1 January: Since 1987, up to 10,000 performers from around the world have taken to the streets each year, watched by half a million spectators. Start January on a high.
2 January: Admire General Wolfe's view on his birthday. Looking out over the Old Naval College and across to the towers of Canary Wharf, the statue was given by Canada in 1930 to recognise the General
3 January: Set up in 2001, it is run by Peter & Kay Sinden, a builder & City economist team. The beautiful panelled interior was installed using panelling from the Bell public house in Carter Lane.
4 January: Climb to the top of the Cathedral. The breathtaking view from the top of St Paul's classical dome is one of London's finest and is the crowning glory of Wren's work.
5 January: For Twelfth Night. The centrepiece of Middle Temple, an Inn of Court founded in the 14th century, it is a beautiful Elizabethan Hall in which Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was first performed
6 January: Milkbar is a stylish little cafe specialising in teas, coffees and cakes, served in attractive surroundings and vintage teacups. It is a haven from the hustle and bustle outside.
7 January: Attend the London Boat Show. Every January since the 1950s, boatbuilders, enthusiasts & chandlers from around the world have gathered in London for the show. Over 100,000 visitors.
8 January: A small independent bookshop on the lively Regent's Park Road. Situated in a tidy terrace of independent shops, the owners pride themselves on their wide selection of books and knowledge.
9 January: Kelsey Park was previously part of the estate of Kelsey Manor, and was not opened to the public until 1913. While the Gothic House was demolished in the 1920s, some relics remain.
10 January: While red TfL buses stop outside the pub in the small Kentish village of Downe, and it is technically in London, the atmosphere is distinctly villagey. Perfect for a cosy winter drink.
12 January: Winter never comes to the Palm House, which since 1848 has been home to exotic palms and plants collected from around the world. Down in the darkened basement there is a marine display.
13 January: Founded in 1983, the centre is home to a café where people of all ages gather, as well as a museum of everyday life, bringing together early-20th-century objects.
14 January: The people at Ice Bar have built a permanent wintry experience out of ice harvested from the Torne River in Northern Sweden and kept permanently at -5 degrees centigrade.
15 January: Home to one of the best collections of rotative steam engines in the world. Also home to the Waterworks Railway, a tiny 2-foot gauge railway, which is London's only passenger steam railway
16 January: A line of fierce lions keeps watch along the Thames. They hold mooring rings in their mouths, but also act as a flood-warning system for superstitious Londoners.
17 January: Found at the top of a windy staircase at University College, London, established in 1892 as a teaching resource for UCL's Department of Egyptian Archaeology & Philology. 80,000 objects.
18 January: Tour Fuller's Brewey. At the Chiswick brewery, Fuller's have been brewing beer for over 150 years, though it is thought the site has been the home of brewing for two centuries longer.
19 January: Established in 1926, it holds probably the most comprehensive collections of documents & books on women's history in the UK. Its current location is on the site of two former wash houses.
20 January: The café has been run by the Pellicci family since 1900, & combines a traditional East End atmosphere with a classic Italian café in a space created by carpenter Achille Capocciin in 1946.
21 January: Nightingale's story is charted from her privileged birth, to her battles against social convention & her historical status as one of the most famous & influential women of the 19th century
22 January: A perfect little pub, rebuilt in 1913, its exterior notable for its English-bond brickwork & glazed earthenware tiles. Run by the Fitzpatrick family for three generations (over 50 years).
23 January: Opened by the Dalai Lama in 1999, a restful haven by the Imperial War Museum. The centrepiece is a Tibetan-style Kalachakra Mandala, surrounded by sculptures & Himalayan flowers & shrubs.
24 January: Built in the 1930s, lthough it contains three rooms with interiors from the 18th century. An amazing collection of art, which was the first public collection in the country.
25 January: Attend a Burns Night Scottish Dance. The London branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society is more than 80 years old & it usually holds a programme of dances to celebrate Burns. 続きを読む
26 January: The Café is a pleasant oasis beside the York Hall Leisure Centre & the Museum of Childhood. It is run by St Margarets House Settlement, a charity. Serves good vegetarian food.
27 January: During the winter months, it becomes a welcome haven for weary tourists to escape the climate outdoors. Home to power generation equipment until the mid-1990s & adapted by Swiss architects
28 January: Take in the view from the Blue Bridge, a lovely spot with stunning views in both directions over the lake to Buckingham Palace, or Whitehall, Horse Guards, the FCO or the London Eye.
29 January: The world's only museum dedicated purely to fans, there is also an Orangery overlooking a secret fan-shaped formal garden with a pond, stream and oriental architectural features.
30 January: Passengers once stayed here before setting off by stagecoach from ancient Watling Street for Canterbury: either as pilgrims, or heading for the sea ports beyond, bound for the continent.
31 January: Catch the last tube. After midnight, passengers still rarely speak to each other, but there is a faint glimmer of camaraderie which is not present the rest of the time.
1 February: Its story is told through helpful guides, first-hand accounts of those who served on it and a chance to go below decks to see the cabins & engine rooms to get a sense of what life was like
2 February: Take a walk on the Thames foreshore. At low tide a large area opens up to be explored; the area is littered with a range of ancient & modern items which tell us about the river'shistory.
3 February: One of the finest buildings of the Tudor revival Arts and Crafts movement, it was constructed in 1924 using original timbers from the HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan.
4 February: Meet the dinosaurs. Alongside the huge Diplodocus cast, which greets visitors in the huge main hall, is a Triceratops, a half-buried Edmontosaurus and a terrifying T. rex.
5 February: Set against the grey February skies, Brutalist Trellick Tower is at its most bleak. Designed by architect Ernest Goldfinger, the Tower contains 217 flats & characterised by its lift shaft
7 February: See the snowdrops. Petts Wood covers more than 300 acres & is owned & managed by the National Trust. In February, the first of the snowdrops begin to push up from the woodland floor.
8 February: Visit the barge graveyard. Derelict barges litter the banks of the Thames beside Ferry Lane, built to support the floating piers of the Mulberry harbours used during the D-Day landings.
9 February: Amongst the crowds in Piccadilly Circus tube station, take a moment to stop and view the clock, added by architect Charles Olden & builder John Mowlem 1925-28. 続きを読む
10 February: Drink in the pub where Lenin and Stalin 'first met'. Some claim that they met in the pub which is now called the Crown. Lenin had recently moved publication of Iskra to Clerkenwell Green.
11 February: Since the 1990s, a T-34 tank has occupied this spot. Built for the Russian Army, it was probably used in Czechoslovakia in the Prague Spring in 1968. It was imported for use in films.
12 February: Opened in January 1984 by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, it is an internationally sized ice rink, which can host over a thousand skaters and spectators.
13 February: The oldest synagogue in Britain still in use, it was completed in 1701 & awarded Grade I-listed status in 1950. It was here that the writer Isaac D'Israeli, father of Benjamin, worshipped
14 February: Seek out Aphrodite on St Valentine's Day. At the heart of the Ancient Greece & Rome section is a romantic version of Aphrodite, goddess of love, showing her crouching at her bath.
15 February: One of the oldest natural history collections in the country, founded in 1828, it is a testament to the British collectors of the Victorian age, including a Tasmanian tiger and a dodo.
16 February: Established in 1698 by the Widow Bourne, it has been trading wine from the same location for more than three centuries. Past customers have included Lord Byron, William Pitt & George III.
17 February: Notable for being one of only a few buildings in the area which date from before the Great Fire of 1666. Today it is run by chef Roxy Beaujolais with the help of her cat Thomas Paine.
18 February: Giro's owner Dr Leopold von Hoesch was a diplomat who famously received a full Nazi funeral in London in 1936. Giro died two years earlier after chewing through an electrical wire.
19 February: See the Lord Mayor's Coach. Built in 1757, experts estimate that there are almost a hundred layers of paint and varnish on the ceiling of the coach.
20 February: On wintry days in Central London, it is easy to forget that there is a rainforest only a short distance away, with monkeys, lemurs & pygmy marmosets roaming right in the middle of London.
21 February: Search the archives at Rotherhithe Picture Research Library, which holds thousands of old photographs, postcards and magazines. Open to the public every weekday from 10 am until 4 pm.
22 February: Between the 1920s and 1950s, the pub was a centre of literary and artistic London, and a favourite drinking haunt of the likes of Dylan Thomas, Augustus John and George Orwell.
23 February: On Samuel Pepys' birthday, drink in the pub where he watched London burn. As the Great Fire raged he escaped by boat & described in his diary how he took refuge in 'a little alehouse'.
24 February: Cross the Rolling Bridge. When operated, the 12-metre Rolling Bridge slowly & smoothly curls unaided into a small octagon resembling a hamster's wheel allowing craft to navigate the canal
25 February: The airport conducts regular sightseeing flights over Central London, offering a bird's eye view of landmarks such as the Millennium Dome, Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament.
28 February: Inside and outside, the shop retains many of its original features, with shelves packed with coffee and a range of coffee paraphernalia, as well as fresh coffee sold over the counter.
29 February: Freud's final home is preserved as a museum to his life and work, & his study is a fascinating place to visit, containing the legendary psychoanalytic couch on which his patients reclined
27 February: Thanks to the covering of the bridge, it is open every day until around 7 pm, whatever the weather.
