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Page 1 of 2 Try out your triple salchows at an outdoor skating rink, take a stately flight in the ‘Eye’, or cheer on a parade – just three of London’s attractions during the festive season, says Anna Milford.
Pantomimes, theatres, concerts, shopping, decorative lights, sporting events and carol services come round every festive season, but there’s far more going on in London than just these annual fixtures. If you have never visited the capital at this time of year, why not make 2006 ‘a capital Christmas’?
The Lord Mayor’s ShowMake an early start to catch this day-long entertainment early on the second Saturday in November. This is when London’s new Lord Mayor ‘shows’ himself to the citizens in a golden coach, accompanied by a colourful procession of floats, bands, dancers, horses and marchers. It starts at 11.00am outside the Mansion House and, after a pause at St Paul’s, continues to the Law Courts in the Strand.
Early birds can get a good view anywhere along the route. After a lunch break, during which you can enjoy the fun fair around the cathedral, a shortened procession returns along Queen Victoria Street. You have time for a visit to the Museum of London where the golden coach is kept, to go up Tower Bridge or to look around the Barbican before heading to the river for a spectacular firework display after dark.
 The Lord Mayor's Show includes a spectacular fireworks display over the Thames.
If you don’t want to brave the shopping crowds to see the Christmas lights in Regent Street, then head for Trafalgar Square instead. In 1947 the people of Oslo sent a tree to London in gratitude to its wartime allies and ever since a giant spruce has shared the square with Nelson and the lions. Decorated with hundreds of white bulbs simulating candlelight, it glows with extra brilliance against the dimmed floodlighting of the National Gallery. The switching on is traditionally performed by the Mayor of Oslo accompanied by a choir in national dress.
The very first Norwegian Christmas tree arrived during the Blitzkrieg winter of 1940. At the risk of their lives commandos had dug up a little fir tree, smuggled it out of their homeland and presented it to their king in exile in London. Less well-known is London’s gift to Oslo – the fragrant Rose Garden in Frogner Park.
The London Eye Lighting up the sky like a Catherine wheel in slow motion, even in winter the London Eye is a popular attraction. This is a must for children – take games and puzzles to keep them busy while waiting for the ride. Pre-booking via the website is advisable and if you are stumped for gift ideas, vouchers for the Eye would delight anyone.
Royal Institution (Ri) Christmas LecturesMany eminent scientists of today probably had their interest sparked, sometimes literally, by the riveting Ri lectures, which were initiated for young people in 1826 by the Father of Electricity himself, Michael Faraday. With only a break during the Second World War, they have continued ever since, with recent subjects ranging from robots to Antarctica, so watch out for this year’s subject.
In 2005 lectures entitled “You are what you eat” and “Gourmet apes” by Sir John Krebs, zoologist and past chairman of the Food Standards Authority, attracted an audience of 1,500 to Albemarle Street and a million viewers nightly on television.
Guildhall and the Guildhall Art Gallery The London Eye lights up the skyline at Christmas time.
Alongside is Guildhall Library, founded with a bequest of Mayor Richard Whittington, and across the Yard is the Art Gallery full of royal portraits, civic ceremonies, sentimental Victorian favourites and a quarterdeck of British admirals, as well as one of the largest naval battles ever painted. Literally under your feet, step back nearly two millennia into the recently-excavated amphitheatre of Roman Londinium.
Bank of England MuseumMoney, money, money and the history of filthy lucre! You can even lay hands on a genuine gold ingot – but you won’t get away with it, not least because it is far heavier than it looks.
Library and Museum of Freemasonry Mozart, the Duke of Windsor and Churchill were all freemasons, and Wolfgang’s Magic Flute is heavy with the symbolism of ‘the Craft’. Non-members can now learn more of one of the world’s oldest secular, fraternal societies by taking a tour of its headquarters just off Covent Garden... although no secrets will be revealed. The historic collection of silver, glass, china, furniture and clocks as well as portraits, prints and an extensive library give a fascinating insight into the development of English freemasonry, as does the impressive regalia and traditional tools of the stonemason.
In Notting Hill is a new museum devoted to Brands, Packaging & Advertising. Back at Hyde Park Corner is the Duke of Wellington’s magnificent Apsley House and just off Oxford Street the art and armour of the Wallace Collection. Creatures great and small, from horses and mules to dogs and carrier pigeons, played their part in the Second World War – and won medals. The Animals’ War runs until April 2007 at the Imperial War Museum.
A clutch of other museums and galleries are well worth the trip away from central London: the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, the Horniman in Hackney, the Geffrye in Forest Hill and the nearby Dulwich Art Gallery.
National Portrait Gallery Bring history to life with a look at Britain’s monarchs painted in their lifetime from the last Plantagenets to the House of Windsor. Holbein’s Henry VIII is truly intimidating, the first Elizabeth I sports an improbable red wig and the young Victoria looks utterly Victorian. Almost anyone of note in past centuries is there too.
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