In addition to the most famous places like the National Gallery, the British Museum and Greenwich, the things to see in London are (almost) endless. Today, however, I want to suggest seven places to visit in London, leaving the usual “classic tours” of the city.
I would like to talk to you about these places with a logical sense, along with a valid route to follow (from west to east) that, if you are high walkers like me, you can also travel in one day without (or almost) take transport. Let’s start with the “Cabmen’s Shelter” in Thurloe Place. These are shelters where taxi drivers can stop for a break and eat something. There are only 13 left in the whole of London. In addition to the Thurloe place, I found one also in Notting Hill, more precisely at Kensington park road: smaller than the previous one, today
it has been converted into a café-bar open to the public. We continue this walk with Apsley house, called (also) “the number one”: this was, long time ago, the first building that people met by entering London from the west. It is located in Hyde Park corner, opposite the Wellington Arch, and today houses the Wellington Museum. It became a museum in 1852, the year of the death of Wellington (since 1947 the entire collection is owned by the United Kingdom).
The Duke of Wellington’s collection includes paintings, sculptures and various artefacts (including his death mask, silverware, ceramics and numerous medals and honours earned by the duke). The ticket costs 10 pounds, but for more detailed information, I refer you to the page of the website “English heritage” which deals with information about the museum. Today seeing it in the middle of the chaos of the city centre contrasts with the idea that once it was “the entrance” of the city. Located in Carting lane, a small street between Embankment and the Strand, there is a gas lamp which has a “story to tell”: it is perhaps the only lamp left among those that were built to vent the methane (explosive) that circulated in the sewers of the city. From 1950 it works on “normal gas”. What struck me personally is not the street lamp itself (it’s like many others), but the basic idea for which it was built: to illuminate the city using a gas that, if it had remained where it was (not used in any way) could have indeed caused many problems. Let’s go ahead, walking north-east to the British Library.
It was transferred to 96 Euston road, between the stations of King’s Cross and Euston, in 1998. Its realisation was the most expensive in the United Kingdom (£ 500 million). This is the main is the leading national library and retains, by press right, a copy of all UK publications.Here are also among the many historical documents, one of the last four copies of the Magna Carta and the handwritten texts of the first Beatles songs. The rooms to be seen in this library are different, in addition to temporary exhibitions that are set up (some with free admission, others with an entrance ticket).
The city of London always fascinates me a lot, has something that, for some reason, still attracts me and I love to walk through its streets. Today, with this post, I bring you in particular under what is called “Walkie Talkie“. Its name, in fact, coincides with its address (20 Fenchurch Street) and owes its nickname to its strange shape. Its inauguration has been postponed for several years (due to the 2008-2009 crisis) and was completed in the spring of 2014, and the attic with the gardens was opened in January 2015. With a height of 160 meters, it is the tallest building in the city. After a short time from the construction, they realised that its particular shape reflected the solar rays on the street below: for a certain period it was not possible to park the cars in the area in front of the entrance of the building. If you decide to take a walk through the streets of the City, I suggest you stop under the “Gerkin” (real name “30 St Mary Axe“), which also has copies in other cities (in Barcelona, for example).
Now I would continue the tour, and I bring you on the other side of the Thames, near Tower Bridge, to visit the “strange-shaped” building that houses the London City Hall. You will plainly recognise the building because its strange shape will surely catch your attention. The building is open from Monday to Friday until 5.30 pm and visits are free. As soon as you enter the doors there is control with a metal detector, rightly, but the row runs very fast (there were also few people), and you can visit the second floor and the “lower ground floor”. If you are not as unlucky as we were, that we have found a conference, you can also visit the hall where the municipal works are carried out and walk the helical “platform” that runs along the glass
walls and overlooking the river. I highly recommend you to visit it; I’m sure you will not regret it. On the lower ground (“LG” in the elevator) there is a canteen open to the public, but it wasn’t very inviting.
The last tip for this London tour is a walk under the Strata. The underground stop is “Elephant & Castle” along the northern line and to find it on google maps type “Strata SE1”. Opened in June 2010, it is 148 meters high (for 43 floors), and at the top, three turbines serve for the energy production of the building, so that it can be (at least partially) self-sufficient. Being a building of private apartments and offices it is not possible, of course, to visit it inside, but its architecture is striking also if you walk outside.