A Visitor’s Guide to London, England

London, England, is best known for its swinging nightlife, bustling city, terrific shopping, and of course, a glimpse of royalty past and present. First time visitors will want to see all of the regular tourist spots as well as some of the less well publicized yet nevertheless exciting sights of the city.

First on our list of popular landmarks is the looming Big Ben— the hour bell on a tall clock tower that is as intrinsic to the city’s image as the pyramids are to Egypt—officially referred to as the Great Bell of Westminster. Big Ben is connected to the Palace of Westminster, which is home to the Houses of Parliament. If that catches your fancy, you’d definitely want to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace or any of the other palaces in the city. Tours of the various palaces are available and a viewing of the Queen’s Jewels in the Tower of London would be well worth it. Ghosthunters will have plenty of opportunities to pursue their passion as some of the palaces and old historical landmarks are reputed to be haunted.

Another must-see landmark is the Tower Bridge. At night, the tower is lit up and makes for some wonderful photo opportunities especially on those occasions when the bridge is being raised. Other landmarks worth visiting include Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, the London Eye, and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Literary enthusiasts may want to take a walk through the Old Curiosity Shop, which found global fame through Charles Dickens’ novel. The Shop can be found north of the Strand on Portsmouth Street. Tourists can also visit famous places like Baker Street (the residence of the fictional Sherlock Holmes) or see the areas where Karl Marx, Lenin, or Ho Chi Min once resided.

Lovers of debate and discourse have the opportunity to listen to impromptu soapbox speeches at Hyde Park or Nelson’s Square, or they could simply get their own box and relay their own views.

Of the manmade attractions, the two famous wax museums The London Dungeon and Madame Tussaud’s gather a great deal of interest. It’s better to pre-book a ticket online since queues at the entrance can be quite long. The London Dungeon features instruments of torture that were once used by the authorities on suspected criminals. Madame Tussaud’s is more family friendly with life-sized wax replicas of famous individuals.

London is also home to several museums. At least one that can’t be missed is The Natural History Museum, which bears one of the largest collections of insects, animals, fossils, rocks, minerals, and meteorites anywhere in the world. There are over 67 million items in total. Some of these include the skeleton and reconstruction of the now extinct dodo and a model of the Blue Whale and the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Shoppers can traipse through the myriad street stalls or visit the famous Harrods’s department store for all their needs and more. After a long day of touring and taking in the sights, visitors can while away their evening hours in one of the many cozy pubs or live it up at the flashy discos that are in equal abundance in the city.

A Place for All Thespians – Shakespeare’s Globe in London

 

Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the playing company of William Shakespeare, initially built the Globe Theater in 1599. After a fire cindered down the theater in 1613, another resurrection was done on the same place in 1614; this however, was shut down in 1642. The current modern “Shakespeare’s Globe” was constructed and opened in 1997, and is around 230 meters distant to the initial site.

 

The actors who worked for the Chamberlain’s Men also had shareholdings in it. Notably, Richard Burbage, and his brother Cuthbert Burbage, and John Heminges, Augustine Phillips, and Thomas Pope. Although the actual size of the original theater structure can’t be verified, it was said that it was almost a hundred feet in diameter and could seat over three thousand viewers. Later on, it has also been stipulated that it had a polygonal shape.

 

Where the base of the stage was located, there used to be a pit, where people could stand and see the shows if they paid a penny as the charge. These viewers were referred to as the Groundlings in those times, as they would eat groundnuts during the shows and threw the nutshells about. Many nutshells were even discovered during an excavation of the place. The remainder seating structure was in the form of three tiers, as seen in stadiums, and was relatively pricey compared to the standing room.

 

In the open-to-air yard, the rectangle shaped “apron stage” was placed and measured almost forty-three feet by twenty-seven feet, with a height of approximately five feet. The apron stage had a small door , which the performers could emerge from onto the stage through the “cellarage” underneath.

 

The large columns on both sides of the stage also carried a roof and the area was referred to as the “heavens”. This was painted with clouds and skies. There was a small hidden door here that would render performers able to sort of “descend” on to the stage, although with using ropes or other such supports. There was a “tiring” house backstage where the performers could prepare themselves before a show. There was also a balcony that could be either used to seat musicians or if required could be used for enacting the parts of a play, for instance, the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. All of these sections are reconstructed in the new Shakespeare’s Globe theater.

 

When you visit the the Shakespeare’s Theater, make sure you spend a few days at a London hotel. Millennium Hotel London Knightsbridge has much to offer a visitor and there’s no better way to relax at the end of a day of sightseeing than among the comforts of a high-grade hotel.