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London Travel Guide
There are hundreds of other theaters thought it all over London, some of them large and famous, but theatrically speaking this is Londons West End. This is where you can see spectacular musicals, classy revivals of classic plays from the 1920s and 1930s, imported or homebred farce, the latest transfers from Broadway, and the mousetrap, which has been running in London for 45 years. The finest theaters in the West End were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the last great slum clearance in central London. As the rotten rat infested houses were pulled down impresarios rushed forward, checkbooks and hand, to grab the best sites. Between 1880 and 1913. The most ornate and beautiful of London's theaters opened: the London Pavilion, Balearic, the Princess, the palace, the Garrick, wyndham's, the Coliseum and many others. The Coliseum rivaled its Roman predecessor. When it opened, the stage had three revolving platforms to accommodate spectacles that included chariot races, a reenactment of the Derby, and elephants playing cricket. The proprietor, Oswald stoll, Leeward Sarah Bernhardt to the Coliseum to play Hamlet for 1000 pounds a week an enormous sum of money in 1910. After each night's performance, the Divine Sarah made stole paid her personally in gold.
The London Palladium
it used to be the ambition of every comedian, variety artist and singer from California, Caucasus to play the London Palladium. It is vast, built in 1910 on the site of henglers circus. Its most famous days as the home of variety and reviews. In the 1930s, it was the home of the crazy gang, a collection of British comedians headed by Bob Flanagan and Chesney Allen, much loved by Londoners for their mad, anarchic humor. And every Christmas time, barries Peter Pan was staged here. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Palladium became the showcase for the finest American talent: Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Frankie Laine, Bing Crosby, and hundreds more. Today, it's the venue for large-scale, bright, brash musicals.
Theatre Royal, drury Lane
for many Londoners, this is the finest theater in the capital. It's certainly the oldest still in use. The first theater on the site was destroyed by fire in 1672, with the loss of all its costumes and scenery. There were many fires in London in those days. Like so much of the capital, the theater was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. He was always a likely place. There was an attempted assassination of George III there in 1800. Lavish melodramas were staged, and spectacles with herds of elephants and troops of performing dogs. Despite the introduction of an irony safety curtain in 1794. wrens Theatre burnt down in 1809. Once again it was rebuilt, this time with funds provided by the London brewer Samuel Whitbread. For much of the early part of the 19th century, the stable diet for playgoers was a series of melodramas. It's a very beautiful theater, and if you can't afford a ticket, least penetrate the foyer. As far as the box office, and pretend you can.
Going to the theater
Theater tickets in the West End are expensive, though going to the theater isn't the dressy business. It was a couple of generations ago. Whatever the fashion world says, whatever devotees of Opera may insist, it's perfectly acceptable to go to almost any West End theater in smart casual and comfortable dress. How you behave when you go threre does matter. In the last 20 or 30 years theater goers have become more talkative and ever more prone to Russell packets of sweets, crisps or biscuits. It may be that, once they have become absorbed in a play, they forget that they are not at home watching television, and feel free to chat to each other about the plot, the characters and even the costings. It may be that they simply don't become absorbed in the play. Either way, actors would prefer audience to be respectively quiet. If the price of a ticket is intimidating, then it's worth paying to visit to the cut price ticket booth in leicester Square. You can't book for anything and advance, but you can pick up some half-price bargains on the day of the performance itself. Queues begin to form at the booth in the late afternoon, when the starling start to screech in the autumn, and when the setting sun's rays slant along Panton Street in the spring and early summer. Many London theaters are architecturally delightful, inside and out, particularly the fortune in Russell Street, the two theaters facing each other across the bottom of haymarket, her Majesty's and Haymarket Theatre, the Duke of York's in St. Martin's Lane, wyndhams and the garrick in charring cross road.
Tips for the traveler.
From a practical point of view, here are a few hints on traveling by London taxis. First, through the city, especially outside hotels and stations, they're a taxi ranks were taxis wait for passengers. At Heathrow Airport. There is also a separate rant for taxis operating a cab share scheme: passengers pay a standard fare for a trip in the central London within London that it is fairly easy to hail a cab by shouting or waving. It is usually worth hailing taxis on the opposite side of the road just for a quick demonstration of how London taxis can turn on a sixpence, and of how drivers are impervious to the sound of screeching tires and elbows on horns all around them. There are the easy bits; the difficult choice confronts you after settling into your seat. Do you try to strike up a conversation? Most London taxi drivers, particularly the older ones, love to talk. London social gatherings are formed for anecdotes about taxi drivers. The reason is not because the drivers can negotiate the the rabbit warren under the barbican; it's because, given the chance, cabbies never stop talking. Traffic, foreign policy, they miss people they have chauffeured, worksheet in the Canary Islands, why the wife has walked out, are all topics of conversation. Having a two-week conversation is almost out of the question. For one thing, the passenger can see only the back of the drivers had where the cabbie can see the passenger in his rearview mirror. And, for another, the driver can hear much because of the engine. What tends to happen is that he shouts a monologue over his shoulder through the statutory 6 inch gap in the glass partition, or the passenger makes feeble and ignore attempts to join in. Most cabs carry a notice that reads: thank you for not smoking. A cartoon in the secure call magazine Private eye, which had long-running column supposedly written by a cabbie. When the conversation or a journey is over, there is the matter of paying the fair. Displayed on a meter, it is shown usually as two separate amounts: an amount for the trip, plus a second amount for any extras. Additional passengers, luggage, traveling at certain times of the day or at weekends. Drivers don't expect enormous chips, though they claim they are taxed on an expectation of receiving 15% vote with their. They generally prefer around getting up of the fair by about 10 to 15% to the nearest 50 pence or 1 pound and they will occasionally huff about having to give change at busy periods, as it takes up their time. It is worth having the right money ready.
The double-decker.
No matter what happens, the big red vehicle just won't go away.
The red double-decker buses to London with the cable car is to San Francisco or the gondola to Venice. It's part of the fabric of the city. It is rather more than that: in the form of the traditional robe master, it is a mechanical miracle, introduced in 1959 and expected lifespan of 17 years and still on the road. Of 2825 originally built, 900 or going strong. They been threatened with the scrapheap many times. In 1970 London transport decided to phase out conductors. This meant facing in pay as you enter buses with driver operated doors, thus elevating the joys of hopping on and off the platform of a passing vehicle and of chatting with the conductor. Conductors survived, though in fewer numbers, and are still appreciated: indeed, in 1994. The Queen gave Dominican born Tony Severine, a conductor on the number 12 route from Dulwich to shepherds Bush, an honor standing for member of the British Empire for outstanding service to the traveling public.
Safety first.
In 1996, the European Union pronounce the open platforms were dangerous and that routremasters should be banned because of instability. Hypothesis rather than statistics supported this assertion. In a bid to prove their safety, London transport staff of the top deck of a boss, which was then quartered at a tilt of 40°. It didn't topple over. Routemasters have undoubted charisma. TV documentaries have been made about them, a 1963 feature movie starred one. And they have crossed deserts and confidence to continue life in all corners of the world. They are simply built with aluminum panels that can be bolted on and off, and the mechanics so simple that an engine change takes only seven hours. In 1992 at 10,000,000 pound refurbishment program began, to ensure routemasters were kept alive into the 21st century. A single innovation was a flexible roof The only part to be made abroad, in the US which would stand up to falling trees, a fear caused by recent storms. Two years later, with privatization of bus services threaten to change their vehicles, livelihood, the transport minister had to bow to public pressure and intervene, promising to keep the vehicles right.
Theater land.
From Shakespeare to Sondheim, wilde to Lloyd Webber, the best and the worst of plays and musicals turned up in the West end.
The opening of Shakespeare's Globe on Bankside has been seen as a triumph of culture over commercialism. Here, for the price of a ticket, you can sit on rockhard benches, squint through the Sun slamming it over the thatched door, pure round pillars to try to catch lines from the acoustically challenge stage, and even, if the youthful director Mark rylance is to be taken at his word, cat Call and lob the occasional tomato for performance is not to your liking. If this is a theater heritage to appeal to the tourist as well as the purest, and Elizabethan Playhouse risen from the rubble of time. And even if its location, at the south end of London Bridge, is a bit off the beaten track, many will make for its doors simply to savour the unique experience. The brainchild of American actor and director Sam Wanamaker, who didn't live to see it completed, the theater is a replica of the 1599 Auditorium in which William Shakespeare had shares and where he staged many of his plays. Like many theaters over the years, the original Globe was destroyed by fire.
The best way to buy tickets.
Despite the prevalent notion that everything in London is so successful that it sells out fast, most shows have some seats. It's the more expensive tickets generally for musicals that are usually hardest to obtain. Unlike New York, where most of the ticket buying is done through agencies, in London tickets can be purchased at the box office, cutting of the feed of the middlemen. There are, however, a number of good, reliable ticket agencies, which sometimes have more to offer than the theater itself. A day or so before the performance, they return their tickets at the box office. These tickets are then sold to students, pensioners and the unwaged. On the day of the performance, unsold tickets are also available from a booth in leicester Square selling at around half price. The cheapest performances are matinees, but understudies may then replace the stars. Tickets at the Royal national Theatre are considerably cheaper if bought on the day. Tickets are offered outside theaters by touts or scalpers for anything up to 10 times their face value. There's nothing illegal in this, but it is good sense to ask the face valur of the ticket on offer , and the exact position of the seat.
Shopping.
Just about any item you ever wanted can be found in London. The trick lies in knowing where to start looking for it.
There are some things real snobs wouldn't be seen dead doing. Shopping inherits is one of them is far too full of tourists, you know, although they might just sneak into its food hall on the basis that it serves as their local corner grocery store. Visiting Oxford Street, even in a Rolls-Royce, is another. As for souvenir shop, they wouldn't even be carried there after rigor mortis headset and. But of course, there are exactly the places visitors to the city want to go. And they should. Oxford Street stretches from Tottenham Court Road, Center for hi-fi gear and computers, to marble arch at what was once the less fashionable West End, where to tyburn gallows stood. But the roles have now been reversed. At the Tottenham Court Road and, Virgin megastore occupies one of the former stores in ladies mile, part of the street that the respectable when to end at war in times to find a bold new department stores. Let your eyes rise above the tawdry trinkets of the current shops and you'll see the fine façades that held the aspirations of those golden shopping summers. The department stores that remain from ranks in the more upmarket stretch, west of Oxford Circus: Dickens and Jones, debenhams, D..H.evans, John Lewis, Selfridge's, they are cosmetic halls smelling sticky sweet and staffed by thickly caked alchemist, they're upstairs galleries piled with bolts of cloth rolled out by the last few people on earth who know how to sew. Designers have their niches in many of these stories, which try to be all things to all people and, like trendy grandmothers, are desperate to appeal to the young.
On shopping,
for the sheer exuberance of shopping, Covent Garden shouldn't be missed. Overhyped, maybe, but there are always shops to pop into, such as Paul Smith's, the smart designers in floral Street. And while you're here, you might just see what's in the boutiques and specialty stores. Buy anything oriental in Neil Street, and anything herbal or vegetarian in Neal's Yard in King Street, row six floors of darker Martin's, which has come a long way since the black boot. In the Piazza get a blowup Mono Lisa from museum store. Also in King Street is the Irish job. A new row, naturally British shows the nation at its most traditional. Anything else you want is all within reach: statues of Egyptian gods from the British Museum cast service in blooms bury Street; antique cameras at classic collection in nearby pied bull Yard; anything electrical and Tottenham Court Road. There is theater memorabilia in dress circle in Monmouth Street, just down from obsessions at seven dials, where gadgets and gizmos are worth a browse. Cinema memorabilia can be had in the vintage magazine shop in Bird Street, just along from anything left-handed, a shop that sells left-handed versions of tools and implements. Book buyers should head for Long acre and Charing Cross Road. Trophy hunters will visit the Scotch house in Knightsbridge for woollens, BurBerry in the Haymarket for overcoats. The vintage house in old Compton Street for malt whiskey, caviar house, next to the ritz, for sevurga, Oscietre or Royal Black caviar. Everything you ever wanted is in London. All you need bring is your cash.
Markets.
Selling high-priced antiques, tawdry trinkets and bric-a-brac, London's markets are full of life and a magnet for browsers.
The sign reads: Billy buys almost everything. Billy's selection of almost everything is piled high within a 6 foot square cubbyhole in one corner of Camden lock market: beside Regents Canal in Camden. Billy himself is tiny and stands on to milk crates so that he can see over shoppers heads to watch his junk. Around him an enormous variety of vendors, whose accents come from all parts of the globe, not just London, selling earrings made out of innards of clocks, and painted shoes, and even life membership to the Finsbury Park insect club. Fly pickers, illegal traders selling from suitcases appear and disappear like shadows on the pavements outside, according to whether or not a policeman is in sight. Like so many other areas of London, hearts have attracted the attention of the read developers. On the other hand, stallholders in petticoat Lane and brick Lane in the East End would claim their prices are rock-bottom, although goods here could be dodgy meaning either acquired below the counter illegally are liable to go wrong. There is a popular saying that, by the time of tourists is walk the length of petticoat Lane market, he could be sold his own handkerchief by the last stall.
Dubious merchandise.
Brick Lane market starts very early in the morning. While the Camden markets reflect the hidden riches of the city, brick Lane reflects the hidden poverty in the side streets, East Enders spread their wares on the wet, gray pavement, within a few hundred yards of the stock market. Here is the latest cd player retails at a bargain price, on ship despite falling off the back of the truck. There are tremendous bargains for the Braves, and tremendous ripoffs for the unwary or unlucky. The West End's Covent Garden is well known, and neighboring Jubilee market as gimmicky crafts dolls, but in fact it is the city which has hosted London's major markets. Billings gate, the home of fresh fish and fowl language, has since been moved from the city to docklands; Smithfield meat market still functions, although there are plans afoot to move it; Middlefield, organic produce market has expanded to include crafts; leadenhall. Has been reviewed, and now provides market shopping for city workers; ironically, most of the produce sold here is struck in from the surrounding countryside, but ends up being eaten in the suburbs near where it is grown. Antique markets are widespread throughout London. Shells using closed markets,chenil galleries and antiquarius, are networks of tiny, stall cramped passages on Kings Road, staffed by experts, but rather stuffy. There is a better chance of picking up a bargain at Portobello Road, near Notting Hill gate, where dealers do their shopping. It's many antique shops spill their wares out onto market stalls on Saturdays, attracting huge crowds mainly tourists. Stallholders here may seem almost unaware of what they have on their stalls and more concerned to perpetuate their image as Street characters. But don't be fooled. They know exactly what they have, and what their neighbors have, and what it is worth.
Restaurants.
New restaurants open as frequently as new movies and are just as subject to the whims of fashion. So how do you tell the good from the bad.
London is a great place for dining out, and its 12,000 restaurants offer some of the world's most memorable gastronomic experiences. This may come as news to people who have not been here for some years, for the last occasion on which the words London and cuisine were convincingly linked was at the turn of the century. Today the city is straining under a bombardment of accolades. |
