London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [21]
The Queen’s Gallery displays only a selection from the Royal Collection in themed exhibitions, while more than 3,000 objects reside in museums and galleries in the United Kingdom and abroad: check out the National Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Museum of London, and the British Museum. TIP The E-gallery provides an interactive electronic version of the collection, allowing the user to open lockets, remove a sword from its scabbard, or take apart the tulip vases. It’s probably the closest you could get to eyeing practically every diamond in the sovereign’s glittering diadem. | Buckingham Palace, Buckingham Palace Rd., St. James’s | SW1A 1AA | 020/7766–7301 | www.royal.gov.uk | £8.50 with free audio guide, joint ticket with Royal Mews £15 | Daily 10–5:30; last admission 4:30 | Victoria, St. James’s Park, Green Park.
Fodor’s Choice | St. James’s Park.
With three palaces at its borders (the Palace of Westminster, the Tudor St. James’s Palace, and Buckingham Palace), St. James’s Park is acclaimed as the most royal of the royal parks. It’s London’s smallest, most ornamental park, as well as the oldest; once marshy water meadows, the land was acquired by Henry VIII in 1532 as a royal deer-hunting park (with dueling and sword fights forbidden); the public was always allowed access. James I improved the land and installed an aviary and zoo (complete with crocodiles). Charles II (after his exile in France, where he admired Louis XIV’s formal Versailles Palace landscapes) had formal gardens laid out, with avenues, fruit orchards, and a canal. Lawns were grazed by goats, sheep, and deer, although in the 18th century it became a different kind of hunting ground, for wealthy lotharios looking to pick up nighttime escorts. In the early 19th century John Nash redesigned the landscape in a more naturalistic, romantic style, and if you gaze down the lake toward Buckingham Palace, you can believe you are on a country estate.
A large population of water fowl—including pelicans, geese, ducks, and swans (which belong to the Queen)—breed on and around Duck Island at the east end of the lake, while well-fed squirrels hop about on the grass. From April to September, the deck chairs (charge levied) come out for the longer days, crammed with office workers lunching while being serenaded by music from the bandstands. One of the best times to stroll the leafy walkways is after dark, with Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament rising above the floodlighted lake. The popular Inn the Park restaurant is a wood-and-glass pavilion with a turf roof that blends in beautifully with the surrounding landscape; it’s a good stopping place for a meal or a snack on a nice day. | The Mall or Horse Guards approach, or Birdcage Walk, St. James’s | SW1A | www.royalparks.gov.uk | Daily 5 am–midnight | St. James’s Park, Westminster.
The Supreme Court.
Officially opened by the Queen in 2009, the Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal in the UK. Housed in the carefully restored Middlesex Guildhall, visitors are welcome to pop in (for free) and look at the three courtrooms, including the impressive Court Room 1, on the second floor, with its magnificent carved wood ceiling. There is a café downstairs. | Parliament Square, Westminster | SW1P | 0207/960–1500 | www.supremecourt.gov.uk | Free | 9:30–4:30 weekdays.
Fodor’s Choice | Tate Britain.
The stately neoclassical building may not be as ambitious as its sibling Tate Modern on the south bank, but Tate Britain’s bright galleries lure only a fraction of the Modern’s crowds. A great place for exploring British art from 1500 to the present, the Tate Britain also hosts the annual Turner Prize exhibition, with its accompanying furor over the state of contemporary art, from about October to January each year. First opened in 1897, funded by the sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate, the museum includes the Linbury Galleries on the lower floors, which stage temporary