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There is so much I could write about London but I will steer well clear of the better known crowd pullers like The Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, and concentrate on lesser known venues that are likely to attract the electronic culture vultures of this world.
If you have some time on your hands, London has an excellent assortment of weird and wonderful museums which are well worth a visit. First on your list should be The Cabaret Mechanical Theatre, an amazing arty-crafty, slightly crazy type place in Covent Garden. Bizarre motorised animals and figures abound, which cannot be bought anywhere else on earth. Whatever else you decide to do in London, please please don’t miss this place.
The Design Museum, which was founded in 1989 with the intention of offering an insight into the role design plays in our everyday lives from the origins of mass production to the present day, has regularly changing exhibitions and displays. Then of course, there is the Tate Gallery, which contains national collections of British and Modern Art. Displayed here are many important Pre-Raphaelite paintings by artists such as Rossetti and Beata Beatrix. Look out for Holman Hunt’s Strayed Sheep, Millais’s Ophelia, Burne-Jones’s Beggar Maid, Waterhouse’s Lady of Shalott, and Hope by Watts.
If you are a night bird, the Brunswick Hotel, which is tucked away in an obscure corner of beautiful downtown London and better known to the locals as “The ‘Wick”, is the first stop for many newcomers to the city as well as being a gateway for local ‘up-and-coming’ musical acts. The Embassy, on the other hand, is downtown London’s largest independent alternative music venue, which has played host to a myriad of young bands.
History of the theatre buffs will no doubt love the Shakespeare Globe Theatre at Bankside, which originally opened in 1599, burned down in 1613, was immediately rebuilt, then finally closed its doors in 1642. After almost 400 years, and now 200 yards from its original site, the Globe opened to the public yet again. This time it was officially inaugurated by Her Majesty the Queen on Thursday 12 June 1997 and it has opened every season since.
All this is criminally brief treatment of cultural London but it does at least serve as a very basic introduction. Subjects such as the city’s restaurants, clubs and underground scene will just have to be left to future articles. In any case, London takes more than a day or two to investigate – it requires at least a lifetime.
Samet Bilir writes about technology trends, gardening, cooking and a lot of other things, such as large digital picture frames. To read more articles from him visit this website.
