Just steps from Trafalgar Square has all manner of portraits of the great and famous of Britain.  They have thousands of portraits and much more and you can easily spend a day or more here, but there’s something here (which involves the pictured view) that’s fun and very enjoyable especially for those who only see London occasionally.   That’s having the traditional afternoon tea with this view of the city.  Now I must warn you that you need to book these seats WELL IN ADVANCE but we did it http://www.npg.org.uk/visit/shop-eat-drink/restaurant.php

and you can too.  You can have regular meals here, but for us the tea was a special deal.  AND THERE ARE ONLY A FEW TABLES WITH THE VIEW–SO YOU HAVE TO RESERVE THESE EVEN EARLIER FOR THAT SPECIAL TEA WITH LONDON AT YOU FEET.

Other things to see about Trafalgar Square

area of Chinese restaurants and shops,

Main artery of theater land.

A once theater changed into a church in 1855 with Jean Cocteau murals (1960).

Lined with book shops

National collection of art.

James GIbb’s masterpiece

U.S. “Colonial” style.

Trafalgar Square

Good for pigeon feeding and admiring the fountain

Entrance to the Mall (1910)

Site of an older theater, with a John Nash portico

Statue of Charlie Chaplin stands in the traffic free square

The Blue Posts

Pub on the site of a pick-up point for sedan chair in the 18th century.

“Three new bridges were opened over the Thames–Vauxhall, the first iron span, in 1816, Waterloo the following year and Southwark, in 1819.   London Bridge itself was rebuilt in 1831.”

And of course there are tours….

has a new section (this is British new, not USA) which for a few you can wander about on your own which as you can see above is full of all manner of décor to give memory of those who have departed this earth including a world famous bust of Karl Marx (where he and several other dictators–who requested to be buried with their communist founder–are buried).   But right across the street from the main entrance to new cemetery is the entrance to the old–check at the new entrance for times of tours and purchase your ticket there as well.  The old cemetery is less well kept than the new and because of a possible danger, the casual visitor is only allowed to come here on the tour…but the information and the memorials are a wonderful addition to your knowledge of London.  Point of interest during earlier days High Gate was said to have it’s own resident vampire.

Highgate is a bit further afield North of the Center–but is easily reached by the underground and a short walk.

Other things to see this far

Where the founder of psychoanalysis lived after fleeing Vienna and the Nazi occupation.

A Tudor gate house and part of a 12 century church

Gallery of contemporary art

There has been a settlement here since the early Middle ages.

A prison was built here where originally a monastery flourished until Henry VIII came along.  It was built to relieve over-crowding at Newgate..  Though it has been largely demolished there at still some of the original rooms in existence and they make up the museum, including the washhouse, basement kitchen and a few cell whose story are told in graphic detail.

Crafts of Britain.

“The London demand for high-quality ceramics of all kinds was such that the Staffordshire potter Joseph Wedgewood kept a permanent showroom in Soho.”

This is a site that is a trademark of London

and while many of you insists it’s London…

it’s really

and yes in the previous picture  you are walking along one of those two spas at the top you see here—and the view is amazing.  You also get to see the workings of this drawbridge and much more when you go to

which is a fun inside look at one of Major London’s Outside Sights.

And one more thing to do….go down to Southwark again and see a play

at the recreated

This round theater is galleried with a standing area at floor level, under the open sky.  There’s also a wonderful restaurant here with a view of the Thames.  (reservation is usually necessary as it is a popular spot for those attending plays)  The plays range all over the board, but we thought that the best option was Shakespeare whose plays were common in the original Globe…and saw The Taming of the Shrew in May of last year there.

“…at the age of 12 the sensitive boy (Charles Dickens) was sent to work at Warren’s blacking warehouse at Hungerford Stairs, where haring Cross station now stands and from which spot the Micawbers would emigrate to Australia.  Dickens loathed the dirty and  soul-destroying work and likewise loathed his supervisor, a youth called Bob Fagin.”

 

Check out the mothers that crushed it in 2016—one of them is a favorite of ours:  http://screenertv.com/television/2016-best-tv-moms-game-of-thrones-outlander-stranger-things-vikings/

and see what other member of the Outlander Cast is making it good–this time on PBS series:   http://www.refinery29.com/2017/01/135637/victoria-recap-season-one-premiere-episode-one

A discussion of one of Outlander’s early sex scenes—but probably not the ones you’re thinking about.  http://ew.com/article/2014/08/11/outlander-sex-scene/

“Henry VIII himself was persuaded to refound St Bartholomew’s  Hospital; his statue stand over the gateway to this day”

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“London was not, however to be spared the horrors attendant upon religious persecution.  In the last years of Henry VIII’s reign 25-year-old protestant (be not mistaken the people who did this were also protestants….she just didn’t meet their standards) Anne Askew was burned as a heretic at Smithfield in the presence of the Lord Mayor.”

“On becoming king in 1820 George IV went further still ordering the destruction of Carlton House after 30 years of non-stop embellishment and bamboozling parliament into paying for the refurbishment of what was to become Buckingham Palace.”