London, England
I've had a love affair with London since I was a small child. Perhaps it's because at the time I knew the history of that city better than any other European city, save perhaps Athens. At one time I could recite all the names of the kings and queens of England in order, had read a half a dozen Dickens novels -- I wanted to see where Conan Doyle's
Holmes resided,
Fagin's den in Saffron Hill and where the Barretts of Wimpole Street lived. We wandered in the then sketchy districts around the old
Marshalsea, listened to rants at
Hyde Park's
Speakers' Corner, and watched the swans in
St. James.
London is still as exciting to me,
but now in a much more modern and edgy way -- as a multilayered
cosmopolitan metropolis in the throes of 21st century change.
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Recent travels

I have a kind of strange respect mixed with frustration when I think about
La Fromagerie, one of the best shops for French cheese in London. On the last day of a trip I went there with the intention of purchasing some Brie de Meaux, some real Camembert, and with any luck, a really good Epoisses to take back with me. (Customs officials, skip the next few paragraphs)
Okay, yes, they're illegal cheese here in the US. It's one of the more boneheaded regulations here in the states that treats young, perky raw milk cheeses as if they were heroin. Don't even get me started on the "sealed for your protection" mentality -- it drives me nuts. So there I am at La Fromagerie. I'm standing in a refrigerator the size of my living room and it's FULL OF CHEESE. Surrounded by wheels of Brie de Meaux, fantastic goat cheese nestled on straw mats, I think to myself I'd like one of everything.
I begin by asking for a wedge of Brie, and the
fromager, a Frenchman, asks will I be serving it tonight? Um, no... I say sheepishly. I'm actually going to be flying back to San Francisco (the whole thing is coming out now, I'm no good at lying) and I want to take back some cheese. Oh, says he, to San Francisco?
I'm screwed, he's going to tell me it's illegal.
"Oh no," he says, "The Brie I cannot sell you. It would be no good. You take it, it will be fifteen hours in a plane -- by the time you get there it will be a disaster, " his voice rising on "dee-sa-STAIR!"
He's not going to sell me the cheese because it won't be perfectly "a point" when I arrive in San Francisco??
"Non, non," he waves his hands with finality, "If I sell it to you it would be terrible, and you would say I sold you bad cheese. Non."
"But, but I
don't know anybody here. I live in San Francisco."
"It does not matter. You would say to people I didn't know what I was doing."
What, do
you think I'm the kind of crazy person who would purchase a wheel of
Brie and then get on the Web and post about the experience or something?
What about a log of the St. Maure? Non! An uncut wheel of the Vacherin? Non! A Charolais? A Chaource, you mean? No, a Charolais. Non!
In the end, I had to wait until he was occupied by another customer. I snagged his youngest looking assistant and bullied them into cutting me a bit of Brie de Nangis and took a bit of Berkswell, just to placate him.
Bottom line? The place to go if you want serious cheese.
Just don't tell him you're a cheese smuggler and practice your poker face.
2-4 Moxon Street, London W1U
4EW, Map
T 020 7935 0341
F 020 7935 6245
moxon@lafromagerie.co.uk |
- London always seems to have a dizzying amount of theater, dance and music events going on at any given time. I usually have a hard time picking, but TimeOut London can help you sort out what's playing when and where.
Theatremonkey,
a site maintained by a London theater junkie, also provides convenient
lists of all current shows, plus inside tips on which seats to book and
what the easiest way to get there might be.
- The
London Underground
has a number of "schemes" as they call them, that benefit visitors to the city. Often we just purchase a
TravelCard for the time we're there.
- As with most cities, you can also look into a museum/transportation card called the London PASS. Depending on what sorts of sights you plan to see, it can be economical.
But bear in mind that most of London's great museums, the British Museum,
the Tate, National Gallery, the Victoria & Albert, are always free.
Personally, I'd rather save my pounds and make a donation at the museum
itself. FOr a list of free museums in London, check out
Reid Bramblett's guide.
HOTELS

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Montague on the Gardens,
15 Montague Street, London, WC1
5BJ, Tel: (011-44) (0) 20 7637 1001, Fax: (011-44) (0) 20 7637 2516,
bookmt@rchmail.com,
www.redcarnationhotels.com. A lovely quiet boutique hotel in the
heart of Bloomsbury and quite close to the British Museum.
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Alhambra Hotel,
17 - 19 Argyle Street, Kings Cross,
London WC1H 8EJ, Telephone:
(011-44) 020 7 837 9575, Fax
(011-44) 020 7 916 2476,
reservations@alhambrahotel.com
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Miller's Residence,
111a Westbourne Grove, London W2 4UW, Tel: (011-44) (020) 7243 1024
Fax: (011-44) (020) 7243 1064,
enquiries@millersuk.com. A luxurious little antique hotel located
north of Hyde Park in the trendy Notting Hill.
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Garden Court Hotel,
30/31 Kensington Gardens Square,
London W2 4BG, Tel: (011-44) (0) 20 7229 2553,
info@gardencourthotel.co.uk.
A pleasantly appointed hotel in Bayswater, plus -- a
room in London for under $100??
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Fodors.com hotels
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EATS

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Borough Market,
8 Southwark Street, London, SE1
1TL, Set under a lacework of iron and glass, the oldest market in
Britain (a market existed on this site in 43 A.D. when the Romans sacked
London) trades in the best food in the country. A wonderful place
to shop or just wander on Friday afternoons or Saturdays.
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Neal's Yard Cheeses,
6 Park
Street, Borough Market, London SE1 9AB, Tel (011-44) (0)20 7645 3554,
retail@nealsyarddairy.co.uk, and also at 17 Shorts Gardens,
Covent Garden, London WC2H 9UP, Tel (011-44) (0)20 7240 5700,
coventgarden@nealsyarddairy.co.uk
All of the best cheese in the British Isles comes through this
shop. You can get some of the Neal's Yard cheese in the US, but
there's so much more...
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La Fromagerie,
2-4 Moxon Street, London W1U
4EW, Map,
Tel. (011-44) 020 7935 0341, Fax (011-44) 020 7935 6245,
moxon@lafromagerie.co.uk
(SEE SIDE BAR ========>)
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The Grand Divan at Simpson's-in-the-Strand,
The Strand, (011-44)
(0)20 7836 9112
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The cafe in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
Exhibition Road. In the back of the museum is the ornate Victorian
Gamble room, a terrifically decorative place for a cup of tea.
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The
Cafe
in the Crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields near Trafalgar also
makes an unusual but very pleasant and not pricey place to grab a bite.
Catch one of the
noon-time concerts in the church and then stay for tea.
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MUSEUMS
British Museum,Great
Russell Street, (0171) 636 1555 Tube: Tottenham Court Road, Russell
Square, Holborn.
British Library
National
Gallery, Trafalgar Sq. (0171) 839 3321. Charing Cross Leicester Square.
This wonderful gallery, founded in the West End in 1824, houses the
impressive National Collection of Paintings, which features more than 2,000
individual works.
National
Portrait Gallery, 2 St. Martin’s Pl, (0171) 306 0055. Charing Cross
Leicester Square. The National Portrait Gallery in the West End houses
portraits of famous people in British history from the Tudors to the present
day. Royal portraits painted through the ages remain popular, as does the
only known portrait of William Shakespeare.
Victoria & Albert Museum,
Cromwell Rd. (0171) 938 8500. Tube: South Kensington. The Victoria &
Albert Museum occupies a gorgeous facility near Kensington Gardens and
houses more than 4 million objects in 146 galleries highlighting cultures
from around the world.
Tate Museums,
Tate Britain, Millbank. (0171)
887 8000. Pimlico. Although the Tate Modern relieved some of its
parent’s most contemporary stock, the Tate Britain in Westminster boasts
some of the kingdom’s most choice works. Its robust holdings represent
British art from 1500 onwards and include items by Hogarth, Turner,
Constable, Blake, and Gainsborough. Tate Modern, 25 Sumner St,
Bankside. Tube: Southwark. After the Tate Modern opened its doors in the
South Bank to rave reviews, it became London’s latest not-to-be-missed
museum. With a spectacular selection of modern art - both well-known and
undiscovered - the Tate divides its collection into
Landscape/Matter/Environment, Still Life/Object, and Nude/Action/Body.
Somerset
House, The Strand, at Waterloo Bridge, (0171) 873 2526. Temple.
Built on the grounds of a Tudor palace, this grand 18th-century structure
now houses shops, restaurants, and three museums. The priceless
Courtauld Collections
of Old Master, Impressionist and
Post-Impressionist art along with items by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and
Turner. The Hermitage Rooms replicates the interior of the Winter Palace and
displays some of the St. Petersburg museum’s acquired works. The Gilbert
Collection features exquisite decorative arts, especially gold and silver
objects, enamel miniatures, and micromosaics.
Sir
John Soane Museum,13 Lincoln’s
Inn Fields, (0171) 405 2107. Tube: Holborn, Temple, Chancery Lane. Eccentric
architect of the Bank of England, Sir John Soane left his house to the
nation on condition nothing be changed, and the result is a phantasmagoria
of colors, perspectives, and artifacts.
Queen’s
Gallery, Buckingham Palace. (0171) 799 2331. St James’s Park or
Victoria, Green Park, or Hyde Park Corner. A selection of HM The Queen’s
valuable collection of paintings is on display in this gallery. Some of the
world’s most celebrated artists and artisans are represented, including
Dürer, Van Dyck, Monet, and Fabergé.
Barbican Art Gallery, Silk St,
Barbican Centre, level 3. (0171) 638 4141. Barbican. Although it’s said to
occupy one of the world’s ugliest buildings , this gallery in the City of
London hosts a variety of exhibitions dealing with historic and modern art.
The gallery presents a range of exhibits that concentrate on individual
artists, genres, themes, and the like.
Dalí
Universe, County Hall Gallery, Riverside Bldg, next to the London Eye,
just across Westminster Bridge from the Houses of Parliament. 20-7620-2720.
Tube: Westminster. Boasting more than 500 works, this permanent exhibition
in the South Bank area beautifully captures the curious, creative genius of
the world-famous Spanish surrealist. Individual pieces are set up within a
maze-like space, and as you browse, TVs and surround sound broadcast Dalí’s
movies as background ambience.
Dulwich
Picture Gallery, College Road, (0181) 693 5254. Designed by
Victorian architect Sir John Soane, the Dulwich Picture Gallery is a small
but unusually choice collection of old masters, including works by Poussin,
Claude, Rubens, Murillo, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Watteau, Gainsborough.
Originally assembled for the King of Poland in the 1790s, it was given a
home in Dulwich when Poland was partitioned.
Geffrye
Museum, Tube: Liverpool Street, Old Street. Accessible by bus, from
Liverpool Street Station to Kingsland Road, or a longish walk from Old St.
One of London’s hidden gems - though not easy to get to on public transport
- it's well worth the trip. Converted from a row of almshouses, it’s a
museum of interiors, with real rooms from every period of history (from
Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II), laid out as they would have been at the time.
A very good collection of 20th century interiors has just been added, as
well as a walled garden.
Wallace Collection, Manchester Sq,
Hertford House, Tube: Bond Street or Baker Street. (0171) 935 0687.
Occupying an elegant, 18th-century home in Mayfair, this superb but
overlooked museum was first opened to the public in 1900. Its stunning
collection includes 18th-century French paintings, sculpture, Sèvres
porcelains, Venetian glass, and miniatures. Among the artists whose works
you’ll encounter are Watteau, Fragonard, Boucher, Rembrandt, Rubens, and
Velázquez.
Westminster Abbey
Tower of London
Vinopolis
THE ODD PLACES
The
Whitechapel Bell Foundry is where the bells for Big Ben were struck, not to mention the Liberty Bell
itself. Do not ask for whom it tolls...
32/34 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1DY, UK.
Tel: (011-44) 020 7247 2599, Fax: (011-44) 020 7375 1979,
bells@whitechapelbellfoundry.co.uk
James Smith's umbrella and cane
shop is one of the oldest in London, and whether you're looking for the
latest German Knirps
foldable fiberglass umbrella, or a Malacca wood
ivory handled cane, this elegant place makes a great stop.
London's a literary Mecca,
and what better place to browse than the antique and vintage buyer's dream,
the
South Bank Book Market on the Queen's Walk between the National Film
Theatre's cafeteria and the foot of the Waterloo Bridge. Find out of print
books, as well as old magazines, maps and prints.
Leadenhall
Market, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London behind Lloyd’s, open
Mon-Fri. This covered market dates back to the 14th century. Among the
vendors are cheesemongers, butchers and fishmongers. The ornate structure,
painted green, maroon and cream, and cobbled floors of the current building
(designed in 1881 by Sir Horace Jones who was also the architect of
Billingsgate and Smithfield Markets), was used to represent the area of
London near the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley in the film Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Okay,
I can't not mention the little moss green
Freed of London
shop at 94 St. Martins Lane,
London WC2N 4AT,
Tel: (011-44) (0)20 7240 0432.
If you're a ballet dancer, this tiny shop, stuffed with walls of peach satin
clad instruments of torture is Mecca. Here you can actually get properly
fitted for a pair of pointe shoes, find your perfect maker, heck, you can
get your foot traced for your maker. (You can't meet your maker -- for that
you'd have to go to their Hackney factory workshop.) Freed still adheres to
a medieval system of years of apprenticeship that lead to a position as a
master cobbler. Each
cobbler marks his shoes on the sole with a symbol, and dancers
become almost unreasonably attached to their makers. Drama ensued recently
when it turned out that the popular Mr. J will be soon retiring. I
discovered on
this broadcast that Mr. Crown, whose shoes I used to wear, is named
"Raymond."
Anything Left-handed,
57 Brewer Street, W1, near Piccadilly Circus. This place's name pretty much
sums it all up --a south-paw's dream.
Looking for the ultimate
supply store for your project happy geek? Try
Labour and Wait, 18
Cheshire Street, in the East End at the Aldgate stop, below Bethnal Green
Road. Crystal radio kits, vintage styled kitchenware and a pleasing
assortment of gewgaws for anyone looking for the unusual.
Arthur Beale,
194 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2 (011-44) 020 7836 9034, near the Tottenham Court
Rd station. This well-supplied chandlery was established at the turn of the
last century, but has all you could need for a seafaring adventure.
Cufflinks -- why are they so impossible to find
here in the States? So why not try
Cuffs & Co?
(I didn't say they were all tasteful...)
30 Covent Garden Market, The Piazza, London
WC2E 8RE, Tel: (011-44) 020 7379 7889, or 4 Greenwich Market, Greenwich,
London SE10 9HZ, Tel: (011-44) 020 8465 5710
Yes, the
London Eye is
touristy, it's the most sedate Ferris wheel you'll ever ride ("Is it going
to start soon?" asks my husband, who is hoping for at least the mild
swing of the Roue de Paris.) But it's still one of the best views over the
Thames you can find.
ARTS
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