-
Royal Albert Hall
This huge, domed, redbrick amphitheatre adorned with a frieze of Minton tiles is Britain's most famous concert venue. The home of the BBC's Promenade Concerts (or 'Proms') every summer, it was ironically never meant to be a concert venue. Instead, this 1871 memorial to Queen Victoria's husband was intended as a hall of arts and sciences.
-
Royal Courts of Justice
Where the Strand joins Fleet St, you'll see the entrance to this gargantuan melange of Gothic spires, pinnacles and burnished Portland stone, designed by aspiring cathedral builder GE Street in 1874. (It took so much out of the architect that he died of a stroke shortly before its completion.)
-
Royal Geographical Society
A short distance to the east of the Royal Albert Hall is the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society, housed in a Queen Anne-style redbrick edifice (1874) easily identified by the statues of explorers David Livingstone and Ernest Shackleton outside. The entrance to the society is on Exhibition Rd.
-
Royal Hospital Chelsea
Designed by Christopher Wren, this superb structure was built in 1692 to provide shelter for ex-servicemen. Since the reign of Charles II, it has housed hundreds of war veterans, known as Chelsea Pensioners. They're fondly regarded as national treasures, and cut striking figures in the dark-blue greatcoats (in winter) or scarlet frock coats (in summer) that they wear on ceremonial occasions.
-
Royal Mews
South of the palace, the Royal Mews started life as a falconry but is now a working stable looking after the royals' immaculately groomed horses, along with the opulent vehicles the monarchy uses for getting from A to B. Highlights include the stunning gold coach of 1762, which has been used for every coronation since that of George III, and the Glass Coach of 1910, used for royal weddings.
-
Royal Observatory
In 1675 Charles II had the Royal Observatory built on a hill in the middle of the Greenwich Park, intending that astronomy be used to establish longitude at sea. The Octagon Room, designed by Wren, and the nearby Sextant Room are where John Flamsteed (1646-1719), the first astronomer royal, made his observations and calculations.
-
Royal Opera House
On the northeastern flank of the piazza is the gleaming, redeveloped - and practically new - Royal Opera House. Unique 'behind the scenes' tours take you through the venue, and let you experience the planning, excitement and hissy fits that take place before a performance at one of the world's busiest opera houses. As it's a working theatre, plans can change so you'd best call ahead. Of course, the best way to enjoy it is by seeing a performance.
-
Science Museum
This is one of the most progressive and accessible museums of its kind, and does a terrific job of bringing to lustrous life a subject that is often dull, dense and impenetrable for kids and adults alike. With five floors of interactive and educational exhibits, it's informative and entertaining and has something to snag the interest of every age group.
-
Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery may be a gentle-looking 1930s tea pavilion in the midst of the leafy Kensington Gardens, but it's one of London's edgiest contemporary art galleries. Artists including Damien Hirst, Andreas Gursky, Louise Bourgeois, Gabriel Orozco and Tomoko Takahashi have all exhibited here, and the gallery's huge windows beam natural light onto the pieces, making the space perfect for sculpture and interactive displays.
-
Serpentine Lake
Hyde Park is separated from Kensington Gardens by the squiggly L-shaped Serpentine lake, which was created when the Westbourne River was dammed in the 1730s. At Christmas, it's the site of a brass-balls swimming race, and in summer people like to rent pedalos. The latest attraction is a solar ferry (adult/child around £3 /1.50), going veeerry slowly from the boathouse to the Lido Café. It's in operation year-round they assure us, although we presume it must depend on the weather.
-
Advertisement
-
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe consists of the reconstructed Globe Theatre and, beneath it, an exhibition hall, entry to which includes a tour of the Globe Theatre except when matinees are being staged. Then the tour shifts to the nearby Rose Theatre. The exhibition focuses on Elizabethan London and stagecraft and the struggle to get the theatre rebuilt in the 20th century.
-
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Fans of the books will enjoy examining the three floors of reconstructed Victoriana, deerstalkers, burning candles, flickering grates, but may balk at the dodgy waxworks of Professor Moriarty and 'the Man with the Twisted Lip'. The only disappointment is the lack of material and information on Arthur Conan Doyle.
-
Sir John Soane's Museum
This little museum is one of the most atmospheric and fascinating sights in London. The building is the beautiful, bewitching home of architect Sir John Soane (1753-1837), which he left brimming with surprising effects and curiosities, and the museum represents his exquisite and eccentric taste.
-
Smithfield Market
Smithfield is central London's last surviving meat market. Its name derives from it being a smooth field where animals could be grazed, although its history is far from pastoral. Built on the site of the notorious St Bartholomew's fair, where witches were traditionally burned at the stake, this is where Scottish Independence leader William Wallace was executed in 1305 (there's a large plaque on the wall of St Bart's Hospital south of the market).
-
Somerset House
Passing beneath the arch towards this splendid Palladian masterpiece, it's hard to believe that the magnificent courtyard in front of you, with its 55 dancing fountains, was a car park for tax collectors up until a spectacular refurbishment in 2000. William Chambers designed the house in 1775 for royal societies and it now contains three fabulous museums.
-
Somerset House Museums
Somerset Houses contains three museums, of which the Courtauld Institute of Art (www.courtauld.ac.uk) is the best. Although it has several old masters, its speciality is impressionism and post-impressionism, with works by Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Monet, Matisse, Renoir and Van Gogh. The Hermitage Rooms (www.hermitagerooms.com) are an outpost of St Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum and are only as good as their current exhibition.
-
Southwark Cathedral
The earliest surviving part of this relatively small cathedral is the atmospheric retrochoir, which was part of the 13th-century Priory of St Mary Overie (from 'St Mary over the Water'). However, most of the building, including the nave, is Victorian.
-
Speakers' Corner
This is traditionally the spot for oratorical acrobatics and soapbox ranting. It's the only place in Britain where demonstrators can assemble without police permission, a concession granted in 1872 as a response to serious riots when 150,000 people gathered to demonstrate against the Sunday Trading Bill before Parliament.
-
Spencer House
Just outside the park, Spencer House was built for the first Earl Spencer, an ancestor of Princess Diana, in the Palladian style between 1756 and 1766. The Spencers moved out in 1927 and their grand family home was used as an office, until Lord Rothschild stepped in and returned it to its former glory in 1987 with an around £18 million restoration. Visits to the eight lavishly furnished rooms of the house are by guided tour only.
-
St Andrew Holborn
This church on the southeastern corner of Holborn Circus, first mentioned in the 10th century, was rebuilt by Wren in 1686 and was the largest of his parish churches. Even though the interior was bombed to smithereens during WWII, much of what you see inside today is original 17th century as it was brought from other churches.
-
Advertisement
-
St Bartholomew-the-Great
This spectacular Norman church dates from 1123, originally a part of the monastery of Augustinian Canons, but becoming the parish church of Smithfield in 1539 when King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. The authentic Norman arches, the weathered and blackened stone, the dark wood carvings and the low lighting lend this space an ancient calm - especially as you'll often be the only visitor.
-
St Bride's, Fleet Street
Rupert Murdoch might have frogmarched the newspaper industry out to Wapping in the 1980s, but this small church off Fleet St remains 'the journalists' church'. Candles were kept burning here for reporters John McCarthy and Terry Anderson during their years as hostages in Lebanon during the 1990s, and a memorial plaque here keeps tab of the growing number of journalists killed in Iraq.
-
St Clement Danes
This isn't the St Clements referred to in the famous 18th-century verse - that's St Clements Eastcheap in the City - but historical fact needn't get in the way of a good story, and the bells of this church chime the old tune every day. Wren designed the original building in 1682 but only fragments survived the Luftwaffe, and the church was rebuilt after the war as a memorial to allied airmen.
-
St George's Bloomsbury
Superbly restored in 2005, this Nicholas Hawksmoor church (1731) is distinguished by its classical portico of Corinthian capitals and a steeple that was inspired by the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. It is topped with a statue of George I in Roman dress.
-
St Giles-in-the-Fields
Built in what used to be countryside between the City and Westminster, St Giles church isn't much to look at but has an interesting history, while the area around St Giles High St had perhaps the worst reputation of any London quarter. The current structure is the third to stand on the site of an original chapel built in the 12th century to serve the leprosy hospital.
