LONDON: News
The London Eye – London’s fourth highest structure is Britain’s most visited paid-for attraction and is now in the world’s Top 50 Attractions just behind the Statue of Liberty but ahead of the Taj Mahal
St Paul’s Cathedral – Top Brit artist and atheist Damien Hirst is unable to resolve his spiritual differences with the Cathedral that would allow his work to be exhibited as planned in the Church.
The British Museum – The Rosetta Stone that unlocked the meaning of hieroglyphic texts to the modern world has been a highlight of the Museum since its arrival in the early 19th century. Egyptian antiquarians are attempting to get it returned to Egypt but the Museum refuses to change its policy to allow it to go.
St Pancras International Station – once earmarked for demolition is now home of Eurostar and new Olympic connections and a tourist destination in its own right. Some nine million of the 45 million people passing through the rebuilt 1868 station each year arrive early just to take in its transformed majesty and maybe a glass of champagne in the longest bubbly bar in Europe.
University College London – whose alumni includes 20 Nobel Prize winners as well as Mahatma Ghandi and Ricky Gervais now ranks fourth in the QS World University Rankings above Oxford but below Harvard, Yale and Cambridge.
Kensington Palace - An upgrade to the Palace has been granted making the former home of Princess Diana, Princess Margaret and the birthplace of Queen Victoria more visitor-friendly.
Tate Modern – may see a new museum built beside it to house the thousands of objects of historical significance that still get regularly washed up on the banks of the tidal Thames. Elizabethan coins, buttons, 18th century pipes, and some even older pottery and spears would be exhibited on the river bank after they have been recorded at the Museum of London.
Royal Academy - See a new slant on a brilliant but complex master with the new exhibtion - The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters which runs fro 23 January - 18 April 2010
Crosby Hall - The first phase of the 15-year restoration of Sir Thomas More's 16th century Chelsea palace should be finished and open to the public in May
LONDON: Upcoming Events
East 2010 – A festival championing the best of East London takes place from 4th March to 9th March. See www.visitlondon.com/events/east/
The London Festival of Architecture 2010 - 19th June to 4th July. See www.newlondonarchitecture.org
Re-Opening of Leighton House – 3rd April 2010
One of London’s special private houses, Leighton House was the home of Victorian artist Frederic Leighton. Its opulent decorative scheme with Arab Hall, fabulous paintings and tiles is being restored to its former glory.
www.rbkc.gov.uk/Leightonhousemuseum/
SPECIAL REALONDON VISIT RECOMMENDATION:
The House Mill on Three Mills Island next to the London 2012 Olympic Park – the largest remaining tidal mill in the world is valued for its heritage and its future potential to generate hydro-electricity.
www.londonnet.co.uk/museums/housemillmuseum.html
Contact reaLondon for a guided tour of The Mills Island and the Mill itself
