My Top Eleven Things to Do in London for Free

1. Art Galleries
London has some of the best art on the planet.The Tate Modern focuses on contemporary art while Tate Britaindisplays British Art from the sixteenth century to the present day.Other major London art galleries include the The National Portrait Gallery,The National Gallery,both in Trafalgar Square.I would also recommend, The Wallace Collection,which is a great respite after a hectic day of shopping on Oxford Street. And remember,many musuems and galleries are open late on Friday night.








2.London Museums
Visit and enjoy many of the London museums which happened to be free.
These Museums not only are free,they offer a great way to see world class art, sculptures.In Kensington you can hit three museums in one afternoon on musuem row:
The Victoria and Albert Museum,
The Natural History Museum,
and The Science Museum .

At The British Museumin Russel Square one
can see Egyptian mummies,ancient Roman,Greek and Oriental artifacts, Elgin marbles(involved in an ongoing cultural tug-of-war between the British and Greek Governments),and the Rosetta Stone(the key to translating hieroglyphics).Much of it was stolen from other countries.Not only is it the oldest museum in the world but, since its inception in 1753, the institution has managed to build an unrivalled collection of exhibits from the ancient world, many of them gifts from wealthy collectors.






3.London Churches
You can see insideWestminster Abbey
for free.The Abbey never charges people who want to worship but they rely on admission fees from visitors to cover running costs. Evensong is the most beautiful of services where the Abbey choir sings. The Choristers of the Choir are educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School and are all extremely talented. Evensong is at 5pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, plus at 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

American Girl Will Show You London Tour

Chuck Lankford on The American Tour of Westminster Abbey

You can also enter St.Pauls Cathedral
to see the Choral Evensong. Like Westminster Abbey, it ususally starts at 5:00pm Monday thru Friday, and it's free! Also, The Brompton Oratory has free concerts.The choir has appeared in award-winning recordings on DG Archiv and frequently sings for productions of the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Enjoy beautiful polyphonic music and Gregorian chants while sitting in resplendent baroque Italian architecture.








4. Royal Parks
There are often free talks and guided walks in the royal parks so do check the What's On section of the Royal Parks website.Royal Historic Parks. There are 8 park. St. James Park. Regent's Park. Hyde Park. Kensingston Gardens. Bushy Park. Greenwich Park. Green Park. They often have wonderful walks and events that are free.



5.Changing of the Guard
No visit to London is complete without seeing this military tradition. The Queen's Guard in London changes in the Forecourt inside the gates of Buckingham Palace at 11.30am every day in the summer and every other day in the winter. Get there early and view the spectacle from outside the front gates.




6. South Bank
It really is amazing how many London landmarks you can see along this stretch of the River Thames including The ship theHMS Belfast,
Tate Modern, Shakespeare Globe Theater, and so much more.









7. Street Performers
The West Piazza of Covent Garden Market has street performers to entertain you every day.Covent Garden has live singers from The Royal Opera House and classical musicians. (All performers have a license and have gone on an audtion).Grab a hot cocoa or glass of wine, sit on the piazza and voila there you have entertainment for an afternoon and evening.You will find more street performers at the weekend along the South Bank, particularly outside the National Theater.






8.London Markets
London is well-known for its popular street markets. The most popular are Camden Market and Portobello Market, following closely by Greenwich Market. Find out about these markets and more:


London Street Market's
Camden Market
Portobello Market
Greenwich Market
Old Spitalfields Market
Brick Lane Market(Sundays only)
Petticoat Lane Market
Picadilly Market
Columbia Flower Market (Sunday mornings only)
Borough Market







9. Libraries
Many of the London Libaries are free. When you got the site seeing blues, check out your local London library and just relax among the books. Get a library card and then you can check your internet for free. But, the best library of them all, and probably the best library on the planet is The British Library.They care the biggest collection of the world of Jewish, Christian and Muslim books. Check out Shakespeare's original folios.See The Magna Carta. Find out how different people were effected by the Magna Carta.







10.Free Entertainment
St. Martin in the Fields Church offers free Concerts on Monday, Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 pm. It's very relaxing, just to sit back and relax and her a Brandenburgh Concert or Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Also, there are inexpensive concerts in the evening where you can hear French cafe music or live jazz. Usually it's quite inexpensive and tickets are usually £10.

You may also attend a Lunchtime Recitals at the The Royal Opera Houseat 1 pm. The tickets need to be confirmed 9 days before the show.And, can be bought online at www.roh.org.uk. It's a great way to spend an afternoon and take a break from your work day, or if you want to relax and hear some beautiful music.






11. TOWER BRIDGE

You can't go inside the Tower Bridge for free, but you can look at it for free.
London Bridge was originally the only crossing for the Thames. As London grew, so more bridges were added, although these were all built to the west of London Bridge, since the area east of London Bridge had become a busy port.

American Girl(that's me),Will Show You London Tour

Lee Howard on The American Tour of Tower Bridge

Schedules for Events in London:

St. Martin in the Fields Concert Schedule
Changing of the Guard
Westminster Abbey Music and Choir Schedule
St.Paul's Choral SongSchedule
The Brompton Oratory Choir Schedule
London Market Schedule
For More Free Things to do in London


One of the few things I do in life is give TOURS OF LONDON,
American Girl Will Show You London

MORE IN SABRINA'S LONDON DIARIES
-How to be A Romantic Romeo on a Date
- Green London
- Ghosts of London Walking Tour
-What to do if your in London for awhile and have seen all the major sites

Parks of London: Sunday St. James Park

St. James Park is one of the many parks in London. It is also one of the Historic Royal Parks. London has eight royal parks: Bushy Park, Richmond Park, Hyde Park, The Green Park,Greenwhich, Kensington Gardens, Regents Park and St. James Park. London is a very green city, because of the constant rain the parks are lush with wildlife, flora and fauna and many animals.

With it's Royal Political and Literary Associations St James Park is at the very heart of London and covers about 58 acres of land. It has a beautiful lake, pelicans, rare birds and a charming fairy tale inn keepers house in the middle of it.St.James is also home to the MALL,the event for many ceremonial parades and national events. From St.James Park you can see the crossing of the gaurds that takes place every day at 10 am.

I had fun just taking photos in autumn. Seeing the many birds in the park. The leaves are changing. There's a brisk feeling in the air, but it's not too chilly yet, just cool enough to wake you and make you feel alive. St.James Park borders Buckingham Palace on one side,(if you begin your walk there) and then on the other side it borders Winston Churchill's Cabinet War Rooms. If you walk about 5 minutes heading towards the Admiralty Arch you'll see Trafalgar Square and the famous National Gallery. London is a great walking city. But, more than that, it has amazing parks. For me, autumn is the best time to visit, not too cold and not too hot. Just perfect for lounging on the grass, reading a book on the park bench, all bundled up in your gear with a cup of hot tea from your thermos you are set. A stroll in the park in the morning hours is great to wake you up get you started on your day. Here's a few of the 100 photos I shot on one sunny Autumn afternoon. I love autumn, it's my favourite time of year!

















Some Important Links:
Historic of St. James Park.

For Walks in the Park.

A Guided Walk: Gun Powder, Treason and Plot. The Story behind Guy Fawkes Day.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Events in the Park

05 Nov 2009
Guided Walk - Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
St. James's Park (Victoria Tower Gardens)
Discover the truth about Guy Fawkes and the plot to blow up parliament over 400 years ago.

1-2pm

Places are limited so booking is essential. Contact the St James's Park office on 020 7930 1793 (Mon-Fre 8am-4pm).

Walks will last about 1 hour and are aimed at adults with a general interest. Please come dressed for being outdoors.


MORE ON RICHMOND PARK IN THE NEXT SABRINAS LONDON DIARIES

Part 2: How to Save Money in London: To Top Up or Not to Top Up

Another way to save money is to buy a mobile phone and then buy TOP UP vouchers. Many Londoners don't have a regular phone plan that you pay a set bill every month. Instead they use the Top Up system and pay as you go. But, be sure to get a good plan. I am with Vodaphone, they will charge you just £20 a month with unlimited texts and 300 minutes of voice time. That's pretty reasonable. Before, I found out about this I was buying TOP UP vouchers and paying £5 every 2-3 days. It was aggravating because what if I needed to text someone and I ran out of Credit. I would have to go out in the middle of the night just to TOP UP. Also, it would equal about £50 a month. Often, I end up with more time left over for voice messages. You will need to Top Up, that in American terms means to add credit. The British are fabulous for topping up this and topping up that. The whole culture is based on a top up system including being able to top up your electricity bill as you go along. All this is taken place at your local Off License Store, which is equivalent in America as your local Liquor Store. They are usually open up until 10 or 11 pm. You top up your MOBILE, you top up your credit card, you top up your electric bill, you top up your Oyster Card and then when you go a party the host will ask you as she sees your champagne glass empty. She'll come up to you and say politely to you, " Would you like a top up? " At this point you just SMILE real big and say, " Certainly darling I would love a TOP UP , and thank you very much !! "

Cheers,
Sabrina

Next London Diaries

Dating in London Part 3

Grays Inn Park- London Autumn 2008

Gray's Inn Park is an example of one of the many gorgeous parks in London.It is just a really small simple park that's located in a residential and business area of London.I happened upon it on one of the many days when I first was in London and would get lost. It's only open from 12pm until 2 pm every day. Often, you will see many of the neighboring workers and business people from the area bringing their lunch here.When I found it I saw it as a place to chant,since at the time I was living with these two English blokes as a couch surfer with very little privacy.I would leave their house by 11 am every morning.I would wake up and draw the blinds and say " Good Morning London! what am I going to do today?!"

I would go to this park and just chant on this charming bench far off in a corner of the park. It was such a peaceful respite to be here among such beauty. I would bring my thermos of Earl Grey tea, have a chant smile at the beautiful cosmos flowers, plan my day, until the security gaurd kicked me out around 2 ish because I was so content I didn't want to leave. Gray's Inn park is an example of the many parks throughout London that offer a respite from the busy and rambunctious city life.Mysteriously, the photo on the top right was published in an online tour guide magazine.

LONDON IN THE SPRING TIME-HYDE PARK

LONDON IN THE SPRING TIME-HYDE PARK

The rain is gone, the grey skies are gone. The snow is definitely and
has been definitely gone. Now, spring is here and you can see it
in the flowers, the sun is shining again. All the londoners are enjoying
the outdoors and are taking full advantage of the great spring
after a long cold winter.

On Sunday March 22,2009, I went for a jog in Hyde Park and it was a good thing I brought my camera along. I definitely enjoyed seeing so many interesting people having a good time, enjoying the park and the freshness of Spring.





























SLIDE SHOW: LONDON IN THE SPRING TIME

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LONDON DIARIES