Craig Cross's Blog, page 18

London blog: Marble Arch

JNl5JtcwRBAIf you're expecting Marble Arch to compare with the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, or the Arch of Constantine in Rome, then forget it ��� you're going to be extremely disappointed. The best arch in London is Wellington Arch, at the top of Constitution Hill, but Marble Arch was never supposed to be anything other than the Queen's front gate. One hundred and seventy years ago (a bit before my time) Buckingham Palace was just three wings around a courtyard, and Marble Arch was the...

London blog: Hunterian Museum

This is one museum that I've never bothered with before, but I actually found it quite interesting. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it to tourists, though. It's more for medical students, I think, and for local Londoners who have seen all of the obvious attractions, and are searching around for something a bit different. It's basically a big collection of human bones and sliced-up animals. They pickle up bodies and stick them in a jar. They've dissected birds and bees (literally ��� even...

London blog: Christmas shopping, and festive markets

Fortnum & Mason is the closest that a shop ever gets to being a 5-star hotel. The staff dress up in red tails and shiny shoes at Christmas, with a bit of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra on the speakers -- proper Christmas music. When you step inside from Piccadilly it's all posh chocolates and teas. It's like Santa's sweet factory in there, with decorated tables full of sugar-coated bon-bons, stone-sized toffee chunks, and slabs of fudge as big as bricks. Glass bottles filled with colourful...

London blog: Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

The Hyde Park Winter Wonderland pops up every year in the eastern half of the park. It's a bit like an independent country, all bordered off behind big metal fences with fluttering flags and fairy lights. When you walk up to it you can see giant candy canes poking over the top, like guard towers, and huge Ferris wheels and funfair rides jutting up above the wall. The stalls are quite nicely done. We're not talking garden sheds from B&Q here, half-heartedly tarted up with tinsel and bows ���...

London blog: Waldorf Hilton

I thought I would really like the Waldorf Hilton, but do you know what? I don't think I do. I don't like the Waldorf (I'm very hard to please). But before I explain why, let me get all of the plaudits out of the way first. The location is great. It is situated right on the bend of Aldwych, five minutes from Trafalgar Square and two minutes from Covent Garden. You can even walk to St. Paul's if you're feeling energetic. Big Ben is walkable as well... so the location is pretty much perfect....

London blog: Coffee shops

I thought I'd just write a little something about coffee shops, because that's where I spend half of my life these days. I don't do posh coffee shops. I play it safe and stick with the big chains: Costa's, Caffe Nero and Starbucks. You only need to know one Italian word to get a drink in those places: 'latte'. I never include 'grande' or any of that other nonsense -- I stick with "a big latte please, mate". If they follow that up with "a grande latte?" then I say,...

London blog: Remembrance Day Parade, at the Cenotaph

You have to be a bit brave to attend the Remembrance Day Parade because a week before the date comes round the papers will start churning out scary stories about terrorists wanting to blow up the Queen. This year it's all about ISIS (they are the bad boys at the moment). Before them it was Al Qaeda, and before them it was the IRA. Before them it was probably someone else. Nothing bad ever happens of course, because with a whole army of coppers and soldiers in attendance it's probably the...

London blog: Staple Inn

This is not the kind of place that you'll bother with as a tourist because it's not good enough to visit on its own, but if you have nothing better to do on a rainy afternoon, and you fancy a walk down Holborn, then you'll be treated to one of the best buildings in The City. When you first clap eyes on it you'll think to yourself: 'There is no way that this is real'. You'll think that it's a Disney reconstruction or something like that; but believe it or not this is a genuine Tudor house...

London blog: Elvis exhibition at The O2

I don't mind a bit of Elvis. I've only recently "come out" about it though, because my mother liked Elvis the first time around, so that basically meant that I couldn't admit to liking him throughout my entire youth (throughout my entire life) -- because you can't like what your mother likes. But the truth is out now, so it's all right. They've got a big exhibition on at The O2 at the moment so I thought I'd go and have a look. It is actually inside The O2 itself, underneath the...

London blog: Roman bath

Before you get too excited... it's not really a Roman bath. It might not even be a bath, but that's what people call it (that's what they used to think it was). These days the experts have deduced that it's probably a 17th-century plunge pool for Arundel House... or a 17th-century water cistern... or part of a garden feature... or maybe a few other things... so basically they haven't got a clue. The only thing that they can definitely agree on is that it's not a Roman bath. That doesn't mean...