 24 Hours in London.....
If you have
only one full day in London, how should you spend your time?
What are the 'must see' landmarks that you can find time for
in a single day?
London Pride
Frank Mason
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If
you only have one full day to spend in London, but you want
to see as much as possible in the time, you will be spoilt for
choice. So how and where do you start?
Preparations
for Heavy Sightseeing
First of all, make sure that you are staying
overnight somewhere in or close to Central London. For example,
there are many reasonably priced small
hotels and B&Bs in
Victoria and Paddington, areas well served by both buses
and Underground.
The full English breakfast is
a great boon to visitors who don't want to waste too much time
eating lunch. If you eat the tradional cereal, eggs, bacon,
beans and toast, you will only need to eat a sandwich or something
similar at lunchtime.
If you are leaving London in
the late afternoon or evening and wonder what to do with your
luggage, don't forget that you can leave it in the left luggage
offices at major railway stations like Victoria and Paddington.
Sightseeing
Perhaps the best place to start is in Trafalgar
Square. There you can see Nelson's Column and visit
the National Gallery on the north side of the Square. Unless
you plan to spend many hours there, it is best to choose
a particular artist or period to see.
You might like
to see the Changing of the Guards at Horse Guards in Whitehall,
immediately south of Trafalgar Square. This ceremony takes
place daily at 11am. Afterwards, continue down Whitehall
to see the Houses of Parliament
and Westminster Abbey. If you go into the Abbey and look
at all the beautiful and historic things it contains, you
will spend at least an hour there.
If you book ahead, you can cross
Westminster Bridge and take a ride on the London
Eye, one of the capital's most popular attractions. Even
if you have tickets, you will probably still have to queue.
Alternatively, you can take a
bus from Parliament Square to the Tate
Gallery. Have lunch in its restaurant and then look at its
collection of Turners as well as many avant garde pieces.
When you leave there, turn right
out of the Tate and walk for a few minutes to Vauxhall Bridge
Road where you can get a bus to Victoria, just a few minutes
walk from Buckingham Palace,
the London home of the Queen. The Palace itself is only
open during the summer but the Royal
Mews, at the back of the Palace grounds accessed from
Lower Grosvenor Street, are open all year. Here you can
see the magnificent coaches and carriages used in State
ceremonial as well as working horses used to pull them.
If you still have some time and
energy left, you can see one of London's lesser known houses
- Spencer
House, just off St James's Place. It is only open on Sunday,
though. The house was once the home of the Spencers, Princess
Diana's family, but is now owned by RIT Capital Partners plc
who have undertaken extensive work to restore it to its former
glory.
Spencer House is just a short
distance from St
James's Palace, home of Prince Charles. You can only see
it from the outside, though, as it is not open to the publice.
Both of these buildings are a
short walk from Piccadilly Circus, famous for its statue of
Eros. Situated on the edge of Soho and with Regent Street and
Piccadilly radiating north and west, you can sit and rest in
one of the many fast food outlets or, better still, one of Soho's
small Italian or French coffee bars.
Copyright © 2002 by Carol
Fisher. All Rights Reserved
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