Jeff and I visited London in 2003, so we were overdue to see the British capital. After an easy overnight flight we arrived at Heathrow on May 13th. We took a taxi to our hotel, dropped off our luggage, and went out to explore the neighborhood.
For this trip, we wanted to visit London’s wonderful museums and skip the typical tourist sights. Our first stop was the amazing Victoria & Albert Museum, one of our all-time favorites.
The V & A was officially opened in June 1857 by Queen Victoria. It’s one of the largest museums in the world with a vast collection of artifacts. It is impossible to see everything in one visit.
We saw art works from all over the world, including a Dale Chihuly glass sculpture hanging above the information desk. One room had casts of Michelangelo’s David and Donatello’s David among other sculptures. After walking around for a few hours, we had a delicious lunch in the ornately decorated cafe.
The Victoria & Albert is located across the street from the Natural History Museum. We read about the magnificent architecture of the building, so we walked over to take pictures of the impressive central hall.
Construction of the building was completed in 1881. The museum is the home of the Darwin Centre which has specimens collected by the scientist, Charles Darwin.
We enjoyed riding London’s double-decker buses. Traffic moved very slowly and there were many traffic lights, but sitting on the top level was fun.
We rode in the iconic black taxis known as Hackney carriages. Originally horse drawn, these vehicles have been transporting Londoners since the 17th century. Motorized vehicles replaced horse-drawn carriages in the early 1900s. Today, most of the taxis are still painted black but many Hackney carriages have bright-colored advertisements printed on their sides.
During the week, we also visited one of my favorite museums: The British Museum. It originally was a large private “collection of curiosities” owned by Sir Hans Sloane. The museum opened to the public in 1759.
The permanent collection of eight million works makes it one of the largest museums in the world. The round Reading Room was opened in 1857 for researchers. It closed in 1997 with the opening of the new British Library.
Today, visitors can walk through a small ground-level door to the Reading Room’s viewing area and imagine all the famous scholars who studied there.
One of the most exciting artifacts at the British Museum is The Rosetta Stone. The stele is inscribed with similar texts written in Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek. The texts were key to begin to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics by Jean-Francois Champollion in 1822.
The Egyptian and Assyrian collection at the museum is wonderful. The statues and artifacts rival those we saw at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
The British Museum is embroiled in a controversy regarding ownership of several important artifacts. Besides the Rosetta Stone which was found in Egypt, the Elgin Marbles, now referred to as the Parthenon Marbles, were removed from Greece.
One day we rode an Uber Boat on the Thames River from Westminster to Greenwich. We wanted to see the sights from the river, but locals use Uber Boats for daily commutes.
The London Eye is the world’s tallest “cantilevered observation wheel.” Originally called the Millennium Wheel when it opened in the year 2000, the structure is 443 feet tall. It looks like a giant bicycle wheel.
The Tower of London is an historic citadel and castle which was founded in 1066. It was used as a prison from 1100 until 1952. The complex also served as a royal residence during the 12th and 13th centuries.
My photo below shows how modern London is creeping closer to the Tower of London.
Since our hotel was in the West End, we saw two plays: “The Mousetrap” at St. Martins Theatre and “The Play That Goes Wrong” at the Duchess Theatre. Both were entertaining and a lot of fun.
The weather was perfect all week: sunny and 50/60 degrees. Many pedestrian bridges cross the Thames River and both sides of the river are lined with excellent walkways with many benches.
We crossed over to the Southbank to walk along the Thames. It was fun to people-watch and see the activities on the river.
The London Millennium Footbridge opened in 2000. It’s nicknamed the Wobbly Bridge because of excessive swaying. It was closed for two years for repairs and design modifications. We walked across the bridge and didn’t feel any swaying.
The beautiful Tower Bridge was officially opened in 1894. We crossed over on another beautiful sunny day.
The National Gallery is located on Trafalgar Square. The museum has a wonderful collection of paintings dating from the 13th to 20th centuries.
The collection at the National Gallery is relatively small but the artworks represent the major developments in Western painting.
Something new since our last visit to London are the controversial Pink Pedicabs. One journalist wrote, “Wearing hot pink neon furs and year-round Christmas lights, they announce themselves by blaring ‘Dancing Queen’. They clump together at the end of streets causing a colourful blockage.”
Our hotel was located in the West End of London, very close to Covent Garden, which has many restaurants and fun shops. This is also the location of the famous British Opera House.
An open-air fruit and vegetable market has been part of Covent Garden since 1654. The enclosed Jubilee Market was built in 1904. It was renovated and reopened as a shopping center in 1987.
On Saturday, the city burst into life! Hundreds of Crystal Palace football fans flooded the streets of Covent Garden wearing their team’s colors of red and blue. They filled the pubs, waved flags, lit smoke bombs, chanted, and cheered.
On The Strand, pro-Israel demonstrators peacefully sang songs and waved the Israeli flag.
Nearby, Palestinian demonstrators marched up the avenue and past the Israeli demonstrators.
Political Parties set up tables near Charing Cross train station.
On another day, we walked to The Globe Theatre located along the Thames River. An open-air theater was originally built nearby in 1599. The current theater is a replica of that building and was constructed in 1997 to feature Shakespeare’s plays.
We had a tasty lunch at The Swan next door to the Globe Theatre.
We also visited The Courtauld Institute of Art which is part of the University of London specializing in the history of art and conservation.
One afternoon, we rode a bus to Harrod’s Department Store. We explored the vast building, admired the huge food hall, and then had lunch at The Grill on Fifth.
The Tate Modern is housed in a former electrical power station. The building was converted to a modern and contemporary art museum which was opened on May 11, 2000 by Queen Elizabeth.
Tate Modern is one of the largest modern art museums in the world. The vast building is impressive.
There were several contemporary art exhibits which enriched their modern art collection.
Our week in London flew by! We had a wonderful time! We enjoyed exploring museums and neighborhoods in London. We ate very well – British, Chinese, Indian, Italian, etc. Next time we go to London, we’ll have to try riding The Tube.
