London: Tate Modern to Lambeth Palace Walk
May 6th, 2004, 04:04 AM
#1
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London: Tate Modern to Lambeth Palace Walk
I thought the views across the river would be nice. Looking to enchance and/or expand this draft walk. I'd appreciate comments on these places and also your addition of additional options for sighseeing, eating, drinking and shopping.
Does anyone also know have far of a walk it is from Tate Modern to Lambeth Palace? Any good pubs in the area? Best time to take this walk? Day or times to avoid?
Start: Take the Tube to Blackfriars
Note: Might have a drink at the historic Blackfriars Pub before starting.
Walk over the bridge and you will see Tate Modern (Free) housed in the old Bankside power station - one of the best collections of modern art in the world.
Walk down Upper Ground and you will see Gabriel's Wharf which has a craft shops, stalls and several cafés. There is a Pret a Manger at 58-60 Stamford St and, you can get a good lunch at RSJ in nearby Coin St.
Next on your route is the Royal National Theatre. The complex offers art exhibitions during the day, and free concerts at 6pm during the week and 1pm on Saturday.
Cross the Waterloo Road and see the Hayward Gallery in its brutal concrete building; nevertheless, many popular art exhibitions are held here.
Next comes the Royal Festival Hall,known for its concerts (note the statue of Chopin outside), and also has cafés, bookstalls, exhibitions, and free concerts -from Wed to Sat at lunchtimes and at other times. The People's Palace, has a full range of food and drink.
Keep going west down Belvedere Road and you will come to the London Eye, and the London Aquarium, one of the largest in Europe.
If you are feeling fit, carry on down the Westminster Bridge Road and you will come to the fascinating Imperial War Museum (Free). The best route back is down Lambeth Road for a look at Lambeth Palace. For seven centuries this was the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The nearest Tube to take you home is Lambeth North.
Does anyone also know have far of a walk it is from Tate Modern to Lambeth Palace? Any good pubs in the area? Best time to take this walk? Day or times to avoid?
Start: Take the Tube to Blackfriars
Note: Might have a drink at the historic Blackfriars Pub before starting.
Walk over the bridge and you will see Tate Modern (Free) housed in the old Bankside power station - one of the best collections of modern art in the world.
Walk down Upper Ground and you will see Gabriel's Wharf which has a craft shops, stalls and several cafés. There is a Pret a Manger at 58-60 Stamford St and, you can get a good lunch at RSJ in nearby Coin St.
Next on your route is the Royal National Theatre. The complex offers art exhibitions during the day, and free concerts at 6pm during the week and 1pm on Saturday.
Cross the Waterloo Road and see the Hayward Gallery in its brutal concrete building; nevertheless, many popular art exhibitions are held here.
Next comes the Royal Festival Hall,known for its concerts (note the statue of Chopin outside), and also has cafés, bookstalls, exhibitions, and free concerts -from Wed to Sat at lunchtimes and at other times. The People's Palace, has a full range of food and drink.
Keep going west down Belvedere Road and you will come to the London Eye, and the London Aquarium, one of the largest in Europe.
If you are feeling fit, carry on down the Westminster Bridge Road and you will come to the fascinating Imperial War Museum (Free). The best route back is down Lambeth Road for a look at Lambeth Palace. For seven centuries this was the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The nearest Tube to take you home is Lambeth North.
May 6th, 2004, 04:15 AM
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Without stops this'll take a good couple of hours. With so many possible stops you could take all day over it and be exhausted long before the end! And Belvedere Road is much less interesting than staying on the riverside to the London Eye and Aquarium.
From there to the IWM and Lambeth Palace reads like an extra add-on, and not the most interesting walk. If I really wanted to do it from there, I'd be inclined to take a bus.
From there to the IWM and Lambeth Palace reads like an extra add-on, and not the most interesting walk. If I really wanted to do it from there, I'd be inclined to take a bus.
May 6th, 2004, 05:27 AM
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Don't take the tube to Blackfriars. The pub is, by London standards, spanking new (20th century), though no doubt some guide somewhere has something interesting to say about it. It's usually just another City boozer, full of City lads and lasses doing what they do best.
Instead, tube to St Paul's, then pretty much due south of the south transept, follow the road straight to the river. The footbridge across the river takes you directly to Tate Modern.
Prepare to be underwhelmed by the art collection, possibly the poorest big collection of modern art in any major city, and certainly the weakest content of any major London museum. If you paid for the guide book that produced the nonsense about "best collection", ask for your money back, and mistrust everything else it says. Go to the upper floors to see the view from the restaurants and bars. Again, just accept, though, that at this point the view immediately across the river is unworthy of London. It's dominated by a 1960s phone exchange and road intersection that should never have been built. The rest of the view more than compensates, though.
Don't cross Waterloo Road. Stay on the riverside all the way.
This is THE classic London walk: IMHO by far the greastest city walk in the world. Don't ruin it by the dismal and lengthy walk to the War Museum, which is easier to get to separately, by tube or bus.
There's little else specifically to sightsee - in the sense of things you'd go and look round (though you might want to turn left at the footbridge to take in the Globe complex, then retrace your steps).
But the sequence of buildings, and their history, you pass on the way is glorious. Get a decent map way beforehand, and buy a copy of the London Encyclopedia (or get into a library that has one). Take notes: there are just too many for any of us to go through them all on a site like this.
Instead, tube to St Paul's, then pretty much due south of the south transept, follow the road straight to the river. The footbridge across the river takes you directly to Tate Modern.
Prepare to be underwhelmed by the art collection, possibly the poorest big collection of modern art in any major city, and certainly the weakest content of any major London museum. If you paid for the guide book that produced the nonsense about "best collection", ask for your money back, and mistrust everything else it says. Go to the upper floors to see the view from the restaurants and bars. Again, just accept, though, that at this point the view immediately across the river is unworthy of London. It's dominated by a 1960s phone exchange and road intersection that should never have been built. The rest of the view more than compensates, though.
Don't cross Waterloo Road. Stay on the riverside all the way.
This is THE classic London walk: IMHO by far the greastest city walk in the world. Don't ruin it by the dismal and lengthy walk to the War Museum, which is easier to get to separately, by tube or bus.
There's little else specifically to sightsee - in the sense of things you'd go and look round (though you might want to turn left at the footbridge to take in the Globe complex, then retrace your steps).
But the sequence of buildings, and their history, you pass on the way is glorious. Get a decent map way beforehand, and buy a copy of the London Encyclopedia (or get into a library that has one). Take notes: there are just too many for any of us to go through them all on a site like this.
