Craig Cross's Blog, page 9

London blog: Roman bath

This Roman Bath is a bit too piddly to warrant a standalone review (it will only take you ten minutes), so I'm going to combine it with a few bits and pieces in the surrounding streets. If you visit them all together then it turns into an interesting little walk. Let's start with the art-deco Adelphi. If you enjoy old paintings of the Thames then you might have spied the original Adelphi on the waterfront. It was a big building that used to overlook the Victoria Embankment Gardens. Only it...

London blog: Victoria Embankment Gardens

There's a solid fog this morning. I was going to take some photos but I'd need a blow torch to clear it, so I've decided to mope around Victoria Embankment Gardens for a bit. I love this little park. It might even be my favourite park in London. I don't know why, because it's nothing special -- it's just a nice little place to walk through instead of pinballing past the people on the Strand. I always think it's too crowded down there, so I use it as a shortcut past the people. The only...

London blog: St. Michael Paternoster Royal

This tiny little church was Dick Whittington's local. He used to live next door. (We're talking about the 1390s, around the time of Richard II, so it looked totally different back then -- it was rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London.) I always feel a bit sorry for Dick because he did about as much good as it's possible for one man to do: he opened an almshouse for the poor, a new school for the kids, refurbished the dilapidated old gaol for the ne'er-do-wells -- and what...

London blog: St. Mary-le-Bow

A lot of London's churches were like a layer cake. They'd have an original crypt from 900 years ago, then a burnt out sponge in the middle (courtesy of the Great Fire of London), topped off with some decorative icing by Christopher Wren. Then the greedy Luftwaffe came along and devoured them in a single night. St. Mary-le-Bow is exactly like that. Wren's outer walls and tower sit on top of an 11th-century crypt, and the rest was rebuilt after the Blitz. It's most famous object is the Great...

London blog: Gabriel's Wharf

Imagine if a load of old art students had set up their own little village on a windswept bit of rock five miles off the Irish coast, pounded with wind and rain everyday, and the only people who visited it were wandering tourists and seagulls looking for somewhere to sit. They'd have shops selling knobbly logs of art, and patio statues whittled out of driftwood from the beach. Another shop would be selling pictures made out of seashells and string. Another one would be fashioning clothes out...

London blog: All Hallows by the Tower

If you've ever prayed to God for protection then don't bother. Visit All Hallows by the Tower and witness the destruction that he's rained upon it over the last five hundred years. This church has been wrecked more times than me. The first one dated back to 675 AD, but really came to prominence after William the Conqueror built the Tower of London next-door. When they began executing people on Tower Hill they used to bring their headless bodies over here for temporary burial. In 1650...

London blog: Christmas lights

We're lucky in London because we always have plenty of Christmas lights up for six weeks at least. We're those nutty neighbours who tack up three bazillion bulbs to the front of their house and plant an army of plastic Santas on their lawn. Every lamppost has some fairy lights on it. Every taxi wraps a balding bit of tinsel around their aerial. And even the beggars get into the seasonal spirit by scrawling Ho Ho Ho on their cardboard 'give me some money' signs. I'm standing down Oxford...

London blog: Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland pops up every year in the eastern half of the park. It always reminds me of a big prison camp, all bordered off behind big metal fences with gates and checkpoints and security searches. When you walk up to it you can see giant candy canes poking over the top, like guard towers, and huge Ferris wheels and fluttering flags and funfair rides jutting up above the wall. (I think I probably watch too many World War II movies.) The stalls are very nicely done. It...

London blog: Original Bus Tour

Can of Coke... check. Gloves, coat and scarf... check. Been down the bank to take out a loan so I can afford to buy a ticket... check. Okay, I'm ready to go. There are three big bus tour companies in London: the Original Bus Tour, Big Bus Tours and Golden Tours, and the Original Bus Tour is the most popular. They offer a few different routes, but unfortunately there's no one route that encompasses every major landmark, so whichever one you choose you're going to miss some places out. If you...

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 dresses up in red tails and shiny shoes at Christmas, with a bit of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra on the speakers -- proper chestnut tunes. When you step inside from Piccadilly it's all posh chocolates and teas, with decorated tables full of sugarcoated bon-bons, stone-sized toffee chunks, and slabs of fudge as big as bricks. Tin biscuit-caddies with shortbreads and savouries; huge wooden advent calendars...