London (Fodor's 2012) - Fodor's [4]
What It Costs
In London
In New York
Pair of theater tickets
£20–£70
$50–$200
Museum admission
Usually free; sometimes £4–£10
Usually $5–$20; sometimes free
Fast-food value meal
£4
$4
Tall latte
£2.15
$3.19
Pint of beer in a pub
£3 and up
$6 and up
1-mi taxi ride before tips
£5
$5
Subway ride within city center
£4 without Oyster or Travelcard
$2.25
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BRITISH MUSEUM
If you want to journey through time and space without leaving the confines of Bloomsbury, a visit to the British Museum holds hours of eye-catching artifacts from the world’s greatest civilizations, including the Elgin Marbles, the Rosetta Stone, and the Sutton Hoo treasure.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE
Not the prettiest royal residence, but a must-see for the glimpse it affords of the modern life of the monarchy. The opulence of the state rooms open to the public provides plenty of wow factor, and don’t forget the collection of china and carriages at the Queen’s Gallery and Royal Mews next door.
HAMPTON COURT PALACE
This collection of buildings and gardens so captivated Henry VIII that it became his favorite royal residence. Its Tudor charm, augmented by Wren’s touch, and a picturesque upstream Thames location make it a great day out—not even dour Oliver Cromwell, who moved here in 1653, could resist its charms.
LONDON’S CENTRAL PARKS
A whopping 25% of London is parkland, so it seems churlish to pick out just one in the middle of it all. The four central parks each have their own persona (but all are lovely): pick St. James’s Park for fairy-tale views; Green Park for hillocks and wide boulevards; Regent’s Park for its open-air theater and the London Zoo; and Hyde Park for rowing on the Serpentine Lido.
NATIONAL GALLERY
Whatever the collective noun is for a set of old masters—a palette? a canvas?—there are enough here to have the most casual art enthusiast cooing with admiration. When you’ve finished, enjoy pedestrianized Trafalgar Square on the doorstep of this collection.
SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE THEATRE
You can catch a Shakespeare play almost every night of the year in London. But standing in the Yard on a floor of leaves and sawdust in a scrupulously re-created version of the Tudor theater for which the Bard wrote is a genuine thrill.
ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL
No matter how many times you have been here before, the scale and elegance of Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece never fail to take the breath away. Climb the enormous dome, one of the world’s largest, to experience the freaky acoustics of the Whispering Gallery, and higher still to the Golden Gallery for far-reaching views across London.
TATE MODERN
More of an event than the average museum visit, Tate Modern, housed in the striking 1940s Bankside Power Station, is a hip and immensely successful feature of London’s artistic landscape. Passing judgment on the latest controversial temporary exhibit inside the giant turbine hall has become almost a civic duty among art-loving Londoners.
TOWER OF LONDON
The Tower is London at its majestic, idiosyncratic best. This is truly the heart of the kingdom—with foundations dating back nine centuries, every brick tells a story, and the ax-blows and fortunes that have risen and fallen within this turreted mini-city provide an inexhaustible supply of intrigue.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Steeped in history and tradition, the pillars of this great Christian edifice stand around the final resting place of the men and women who built Britain. The former monastery continues to play a role in the formation of the kingdom, with almost every sovereign being crowned at this site since 1066.
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