Minibreak: London

Overview

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Photo - London, England

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London is for walking: While the Tube is great for getting between far-off destination, London is best enjoyed on foot. Some of my favorite walks include: From the park at Kensington Palace down Embassy Row (at the end you can be rewarded with a coffee or a snack at Diana's Cafe); Kew Gardens is a long tube or boat ride from central London but this floral gem is worth the trip, especially for picnicking in nice weather; along the Thames by Parliment provides the best view of the governmental buildings; finally my special favorite Covent Garden with its street performers, numerous specialty shops, and general energy. Time for a s...Read More

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K West Hotel

Hotel | "K-West"

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The K-West is a trendy, modern hotel in London. Although it claims to be in Notting Hill, it is actually a confusing 10-15 minutes walk east. The rooms are very comfortable with wide plush beds, a couch, coffee table, desk. The bathrooms are fabulous with elegant dark colored decor and are fitted with luxury items including mixer taps! The only really tacky part of an otherwise chic hotel are the weird colored lighting in the hall ways--not weirder than the LCDs embedded in the walls of the hallway that are reminescent of microsoft screen savers. There is a spa in the basement (where many of the rooms are too!) as well as a hot tub. The breakfast is continental but offers a wide va...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on November 28, 2002

K West Hotel
RICHMOND WAY
London, England
44-207-674-1000

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British Museum

Attraction | "The British Museum: Special exhibits"

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After trying not to trip over the tourists crowding around the rosetta stone or biding our time looking at the Assyrians hunting down the last of the native lion population in the Middle East, it was finally time to enter the Agatha Christie archaeology special exhibit according to our timed tickets. While the rest of the museum is free to the public (donations requested), the special exhibits, which last only a few months, have ticket prices for 7 or 8 pounds for students and more for adults. Although the exhibit is "temporary," this is not obvious from the entrance (nor the entire exhibit) given the high quality of the presentation. The exhibit combines artifacts wi...Read More

After trying not to trip over the tourists crowding around the rosetta stone or biding our time looking at the Assyrians hunting down the last of the native lion population in the Middle East, it was finally time to enter the Agatha Christie archaeology special exhibit according to our timed tickets. While the rest of the museum is free to the public (donations requested), the special exhibits, which last only a few months, have ticket prices for 7 or 8 pounds for students and more for adults.

Although the exhibit is "temporary," this is not obvious from the entrance (nor the entire exhibit) given the high quality of the presentation. The exhibit combines artifacts with a variety of other media including, photographs, text from journal entries or news clipping, and film/video where available.

The Agatha Christie archaelogy exhibit was organized chronologically beginning with her first trip to the Middle East and ending with the death of her and her archeologist (2nd) husband. The exhibit begins with actual film advertisement for the Orient Express and some of Christie's luggage that she took with her. I hadn't realized before how long it took people to travel just 50+ years ago. I flew to Venice in 1.5 hours from London, but it took her several weeks(!) on the train to get there. Then it's another long trip to get from Venice to Cairo to other interesting places in Mesopotamia.

After that eye-opener, the story progressed with artifacts from mesopotamia, pictures, journal entries, photos, home video of her at the archaeological sites. Because of her fame already as a detective novelist, Christie was invited by the wife of the head archaeologist, a big fan, to visit the site. This is where Christie met her 2nd husband and how her archaeological journies continued. For fans of her books, they even trace the history and origins of several of her books that were written while she was there.

Where this special exhibit excelled, and I assume others do as well, was bringing to life a whole other side of a what we thought to be a well known subject. Using their excellent research abilities, and huge collections of artifacts, the curators of this exhibit took us to a different time and place making the familiar unfamiliar and the unfamiliar familiar. The exhibit took about 2 hours to go through (at least) and our only complaint was sore feet. A wheel chair would be great as the whole exhibit is quite accessible. Reservations (can be done over the web--be sure to bring the print out receipt!!!! or they won't give you the tickets--huge glitch in the system) are highly recommended. Many people avoid the exhibit for the cost, but in this case if you have the time to go, book ahead and enjoy--the special exhibits are definitely worth it.

Special note: This particular exhibit is over now, but check out the website to see what the current special exhibit is. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on February 21, 2003

British Museum
Great Russell Street
London, England WC1B 3DG
+44 (207) 7323 8299

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Royal Opera House

Attraction

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The Royal Opera House was recently renovated and is a beautiful setting for a wonderful evening. The seats are red plush and the decor inside is an elegant ivory, deep red, with gold trim. Tickets are available from the box office and even if the show is sold-out you can wait a few hours before the show for tickets that have been returned to be resold. There are also a certain number of seats held back and standing room available to students in the morning the day of the show. The Royal Ballet company is very enjoyable to watch with the most famous ballerina by far being Darcy Bussell. During December and January, the Nutcracker is performed and during the fall and spring the...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 6, 2002

Royal Opera House
Covent Garden
London, England WC2E 9DD
+44 20 7304 4000

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Kew Gardens

Attraction

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Kew Gardens is a fantastically large botanical spectacular just southwest of London accessible both by the subway or riverboat from Westminster Abbey. The park makes a fantastic day or half-day trip and is perfect for picnicking in nice weather. The park has several enormous green houses. The largest of the green houses is the two stories high Victorian Palm House. Built in the 1840s, it hosts a humid, tropical environment perfect for plants that would never be found native in England. Taking the old spiral metal staircase up to the top allows the visitor to walk the perimeter of the greenhouse to gain an aerial view which is quite enjoyable. Outside the Palm Ho...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 6, 2002

Kew Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens
London, England TW9 3AB
+44 20 8332 5655

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BBC Proms

Attraction

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BBC Proms concerts are on every night of the week from July-mid Sept and feature a different concert every night. Concerts range from classical symphonies to world-premieres by new composers to late-night concerts featuring jazz or choral music. You can order tickets ahead of time for a seat or you can join those promenading for a cheap (£4 in 2002) ticket for standing room in the gallery or the arena. The line for the arena is always longer and while most concerts start at 7pm or 7:30pm, you probably need to be in line by 3pm or 4pm to get a good seat in the gallery. There are signs marking the beginning of the queue for the arena and gallery outside the Royal Albert Hall. ...Read More

BBC Proms concerts are on every night of the week from July-mid Sept and feature a different concert every night. Concerts range from classical symphonies to world-premieres by new composers to late-night concerts featuring jazz or choral music. You can order tickets ahead of time for a seat or you can join those promenading for a cheap (£4 in 2002) ticket for standing room in the gallery or the arena.

The line for the arena is always longer and while most concerts start at 7pm or 7:30pm, you probably need to be in line by 3pm or 4pm to get a good seat in the gallery. There are signs marking the beginning of the queue for the arena and gallery outside the Royal Albert Hall. Those lucky enough to get in the arena stand (or sit on the floor if it's not too crowded) in front of the orchestra. There's a little lily pond in the middle with chairs around it but those not looking old or invalid will probably get stern looks if sitting there.

The gallery on the other hand is at the top of the enormous hall and wraps almost all the way around. This is my favorite area because there is plenty of room and people bring blankets and picnics up here even though there are signs asking you not to. If you get in line by 5pm before the 5:30pm after-work crowd arrives, you can usually be at the front end of the line and get a position in the gallery along the railing which gives you a good view of the entire hall during the concert. There are also toilets up in the gallery which are quite convenient.

Waiting in line for the concerts can be part of the fun if you bring an umbrella (to block too much sun or rain), a good book to read, a newspaper to sit on, and a good friend. The best concert I saw in 2002 was a perfomance of Mahler's 8th Symphony which is dubbed "symphony of a thousand" because with a huge orchestra and several hundred singers there were almost 800 people on the stage. The sound was enormous. This is the only time I wish I could have been in the arena instead of the gallery, although the concert was so incredibly popular that we got some of the last tickets for the gallery despite standing in line for over 2 hrs. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on December 6, 2002

BBC Proms
Royal Albert Hall
London, England

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National Gallery

Attraction | "National Gallery: Titian Exhibit"

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We visited the Titian Exhibit at the National Gallery. There is a special entrance to the left of the main entrance to the Gallery. There is also a charge (£6 for student for a timed-entry) per ticket to see this special exhibit in the basement of the National Gallery (no admission fee). The Titian exhibit brings together an impressive collection of the artist's work from around the world into one place. Some of the paintings (including a set of very large murals made for a room in a rich Duke's palace) have not been seen together in 500 years. The exhibit consisted of six rooms (at least 60 paintings in total). I was most impressed by the vivid colors he was able to produce...Read More

We visited the Titian Exhibit at the National Gallery. There is a special entrance to the left of the main entrance to the Gallery. There is also a charge (£6 for student for a timed-entry) per ticket to see this special exhibit in the basement of the National Gallery (no admission fee).

The Titian exhibit brings together an impressive collection of the artist's work from around the world into one place. Some of the paintings (including a set of very large murals made for a room in a rich Duke's palace) have not been seen together in 500 years. The exhibit consisted of six rooms (at least 60 paintings in total). I was most impressed by the vivid colors he was able to produce and also by the force of personality in the portaits he painted. Having read about him on the National Gallery's website before coming, I knew a bit of what to look for in the paintings and was able to impress my friends with little tidbits of knowledge (or art critic's speculation).

We spent about 1.5 hours in the exhibit. Even though there were timed tickets, the exhibit was quite crowded and it took quite a bit of time to work your way into the crowds in each room so you could see the paintings and read the explanatory cards on the wall. There were booklets of all the cards in large print available at the entrance but I left these for all the older people with poor vision. I ended up reading most of the cards to one of my friends who couldn't see them from behind the wall of people surrounding the paintings. Despite the crowds, the exhibit was quite entertaining. There is a small giftshop at the entrance/exit and a larger one upstairs where the ticket collection/sales/coat room is. There was also a 40- or 50-minute long film on Titian that was free to see but my friend saw part of it and said it was mostly just other artists giving their opinions on his work so we didn't stay to watch it.

The tickets can be purchased on-line for the exhibit at the National Gallery's website. It is helpful to bring a print-out of the email confirmation since they often ask for it even though you don't really need it. It is also possible to buy tickets at the museum but you will usually have to wait an hour or more to get in. Getting to the National Gallery is quite easy. Just take the tube to Charing Cross which is on the Bakerloo (brown) line.

Special note: This particular exhibit is over now, but check out the website to see what the current special exhibit is. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on April 12, 2003

National Gallery
Trafalgar Square
London, England WC2N 5DN
+44 (207) 747 2885

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Minibreak: London