Visit the 7000 pubs that link...
by SANVAN
Visit the 7000 pubs that link the city together. Almost every street has a pub and all the pubs have their own atmosphere. Visiting all 7000 is overdoing it but a few are certainly worth while. This is the Mitre located in Craven terrace just off Bayswater Road near Lancaster Gate Tube Station. I can recommend the Boddingtons Traditional ale. Some pubs serve this warm in summer due to the location of the cellar. The mitre has no problems with that and even during the hottest summer traditional are served just right. The food is good and in the evening you can enjoy the cellar bar where student play piano till closing time. For all you not familiar with the closing time let me enlighten you. From 11.00 till 23.00 on weekdays and Saturdays en from 12.00 till 23.00 on Sundays Apart from Bayswater the borough I liked the most was Greenwich Village. It is such an beautiful little place with so much to see and do.
Famous people
by Sjalen
If spotting famous people is your hobby, this is a good place to do it. I must admit to not knowing the exact address but this tower block is visible several blocks away. You will find it in the far end of Chelsea so follow the river from the Tate. When this photo was taken, famous residents included Michael Caine, Cilla Black and Robbie Williams...
St Mary le Strand
by iandsmith
The graceful baroque church of St Mary le Strand might have been less lovely to look at if Queen Anne had not died in 1714. For, at the time of building, St. Mary's was not supposed to have a steeple. Instead, the church was to have a 250 ft high column put up beside it with a statue of the queen on top. When she died and the project was scrapped and St. Mary's got its steeple after all. Obviously she was not in tune with the people's will.
Erected between 1714 and 1717, St. Mary le Strand was the work of the architect James Gibbs, whose reputation was made when its beauty and delicacy was widely acclaimed. The church was built to replace a much earlier version which stood a short distance away on the site of Somerset House. Thomas à Becket is said to have been a rector there.
The second St Mary's has several claims to fame of its own though. A large Maypole once stood on the green outside and although the original was destroyed by the Puritans in 1644, a new one was put up during the Restoration, much to the delight of the common folk. This in its turn was taken down in 1718 when it was bought by Sir Isaac Newton to support a telescope, supporting a different kind of vision.
More than thirty years later, in 1750, St. Mary's is said to have had a clandestine visitor in the shape of Prince Charles Edward, better known as 'Bonnie Prince Charlie'. The Prince allegedly renounced the Catholic faith and was received into the Church of England here during a secret five-day sojourn.
St. Mary le Strand also has a connection with Charles Dickens. According to the church registers, his parents John Dickens and Elizabeth Barrow were married here on June 13, 1809. An unusual and interesting church, St. Mary's has unfortunately been cut off from the surrounding streets by London's changing traffic system. This has left it looking rather forlorn on a little island in the middle of the road. Its exterior deserves better, but its interior is well worth dodging the taxis and buses to see. In particular it has an elaborate plasterwork ceiling which is best viewed through the mirrors left out at the back of the church.
St. Mary-le-Strand is the official church of the Women's Royal Naval Service, the Women's Royal Naval Reserve and the Association of Wrens. A Book of Remembrance records the names of members who have died in service from the First World War to the present day.
St. Mary le Strand is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 4 p.m. Sunday. Music recitals are given at 1.05 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.
2005 "Loo of the Year" at the Tower of London
by AKtravelers
Apparently, Londoners like to rate their restrooms (or loos, as they call them)(actually, it's kind of bizarre that we Americans call them restrooms, so who's to say?). I didn't know this until I rushed into a two-time winner of the "Loo of the Year" at the tower of London (2003 and 2005). I don't know how many loos the Tower has, but this one is the one closest to the entrance to the oldest structure in the palace and near the crown jewels. I must say, it is so impeccably clean I expect that's where the crown jewels themselves go for a pee. So, I heartly recommend stopping in the Tower of London restrooms on your visit, even if you don't have to go. And let me know if they defend their "Loo of the Year" crown in 2006, please!
Fork, knife and spoon
by Lutece
If staying in a hotel, they come in handy if you decide to get take away food or ready to eat foods from a grocers. The plastic cutlery just doesn't cut it (no pun intended) Just make sure you pack those in your checked luggage, not carry on.
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OVERPRICED AND NOT WORTH IT!
Door knocker, St James's
One of the many sculptures of horses in Camden.
John Nash, the architect
