Top 20 Things
To Do In London England
Listings 16
to 20
What to do
in London?
16 (-) The Tate
Modern
Tate Modern is the
national gallery of international modern art for Britain sharing some
of the lime light with Tate Britain its older sibling. The Tate Modern
was born into the disused Bankside Power Station in North Southwark at
the turn of the century. It is hard to think of a more adapt use for such
a fine old landmark and a more appropriate location for such a powerful
art gallery.
The Tate Modern covers
all its bases from Fauvism onwards. Picasso and Matisse, Dali, Ernst and
Mirò are well represented. Their work is complimented by Pollock,
Naum Gabo and Giacometti and the Seagram Murals of Rothko. The Tate Modern's
youthfulness is its strength. It provides a wide range of material upon
which to feast for your eyeball. Enjoy the in-your-face Pop art including
works of Lichtenstein and Warhol. Take a deeper breath and allow your
mind meander through the fine Minimal and Conceptual works of art on display.
If you begin to feel
a little emotional or some sensory overload you can escape on to London’s
Southbank and take a walk down to the Thames and the Millennium Footbridge.
Admission to the Tate Modern is free so you can easily visit more than
once. A London
Pass will earn you a free audio-guide.
If you really want
to get on top and digest what you've seen you can. The Tate Modern possesses
a restaurant. Its on the roof. The views are just panoramic.
The Tate Boat
The Tate Boat is
great idea of getting you from one Tate Gallery to the other. That's Tate
Modern to Tate Britain or vice versa in one easy trip. You even get a
stop at the London Eye thrown in case you need to get over the Capital.
Any trip on the river has an almost guaranteed good idea stamp of approval
on it. A Tate to Tate cruise is Tateamount to brilliant.
(You'll find more
River Thames Cruises Below)
17 (30) Cabinet
War Rooms and Churchill Museum
 We
shall fight them in dark rooms underground - Cabinet War Rooms
The Churchill Museum
& Cabinet War Rooms are dedicated to the life of Sir Winston Churchill.
The secret underground headquarters were Churchill's command centre during
world war two.
The Churchill Museum
covers all ninety years of Winston Churchill’s life, divided into
five chapters: his early year’s as British Prime Minister starting
May 1940; his later years; his childhood; his early political career and
the period famously known as the ‘Gathering Storm’.
The Churchill Museum
uses cutting edge technology and unique media displays to chart the life
of Winston Churchill, including a fifteen metre long ‘Lifeline’,
which visitors can touch to access a digital ‘filing cabinet’
of Churchill’s life, categorised by time.
Winston's bed and
bedside cigar, sketches of Hitler, maps, taped phone conversations of
Churchill talking to FDR and old furniture. An historical smorgasbord.
This is for real. History on a knife edge. Great stuff.
The Cabinet War Rooms
are like a time capsule - buried and forgotten for sixty years. You can
almost feel what it must have been like. Fighting, not for political ideals
or oil, but for a nation's very survival. A landmark in time. The War
Rooms was where much of the action was orchestrated.
18 (38) Imperial
War Museum
I've tended to avoid
the Imperial War Museum in the past on a false assumption that it glorifies
war. A recent exhibit included the following Rudyard Kipling quote:
"If they ask
you why he died, tell them our fathers lied"
There is much to
see at the Imperial War and generally, it won't cost you a penny. If you
are a history buff time will pass pretty quickly so make sure you don't
miss the rest of Londinium.
The museum intelligently
presents its subject matter with many thought provoking themes and exhibits.
The past can come crashing down on you like a runaway train. There is
nothing new. We just recycle. The blitz families of London became experts
in recycling and perhaps demonstrate the true meaning of doing it tough.
See to what it means to really stretch the family budget.
The museums impressive
artillery protects the entrance a mere two stops from Westminster tube
and belies a more subtle and thought provoking interior.
19 (6) River Thames
Walk along it, over
it or ride on it. The River Thames gave birth to London so pay it its
due and spend some quality time together. The River Thames has served
London as an economic resource, a water highway, a boundary, a fresh water
source, also a source of food and more recently a leisure facility. In
1929 John Burns MP famously described the River Thames as "..liquid
history".
A decent river cruise
should give you Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Pauls, the Globe Theatre,
the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. If you go on a River
Thames cruise ask them, if you can, to point out London Beach by Tower
Bridge. This is where the locals used to go for a holiday. Now many locals
own properties in sunnier climes on the continent. However, the River
Thames Beach is still celebrated.
If walking I suggest
you do so from the south side as most of what's worth looking at is on
the North bank. Pick your day and time.
Cruise The River
Thames
 Old
Father Thames by boat
A Thames river cruise
is without doubt one of the best ways to see London, weaving through the
heart of the city you'll see the Cutty Sark, London's commercial hub,
Canary Wharf, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the retired battle-cruiser
- HMS Belfast; St Paul's Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe and the
Tate Modern. You also get a close view at Millennium Footbridge, controversially
constructed for the turn of the new century; and of course Westminster
Abbey and Big Ben.
20 (16) Hampton
Court Palace, London
 A
Big Pad For A Big Man - Hampton Court Palace
The flamboyant Henry
VIII is most associated with this majestic palace, which he extended and
developed after acquiring it in the 1520s. Its many royal occupants have
ensured the palace has fabulous furnishings, tapestries and paintings.
It is set in 60 acres of formal gardens, which include The Maze, The Great
Vine, The Pond Garden, The Fountain Garden, Long Water, The Mantegna Gallery
and the Broad Walk. There is so much to see at Hampton Court that you
shouldn't be expecting to do much else on the day.
The Hampton Court
Palace Maze
It would be trite
to call this 'an amazing maze' or 'the most famous maze in the history
of the world' but that does not appear to have stopped us. It's fun –
just do it.
Henry VIII's Great
Hall
The Great Hall is
England’s greatest medieval hall and staged the none other than
William Shakespeare in the early 1600s
Henry VIII - his
younger years
Before Henry’s
own personal obesity outbreak
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Top 100 Things To Do In London, England
