Out & About
With a number of things to do locally the most obvious is The Royal
Palace and Fortress – Tower of London. Famed for its role as prison this
lead to its morbid reputation of torture and death, despite this only 7
executions took place there, being much more commonly held at Tower
Hill. It also served as a menagerie with many exotic animals, today
the only evidence of this are the Tower’s seven ravens, their presence is
believed to protect the Crown and the Tower, superstition states that ‘if
the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and
Britain with it.’ Today the Tower is one of London’s most popular tourist
attractions – so come early and get ahead of the crowds.
Another local attraction is the Tower Bridge Exhibition which explains
how the bridge works and describes its interesting history. The tour
culminates in the Victorian Engine Rooms, which display the steam
engines which once powered the bridge. The Bridge itself was built
in the late 19th Century as the result of commercial development in
the East End requiring a new river crossing downstream of the historic
London Bridge.
Across Tower Bridge, South of the river and housed in an old warehouse
is The Design Museum. Founded in the late 80’s by Sir Terence Conran
it is the ultimate museum and celebration of product, industry, graphic,
fashion and architectural design.
For one hundred years the Whitechapel Gallery has been responsible
for introducing the world’s best artist to the East End which have
included Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Frida Khalo. Recent
development has almost doubled the size of the gallery.
Aldgate Station is the meeting point for the London Mystery Walks led
by Paul Mansfield who has 13 years experience and has been featured
on a number of documentaries about Jack the Ripper. The tours meet
at 7pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening. Other tour
topics include; Ghosts and Executions, Shakespeare and Dickens, Harry
Potter’s London, Ethnic Cultural Tour, Treasure Hunt, the VIP Chocolate
Tour and Amsterdam (Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll).
www.clarendonuk.com
Int/Mob: +44 1784 489 200