SABRINA'S LONDON DIARIES- An American Girl's Adventure in Londinium: Tours of London

Saturday, 21 November 2009

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.