, but I visited Hampton Court (had a thing for Henry, Elizabeth and that crowd). Great to hear insider tips from a native--good show!

[flying kiwis]

the Tube
thanks Tara - the tube isn't expensive if you get a 7 day travel pass...best bought out of the UK in your own currency, or just at any major tube station. Then you feel like you're going through 'free' each time!

[margaret]

I see Rhys has developed very impresive calfe muscles,

[Journey of Echoes]

I dig it!
I liked your top 10! I just finished being in London for two days. (short trip I know) i got caught up in Amsterdam and didnt have much time once I got to London. I want to go back! London is definitely "Jekyll and Hyde" and I love it! =)