Andrea Kirkby:
Street Photography in the Frame
Street photography is very much in the news these days – grabbing photos on the run, aiming to express a spontaneous, candid, personal view of the city. It’s in many ways very modern – but of course in fact it’s been around for almost as long as photography itself.
Capturing the views other people don't care to... street photography is an important archive of the way we really live
An exhibition at the Museum of London uses street photography to help us understand the...
February 24th, 2011 | London | Read More
Wonderful Orchids at Kew
I’ve always loved orchids. They’re splendid flowers – though I have never managed to keep one alive in my house for more than a few weeks.
So Kew Gardens’ Tropical Extravaganza is a must-see for me. London is pretty grey and miserable, so the vivid colours and flashy patterns of orchids will cheer me up – and it’s pretty warm in the conservatory, too!
But the Tropical Extravaganza isn’t just about beautiful plants. It has a serious purpose as well, educating...
February 24th, 2011 | London | Read More
Where Do the Royal Family Actually Live?
One of the things I often get asked when I’m hosting foreign friends around London is “Where do the royal family actually live?”
Born in the purple - Queen Elizabeth II looks impressive in royal colours
It’s quite easy to say where they don’t live. For instance, they don’t live in the Tower of London – though the Crown Jewels do.
They don’t live at Hampton Court, the amazing palace that Henry VIII took over from Cardinal Wolsey, who built it. And although...
February 23rd, 2011 | London | Read More
Weekend Away: The New Forest
Dr Johnson might have said that when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life – but sometimes the city does get just that bit too busy, too frenetic, too much, really, and you want to head for the country to wind down.
The natural beauty of the New Forest
The New Forest is not a day trip for Londoners – it’s just that little bit too far – but it makes a great weekend destination. And despite its name, it’s not just trees that you can see there. In fact, the word...
February 20th, 2011 | London | Read More
Learn to Make Jewellery the Professional Way
Crafts are becoming more popular these days – partly because people are trying to beat the economic crunch by making their own clothes, furniture, and accessories, but also because, I think, many of us are looking for the satisfaction and pride that successful craft work can give.
All kinds of craft tuition is now available, from the ‘traditional’ evening class at a local college through to new-generation outfits such as The Make Lounge (map) and I Knit London (map) which I covered...
February 10th, 2011 | London | Read More
Valentine’s Day in London
Love Valentine's Day? I bet you do!
Still not decided what you’re doing on Valentine’s Day? London offers plenty of hotel packages, more or less imaginative depending on your taste. For instance, Hilton’s The Courthouse (map) offers not only a room, champagne, dinner, and breakfast, but a special showing of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ with as much popcorn as you can eat. And The Stafford (map) offers what I reckon is the most unusual romantic gesture –...
February 5th, 2011 | London | Read More
London Light – New Photo Book
One of the things that has always surprised me about London is how it only takes a tiny change in the light to turn it from dreary gray city to a mysteriously shining metropolis, or to make its buildings blaze with colour. Sunrise along the Thames, or dew shining on the grass in Regents Park, transform it totally.
The Thames barrier shining in the sunlight
Sandra Lousada’s book of photographs, London Light, takes this as its theme, and it shows London as we rarely see it. Many of the photos...
December 6th, 2010 | London | Read More
Exhibition: The Egyptian Book of the Dead
Ancient Egyptians believed they needed a guide through the shadowy land of the dead. Each one of them who could afford it paid for his or her guidebook. Now, the British Museum is hosting an exhibition on this route to the underworld – a fascinating and rather disturbing show.
A modern take on the Book of the Dead
The books contained not only guidance on the route to follow, but spells and incantations that would get the dead man through any difficulties – through police roadblocks, past...
November 27th, 2010 | London | Read More
Tyburn, London’s Most Gruesome Spot?
Traffic roars down the road towards Marble Arch. The other side of the road is Hyde Park. Few people here give a thought to the history of Tyburn; but if you want to hear a gruesome story, there’s no better place in London.
Tyburn was London’s place of execution. There were others – Smithfield saw more heretics burned, and the Tower saw a better class of prisoner (that was where the aristocracy would be beheaded), but Tyburn processed more criminals altogether.
It had better technology...
November 20th, 2010 | London | Read More
St James’s Piccadilly – a Church and a Market
St James’s Piccadilly is in many ways a surprising church. Not so much for its architecture – it’s a rather nice Wren church – as for its cultural activities.
This is a market full of surprises
For instance, it’s hosted all kinds of events focused on the environment and spirituality, including workshops on meditation, on ley lines and stone circles, on overtone chanting, and other subjects many Christians would dismiss as ‘pagan’ or ‘black magic’....
November 14th, 2010 | London | Read More
Strawberry Hill – A Dream of Gothick
Horace Walpole was a man of many parts. He was the son of Britain’s first Prime Minister, a spy, a writer of fairy tales, a collector of art, an art historian, and the inventor of the Gothick – a style which borrowed from medieval architecture to introduce into the too-civilised art of his day a taste for the barbaric and the picturesque. Strawberry Hill was his creation – a gothic castle-cum-palace-cum-villa which housed his marvellous collection of art and antiquities.
Sumptuous,...
November 6th, 2010 | London | Read More
St James’s Park – Autumn Wonder
St James’s Park is at its best in autumn. The trees are flaming with light, the leaves golden or red and falling already so that when you walk, they rustle around your feet.
A squirrel scuffles through the leaves looking for food
We’ve had the purple colchicums already, fragile leafless crocuses growing in drifts under the trees, so thin that a rainshower or a gust of wind will break their necks and lay their heads over in a sudden lilac massacre. A week or two, and they’re gone.
A...
November 1st, 2010 | London | Read More
Yumchaa – Tea With a Twist
You can pretty much divide the world up into classic and baroque, understated elegance versus dramatic colour. That’s true in architecture, music, painting – and in tea, as well.
Some people like their tea classical. They like it simple – green tea, Earl Grey perhaps – but as good as it can possibly be. A single pronounced flavour.
Other people like their tea with extra flavours – a drama in a teacup. These are the people who are just going to love Yumchaa.
I had a...
October 20th, 2010 | London | Read More
More on the Boris Bikes
This truck is supposed to redistribute the bikes. I haven't seen one yet.
Well, I thought the Boris Bike was a great idea. But on a recent trip I found out their limitations.
Getting a bike at St James’s Square was fine. I wanted to head for the river at Westminster, but there’s no docking station anywhere near the Houses of Parliament. Back to Victoria – as the other stations on the map are all in side streets I couldn’t find easily – and I was now nearly out of...
October 15th, 2010 | London | Read More
A Tube Map for London Cyclists
One of the difficulties of cycling in London is finding your way around. Cycle paths are often poorly marked, and wiggle around the mazes of the city’s back streets instead of striking out boldly from A to B. So when you’re planning a cycle trip, it’s not always easy to work out exactly how to get to your destination.
Now it’s been suggested that what London cyclists really need is a tube map – a map of cycle routes that’s as clear and well designed as Harry Beck’s...
October 10th, 2010 | London | Read More
Got a bike? Want a coffee? Look Mum No Hands!
I hate bicycle shops. They always smell faintly of rubber and oil, and there’s never anything to do while you’re waiting for your bike to be repaired, except look at bikes, bits of bikes, and bike accessories – which if you use your bike for commuting, rather than competing in the Tour de France, is not particularly stimulating.
A sad bicycle wheel is missing its bike...
Well Look Mum No Hands has changed all that. It’s a bike workshop that’s also a café, so while...
September 29th, 2010 | London | Read More
The Boris Bike
The “Boris bikes” have been in service a bit more than a month now, and I thought it was about time I saw how they were working out.
A stable of Boris-bikes await their riders
Now I have to declare an interest in that when I was commuting to the City and Oxford Street, I used to do it by bike more often than not. (Not when it was raining, but although it’s easy to forget it, that’s not all that often.) I used a big and heavy mountain bike, with 21 gears out of which I generally...
September 25th, 2010 | London | Read More
Follow in Hendrix’s Footsteps
The current style in hotels is cool and minimalist. But if it’s psychedelia you want, the Jimi Hendrix suite at the Cumberland delivers the vibe.
The Cumberland was Hendrix’s home from home – for conducting his numerous love affairs, but also as a sanctuary from the pressures of his celebrity. Now the hotel has opened a Jimi Hendrix suite on the fifth floor, decorated in flower-power Sixties style.
Zebra skin and bright purple and yellow paint, huge murals and a massive plasma...
September 24th, 2010 | London | Read More
Paramount – London from Above
London has been a bit short on restaurants with a view since the rotating restaurant at the top of the (then) Post Office Tower closed. But Paramount, at the top of Centre Point, lets you see the city from thirty-something floors up.
Keep going up... and then some!
And it’s been planned for the view, too, with a viewing gallery wrapped around the building, and wall-to-ceiling windows. From here, you have a view over Bloomsbury and the British Museum, towards the City in the East, and all...
September 20th, 2010 | London | Read More
Punk Posters at Haunch of Venison
It’s amazing to think that punk was more than thirty years ago. Johny Rotten now advertises Anchor butter, punk vinyl has become collectible, and we still haven’t got Anarchy in the UK.
Punk wasn’t just music – it was a style, a life, a religion. ‘Loud Flash’ at the Haunch of Venison features posters, record covers and fanzines collected by artist and designer Toby Mott. They’re amazingly direct, with their primary colours, ‘ransom note’ style...
September 18th, 2010 | London | Read More
How iStopOver Works
Recent Top Features
-
The United Nations Headquarters in NYC
The New York City Traveler—March 1, 2011
-
5 Great Los Angeles Hikes
The Los Angeles Guide—February 28, 2011
-
A Memorable Visit to the Saguaro National Park
The Phoenix Traveler—February 28, 2011
-
Five Reasons to Get Up and Go With Go City Cards
Rest of the World—February 28, 2011
-
What’s Stonehenge Like in Person?
The London Traveler—February 27, 2011
-
Visit Haunted London
The London Traveler—February 26, 2011
-
A Trip to Limelight Marketplace in NYC
The New York City Traveler—February 25, 2011
-
Family Fun At British Columbia’s Sun Peaks Resort
The Ski & Snowboard Guide—February 25, 2011
-
Where to Eat: Venice, Florida
The Culinary Travel Guide—February 24, 2011
-
The Beatles & More in Liverpool
The London Traveler—February 23, 2011