Mile End Walk
September 22, 2009 at 8:17 pm | In General, London, Out and About, Tourism, Travel, UK | 3 CommentsTags: Captain Cook, London, Mile End, Mile End Road, review, Stepney Green, Tour, Tourism, tourist, UK
A few months ago I heard about a guided walk around Mile End and jumped at the chance to have a wander along Mile End Road.
At Stepney Green tube I met our guide Derek, a group of retirees and my ozzie blogger mate who’d suggested the walk in the first place.
For the next hour or so we looped around the road and some of the surrounding streets, hearing about the history of the merchants, mariners and some of the buildings that still exist along the road as well as a few notable ones that had long gone, such as Captain’s Cook former home.
Eventually we made our way back to the tube station and said our farwells. For those who want to, you’re invited to lunch and then to walk around the first Jewish Cemetery in England and Queen Mary College.
I’m sure those would be interesting sites but the downside with the tour was it did drag on for a while, my only other criticism is that Mile End Road is heavily trafficked and as result it could be difficult to hear Derek.
Overall it was a worthwhile walk, providing an opportunity to see a part of London I wouldn’t have gone to or previously thought much about. For £2 it’s a great deal and Derek has clearly done a lot of research and is passionate about the subject. To find out when the next walk is (they’re infrequent) contact Derek on: derek AT terrahun DOT demon DOT co DO uk (stopping spam spider bots is horrible!).
Open House 2009
September 21, 2009 at 10:29 pm | In General, London, Out and About, Tourism, Travel, UK | Leave a CommentTags: 120 Fleet Street, architecture, Bow Church, Burlington House, Chartered Accountants' Hall, Free, HQS Wellington, Japanese Festival, Linnean Society, Lloyd's Building, London, Master Mariner, Model, open house, Pipers' City of London, Salvation Army, Society of Antiquaries, St Mary's, St Stephens, Tourism, tourist, walk
Every year many of London’s buildings that are normally closed to the public are opened up for a rare chance to see some classic gems as part of Open House. This year I went to:
St Stephens: A historic church located near Bank. It could have been interesting but sadly it didn’t seem open when we came by at 9:15 (opening hours started at 9). Perhaps we missed the entrance?
Lloyd’s:The iconic modern industrial high-rise in the City, home to Lloyds and numerous other traders. Normally when you visit you have to be smartly dressed and for men wearing a tie but not on this Saturday (Sunday it’s closed). The high atrium, external lifts and views of the city make this a worthwhile visit but it’s better to get here early as the queues can take a while. Probably no more than 30 minutes once you get in.
Japanese Festival: Nothing to do with Open House but this special one off event at Spitalfields Market was on the same day so I opted to detour off the itinerary to check it out. There were plenty of stalls serving food and other Japanese related products. Taiko drummers were performing energetically when I arrived and provided a soundtrack for my wander around. It looked like a pleasant day out with a number of families perusing the various activities and shops.
Chartered Accountants’ Hall: The Accountants’ Hall is, oddly enough, the home of the Institute of Chartered Accountants with a historic Victorian exterior, library and reception room blending with modern banqueting hall, restaurant and council chambers. A 15 minute tour provides an overview of the building and its history.
Pipers’ City of London: Located near Guildhall is the City’s marketing office and its scale model of London. It only takes 5 or 10 minutes to look at but it is quite cool to see the city in miniature with all of the proposed buildings on display. You can also choose specific buildings or categories and they’ll be illuminated.
St Mary’s – Bow Church: Another historic London church and this one was open. There were tours of the crypt and guides on tour to answer your questions. I took the opportunity to let the ambience soak in. However I only stayed for 15 minutes.
Salvation Army: The International Headquarters of the Salvation Army, located near Saint Pauls, had tours of their building every half hour. We missed the latest one so opted to have a wander around the basement cafe and small exhibit space instead. Obviously we didn’t get the most out of this building and I’d be interested to hear if anyone went on the tour.
120 Fleet Street: Formerly the Daily Express building (during the heyday of the newspaper industry on Fleet Street) is notable for its art deco foyer. You may have to wait in line for 5 minutes or so but with the 1920s style mouldings and design it’s worth it. Probably takes 5 – 10 minutes once inside.
Honourable Company of Master Mariners: Down near Temple tube station and moored in the Thames is the HQS Wellington, home to the Honourable Company of Master Mariners. A 40 minute guided tour of the vessel offers a background to the company, its tussels with the City of London and a history of the Wellington (named for the New Zealand City not the Admiral) and other ships. Interesting but a touch long.
Society of Antiquaries: Located inside Burlington House, the Society of Antiquaries while relatively small is home to an impressive library and imbues a sense of history and the preservation of knowledge onto this casual observer. Definitely one to look in on. 10 minutes.
Linnean Society: Also located within Burlington House, the Linnean Society does for biology what the Antiquaries does for museums and history. Again it has an interesting library although you can’t wander as extensively nor can you pick up random books to browse through. 10 minutes.
Open House is a great weekend but it’s important to have a plan to make sure you can see as many sites as possible during the weekend and try and avoid those that are normally open – unless they have a special tour or event on.
More photos at Flickr and a Google map.
Plus unrelated to Open House but still cool giant chess set in Trafalgar Square!
Thames Festival 2009
September 21, 2009 at 7:59 pm | In General, London, Out and About, Tourism, Travel, UK | Leave a CommentTags: London, Travel, Tourism, UK, Southwark, Tower Bridge, review, Westminster Bridge, Thames Festival
If you were visiting the Southbank of the River Thames over 12 – 13 September you may have been struck by the massive crowds that were wandering around for the annual Lord Mayor’s Thames Festival. Perfect blue skies and warm weather no doubt bolstered the numbers when I visited on Saturday. Sadly, I’d forgotten my camera so I’ll have to rely on my writing skills to paint a vivid picture.
Mmm that could pose a problem.
From Tower Bridge to Westminster Bridge there were numerous stalls with food, drink and random knick knacks etc for the discerning buyer, I mean tourist, to purchase. For the most part the food was quite diverse with Ethopian dishes alongside German sausage and strawberries and cream. Most stalls or variants thereof, were duplicated along the stretch of the walk.
Other than eating and more eating what was there to do? Not a lot during the day and even the eating wasn’t much of a draw.
On the Tower Bridge side there were some exhibits covering the environment, health and well-being of the river as well as a Korean display (cooking when we went past). Southwark bridge offered a unique eating experience – if you could push your way through the crowds – with the opportunity to eat on communal tables lining the bridge.
One particularly interesting event was the Flood Tide musical act, where sensors in the river were translated into notations for the assembled musicians and singers to perform. Quite chill and relaxing.
Night time may have offered a wider range of events with fire gardens, fireworks and parades but throughout the day it was a nice enough walk. That is as long as you’re ok with crowds and don’t suffer pedestrian rage. Just be prepared to take a few hours to get from A to B.
Will I go next year? Probably not but I may try and watch some of the evening events.
Tate Britain (Lates)
August 5, 2009 at 10:42 pm | In General, London, Out and About, Tourism, Travel, UK, museum | Leave a CommentTags: Art, culture, Free, Gallery, Lates, London, museum, review, shellac sisters, tate britain, Tourism, Travel, UK
May of you will know that I enjoy going to the odd late night opening and the Tate Britain was no different. Although it is regrettable that it’s taken so long to write about one of their late night events.
The Tate Britain was the Tate until that upstart Modern turned up. The gallery houses an impressive collection of art from 1500s onwards! It is presented in the same way as the National Portrait and Art galleries. So if staid frames and artworks along painted walls is your thing then you’ll feel right at home. It certainly worked for me and without knowing more I felt like I had become more cultured – just from the experience.
Now, that was the artwork – which you can see on any visit but what about the Lates?
For those new to the concept, basically, various museums in London will have extended hours one night a month that’s just for adults. So there’ll be entertainment, drinks and food.
For Tate Britain they had Courvoisier in attendance providing discounted cocktails (in an attempt to broaden the appeal of cognac - according to our server). However, you could only drink in a very small space, relative to the entire gallery area, as a result we found ourselves pacing around trying to finish our beverages and move on. This is similar to the Victoria and Albert’s Lates. I respect that they don’t want accidental spillage but perhaps they could widen the drinking area or have a few other ’safe zones’ throughout. I realise I sound like an alcoholic but if I wanted to just look at the art I’d come on a normal day but I chose to attend for a Lates experience.
Rant over.
Besides the bar area the main hub of the gallery was given over to a couple audio visual displays. Generally necessitating those who wanted to watch them all to sit on the floor. The Tate also held a variety of walks and talks but we weren’t able to make any of these.
Lastly there was musical entertainment in the form of the Shellac Sisters - a group of gramophone playing retro ladies. What we could hear of it echoing down the corridors seemed novel but every time we were actually in sight in seemed to be break time.
Overall I liked the artwork on display and found it satisfying. While the option to go Late is appealing I didn’t find the extra offerings compelling enough to recommend a late night visit. A regular day time trip should be fine.
The Grant Museum of Zoology
August 5, 2009 at 9:59 pm | In General, London, Out and About, Tourism, Travel, UK, museum | Leave a CommentTags: animal, euston, Free, grant museum, London, museum, review, Tourism, Travel, ucl, UK, university college london, zoology
Over at UCL (University College London), near Euston tube, in amongst all of the academic departments you’ll find the free Grant Museum of Zoology and its collection of animal specimens.
It’s well signposted so should be fairly easy to find on the campus however it is in a teaching building so you you’ll need to advise security when you enter in order to get buzzed through the barriers.
As the name suggests this smallish museum looks at the animal kingdom. Upon entering you’ll see rows of display cabinets and every other piece of available space seemingly filled with different specimens. While not dark and musty it is still atmospheric, a cross between modern student and Victorian collector.
The first part details the development of the collection and the influence of its subsequent curators. The second section (and bulk of the floorspace) is devoted to each of the classes with multiple examples (generally skeletons, some in jars) in the cabinets.
The overview panels in each area provide just enough information to enlighten without boring a general reader. Each specimen will have a name tag and a number will provide more in-depth information.
Besides the general museum goer you may come across students and artists drawing some of the specimens.
For those with an interest in zoology and don’t want to go to the natural history museum then this is an excellent option .
The Petrie museum is also located nearby within the UCL campus.
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