London Favorite Tips by breughel

British Museum - Best Museum of Antiquities in EU. Historical Review

Favorite thing: British Museum and Le Louvre are for me the best European museums of Antiquities.

My preferred museums of Antiquities in Europe are the following:
Under Antiquities I mean here Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Near Eastern artefacts.

Multidepartment Museums:
Le Louvre, Paris.
British Museum, London.
Museumsinsel Berlin (Museum Island) with various museums like the Altes Museum, the Pergamon Museum and the Egyptian Museum

Greek and Roman antiquities:

Capitoline Museum and the two Museo Nazionale Romano (Palazzo Altemps and Palazzo Massimo), Rome.
National Archaeological Museum and Acropolis Museum, Athens.
Vatican Museum, Rome.

Egyptian Antiquities:

Museo Egizio (Egyptian museum), Turin.
And Egyptian departments of Le Louvre, British Museum and Berlin Island museum (one of the best in Europe).

Of course there are others like Vienna's KHM, Olympia, Leiden, Brussels, etc., etc. but if you have time to visit my favoured ones you will already feel a happy cultured traveller.

Architectural contrasts. Architectural Review

Favorite thing: I wonder if I can call this a favorite; it's more a reality of the heterogeneous architecture of London since the restrictions on building heights originally imposed by the London Building Act of 1894 have been eased, especially since the 1980s and a marked run to tall buildings in the last ten years. Between my first visit in 1961 and now it seems to me that I'm on another architectural planet.

The contrasts are surprising, amusing, if not shocking. I just put here two photos made from the Tower of London towards the City.
The medieval tower or turrets from the London Tower, the "Ten Trinity Square" from 1922 topped by a series of sculptures and originally built for the Port of London Authority, the "Gherkin" (Swiss Re Building - 2003) which I call "le suppositoire" and further the Tower 42 (1980).
After that you will understand that I prefer the views on Rome or Paris aside from economic considerations.

Heterogeneous architecture. Architectural Review

Favorite thing: Just read in the Telegraph of 24 Oct 2009.

"Ben Bradshaw, the Culture Secretary, has criticised the Prince of Wales for interfering with a high-profile housing development because he did not approve of its style of modern architecture."

I must say that, when looking at the architectural landscape of London and remembering how it looked half a century ago at the time of my first visits, I'm not really enthusiast about the evolution.
Maybe I like harmony and that's not what I find nowadays looking at London. There is big contrast - an architectural shock - between modern buildings and older ones crammed on each other.
Some modern architecture is interesting but the narrow streets, the absence of perspective make me understand the reluctance of Prince Charles.