Planning a trip to the UK, hoping to spend at least 5 days in London, but would also like to get to Oxford for a couple of days to visit my daughter who is currently studying there.
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The British Museum is one of the largest museums in the world, comparable only to the Louvre in Paris and the Met in New York. Established around 1750, the British Museum originated with Sir Hans Sloane's 'Cabinet of Curiosities' which he donated to the nation. It's now London's most visited attraction with over seven million objects and a wealth of world history - from Egyptian mummies to Roman sculptures, the Greek Parthenon marbles and the Persian Oxus Treasure thanks to the British Empire's history of conquering distant countries - there is ongoing controversy about whether some of these treasures should now be returned to where they came from. But this is no dull, dusty cupboard of old bits and pieces. The British Museum has a wide-ranging program of talks, films, family events, activities for kids, cafes and an excellent shop. The museum is housed in an imposing Greek Revival building dating from the 1850s.
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The National Gallery started out quite small. In 1824, the British government purchased a collection of 38 pictures from a wealthy banker and put them on display in his townhouse, but it didn't take long for private donations to come trickling in. The early directors dreamed of something bigger, and a larger site was soon needed to house everything the gallery would contain. Today, the collection is kept in an impressive pantheon-style building raised on a terrace atop Trafalgar Square, with its round fountains and double-decker buses flowing by below. More than 2,300 masterworks have found their home behind the columns of the National Gallery, dating from the Middle Ages through the 20th century and including pieces from big names such as Monet, van Gogh, da Vinci, Holbein, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Ruben and van Eyck.
3
Piccadilly Circus is the meeting place of many of London's most famous roads. Here beautiful Regent Street shopping heaven, famous Piccadilly Fortnum and Mason's, The Ritz, the Royal Academy of Art, and cultural Shaftsbury Avenue intersect. In the middle of it all is the famous 1893 statue of Eros, the winged messenger of love, which commemorates Lord Shaftesbury. The circus was originally created as part of a plan to connect Carlton House, the home of the Prince Regent who became King George IV in 1820, to Regent's Park. When Shaftesbury Avenue was created in 1885, the area became busy with traffic and advertisers saw the potential for advertising in 1895 London's first illuminated billboards were put up in Piccadilly Circus. For the next century it was London's version of Times Square but now only one building carries billboards. For history buffs, the name Piccadilly dates from the 17th century and comes from piccadill, a type of collar or ruff.
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Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837. Most impressive are the State Rooms, which form the heart of the working palace. They are lavishly furnished with treasures from the Royal Collection and adorned with paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer and Canaletto. Also see exquisite examples of S'vres porcelain and some of the finest English and French furniture in the world. Outside, marvel at the ceremonious Changing of the Guard.
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Westminster Palace, home to the British Houses of Parliament, is right on the river Thames. A magnificent Neo-Gothic building dating from 1840, it's most recognizable from the clock tower at one end known as Big Ben. In fact, Big Ben is actually the bell inside the tower. Parliament is made up of two houses the House of Commons and the House of Lords and both have their meeting chambers inside here. It is possible to sit and watch from the Visitors' Gallery if you like seeing grown men taunting each other with bad jokes. Once a year, the Queen puts on her crown, sits on her Throne in the House of Lords and officially opens Parliament.
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Westminster Abbey has long been the worshipping place for kings and queens and has a rich history. Since 1066 it's been the coronation church - 38 Kings and Queens of England have been crowned here. Queen Elizabeth II was married here, Princess Diana's funeral was held here. And seventeen monarchs are buried here. The abbey is full of art and monuments to soldiers, statesmen, artists and poets including Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
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From the awe-inspiring dinosaur skeletons to the fascinating creepy-crawlies gallery, London's Natural History Museum is a trove of curiosities sure to impress all ages. The gigantic museum dates back to 1881 and houses some 70 million specimens, organized into four color-coded discovery zones and hundreds of interactive exhibitions. As well as learning about human biology and evolution marveling over fossils and rocks and seeing a life-size model of a blue whale, visitors can experience an earthquake simulator, challenge themselves with interactive quizzes and get up close to birds, flowers and insects in the wildlife garden. Notable highlights include a huge Diplodocus skeleton and an animatronic T-Rex in the Dinosaurs Gallery the mind-boggling taxonomy collection in the Darwin Centre and the Human Evolution Gallery, home to the first adult Neanderthal skull ever discovered.
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From steam locomotives to space travel, to cutting-edge science experiments, London'snbsp Science Museum is one of the city's most engaging and interactive museums, offering a fun introduction to science for all ages. With over 300,000 items on display and 7 floors of exhibitions, there are endless learning opportunities, including children's discovery zones, hands-on experiments and multi-media displays.Star exhibits of the Science Museum include Stephenson's Rocket, James Watson's DNA model, the ?Puffing Billy' steam locomotive, the world's first jet engine and the Apollo 10 command capsule. Additional highlights include a fascinating collection of medical artifacts and instruments the world's oldest display of clocks and watches a Spacelab 2 X-ray telescope and an I-MAX 3D cinema.
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The Tower of London is old, very old. The central White Tower was built by William the Conqueror after his invasion of England in 1066. Since 1485, the iconic red and black-uniformed Beefeaters have been guarding the Tower. Also crucial to security are the ravens. Superstition has it that if the ravens leave, the Monarchy will fall. Consequently at least six pampered ravens are kept in residence at all times.
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Tower Bridge is one of the most iconic sights in London. It was opened in 1894, designed to echo the nearby Tower of London although the two have no association except proximity. The bridge is a bascule bridge which means the span lifts to allow ships and yachts through headed for the Pool of London, the port area just upstream of Tower Bridge. River traffic takes priority over road traffic and cars have to wait when a boat wants to come through. The bridge has two high towers suspended by wires from the land and linked by a high-level walkway between. This was designed for pedestrians to be able to cross the river even when the bridge was open and you can still walk across it today. A common confusion is that Tower Bridge is actually called London Bridge but in fact that is the next one upstream, a much plainer bridge.
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