Exciting, Historic, Vibrant, Busy, Fun – that’s London!

My second visit to London has been wonderful. I decided to stay near where I stayed last year and staying at Belsize Apartments has worked out really well. The owner Marc was so easy to deal with, all via email no deposit just pay when you get here. The apartment is a short tube ride into central London and great value especially as London accommodation prices can be horrific!

The first day was a busy one as I had purchased a London Passes and we needed to pick them up near Trafalgar Square. After a second visit to Westminster Abbey it was off to Buckingham Palace. The Palace is usually open each year when the Queen is in Scotland. We had tickets for the palace tour. This was an amazing place to visit.  This year is the 60^th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation and the tour has a Coronation theme. The tour takes you into about 12 fabulous state rooms and rooms where the wonderful Coronation dresses and uniforms are all on display. The room I enjoyed most was the ‘Picture Gallery’ where there are many great paintings by such artists as Rembrandt, Sir Peter Paul Rubens and some early works by Caravaggio and many other great masters. Like most tours in London you do get an audio head-set and this was essential for this tour and you were allowed to go at your own pace despite the huge number of people who do the Palace tour each day. A visit the Royal Mews at the palace is also a must and the famous gold Coronation Coach is magnificent.

 

At Trafalgar Square - some new modern art!

Buckingham Palace - after the tour.

Part of the gardens at Buckingham Palace.

 

A visit to London is not complete without a Thames River Cruise to Greenwich where international time has and is always set. Another must see is the Tower of London – this year we did a tour that the Beefeaters do regularly throughout the day. The guide we had was an excellent guide and real comedian – he made the tour interesting and very humorous. One thing I was unaware of is that two of King Henry VIII’s wives are buried at the Tower of London chapel, St Peter ad Vincula – they are Anne Boleyn & Catherine Howard, both are now buried under the alter.

Tower Bridge open with a yacht & a Tall Ship going through.

From the Royal Observatory at Greenwich looking towards Canary Wharf.

MH at the Tower of London.

A bit of fun in the gift shop at the Tower of London. You looked into a mirror and a crown appeared on your head!

 

A bit of silliness and lots of fun close to Leicester Square is ‘M & M World’. This is a large store. As you enter you are offered a large shopping basket and the whole place is fun. There are lots of huge M&M characters, some animated and of course you can buy just about anything, but all with an M&M theme and/or logo including clothing, souvenirs, plates, cups and yes M&M’s.

M&M World - lots of fun!

All the  M&M characters.

 

After the fun of M&M World we made our way to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery. Both were wonderful galleries and we saw just so many paintings by a huge number of great artists including two self-portraits by Rembrandt. There were two exhibitions on, one by Laura Knight at the portrait gallery and all her painting were wonderful. The other was Jonathan Yeo. Jonathan Yeo is an artist best known for his celebrity subjects. His sitters have been selected from the world of politics, media and the arts.

We discovered that you could do a Canal Tour on a ‘narrow boat’ in the centre of London. We went to Camden Town, not far from our apartment. Camden Town is an ancient market town and there is still an amazing market at the Camden Lock. We hopped on to Jason’s Canal Boat for a trip along the Regents Canal to a delightful place called Little Venice where there are many long-boats moored and where other companies do canal tours. The same day we went to St Paul’s Cathedral – this in truly the most magnificent building I have ever seen. We went to the Evensong Service and were fortunate enough to sit in the Choir seats near the choir. This was a wonderful service and well worth attending.

Camden Town Lock - where you get the boat from.

"Little Venice" the end of the Canal Tour,

There are some great museums in London and we did visit the London Museum and the Natural History Museum – both worth a look. We also decided to go to London Zoo – this is a wonderful zoo, but I did think our own zoos were just as good.

The West-End is full of theatres where you can see many shows. We decided to see two shows. Being an Agatha Christie fan I wanted to see ‘Mousetrap’ a show that has been running for 60 years. St Martin’s theatre is a smallish boutique theatre but was packed. MH was really keen to see a musical so we went and saw ‘Let it Be’ - a Beetles musical at the Savoy Theatre. We had great seats for this show – front row in the dress circle. This was a wonderful musical that showcased most of the Beetles songs. A visit to the West-End would not be complete without a great pub meal in a typical British Pub – they do a great roast beef!

"Let-It-Be" a great show!

 

On our last day in London we decided to go back into Westminster for a last look at the Houses of Parliament and walk along the Thames.

Along the south bank of the Thames.

 

The tube system in London has again proved to be a great way to get around. We could not help doing a comparison with the metro system in Paris. Our conclusion is that the London system is much cleaner and safer that the Paris system.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this visit to London – there is always something new to discover in this busy, crowed but exciting city.