The Barbican is an area you can explore with a library, conservatory, rotating art installations,…read moreand miscellaneous events. You should check when the events are, because it could interfere with the areas being available for a visit. There was also a beautiful outdoor area that would have been amazing to sit at the café outdoors and admire the scenery, but unfortunately it was raining at the time of our visit and it would not have been as enjoyable to sit outdoors here. Would definitely come back to explore more, and hoping the weather will be better in the future.

Very disappointing experience. I'll start with the good. The front desk staff was incredible,…read morevery friendly and very helpful. Unfortunately, the concierge was probably the worst ever. I received a package via Amazon and showed him the details from the Amazon email. He condescendingly asked me where it was on his list, where it wasn't printed, and stressed that if it wasn't there they did not get a package. I cannot put into words how condescending he was. I left for dinner worried the package was lost or misdelivered. When I returned, he was no longer there so I asked the great front desk staff if they had received a package for me. They remembered getting something and checked a few places, long story short is they found the package. Again, kudos to the front desk who went the extra mile for me, but why was the concierge so negativistic and self assured. Another positive was the fitness Centre, which had some great equipment, including a nice rower and treadmill. Unfortunately, the smell in the hallway leading to the fitness centre almost made me sick every day. A couple other challenges from the property. The room is what I would have imagined a jail cell. A small mattress just thrown into a corner. Also, the door to the bathroom slammed every time I went in, I am sure not very pleasant for my neighbors. Also the fire alarm went off at 7 am my last night, the cherry on top.

Somerset house is supposed to have a great ice skating rink and holiday d decorations right in the…read morecenter of London. If I'd known about that in advance I would have never come as I never developed skills to ice skate having lived all my life in California. Normally I would not pay money to see a museums in London as all the big government funded museums for the public are free of charge for entry. However we were walking down the embankment area next to the Thames and came across free public bathrooms something unheard of in Europe. The bathrooms were connected to a restaurant which was part of the somerset house. Wife and I feeling relieved gladly paid the money for the entry fee. Several buildings with paintings and photographs from around the world both of people and of animals in their natural setting. Looked like a series of pictures from covers of national geographic magazines. Ended up paying 30 GBP or $39 for two entries, an expensive public bathroom visit.

Funky little art gallery / museum in a historic building…read more When I was passing by I saw this strange exhibition called 'Cute'. I didn't expect to see this pop-art show here. I'm going to make this a regular stop while in London because I like the weirdness of it all.

When you are in the City (Square Mile) of London, be sure to think about stopping in the wonderful…read moreGuildhall Art Gallery. This is a free art museum so all you need is the time. There are many British paintings but the largest collection is from the Victorian era ... yes there are lots of Pre-Raphaelites. The 18th Century American painter John Singleton Copley is represented by his huge masterpiece 'Defeat of the Floating batteries at Gibraltar.' And at the lowest lever level of the museum are the discovered ruins of the great Roman amphitheatre in Londinium. Everything is displayed nicely and the Guildhall Art Gallery staff are especially friendly. Don't miss it!

This gallery is a diamond in the rough. I had no idea this place even existed *bows head in shame*…read more I went online to find free art galleries in London and was lead to this place. Best. Find .Ever! Hallelujah! They have free guide tours on specific times and days - It is so worth checking out. The tour guide was incredibly informative with the history and knowledge of the artist behind each paintings. There was a group of us who was shown around the gallery (it is huge!) and our heads were filled with so much incredible information about the history of London. The highlight of the gallery is the last remains of amphitheatre which is down by the basement. For someone who has a passion for history, this place blew me away. It is certainly worth checking out!

Moonrising has said most of it: the Barbican is a remarkable example of a large post-War housing…read moreproject that has worked well, largely because of the quality of the design and the attention to detail: the various private gardens, extensive area of public patio and the wonderful expanses of water all make it distinctive. It has also been maintained to a very high standard - which marks it out from other, less successful estates. It was built by the Corporation of London between 1965 and 1976 in an attempt to retain a viable population in the City of London, following extensive bomb damage in World War II. It now houses some 4,000 people, about half of the City's population. As well as the Barbican Centre, it includes the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a section of the old London city wall - including the only bastion to survive, built in the 13th century - and the mediaeval church of St Giles, Cripplegate. I have several friends who live here, and the key features of the flats are the light and spacious design, flexible open-plan layouts and the generous balconies. The layout is confusing to first time visitors, although there are now excellent maps at strategic locations to help you around. Its three towers - 123m (over 400ft) high - are currently the tallest residential buildings in London, although they are to be superseded by a new development in London's Docklands.

Most people have heard of the Barbican Centre, but you might not realise it's part of a larger…read morehousing development with 2,018 flats, built over a large area of land where most of the old building were destroyed in the blitz. The Barbican as a whole is a remarkable example of modern architecture. From the outside it's not always easy to get in. You can easily walk past without seeing an entrance. You can even walk underneath: Beech Street passes through a great underpass underneath Barbican. The secret is that you get around within the Barbican via 'high walks', pedestrian walkways a storey up. That means to get in you have to go up! Find a stairwell or escalators and make your way in. Inside is a landscape of open courts, towers and criss-crossing high walks. In some of the gaps are surviving older buildings, such as a church or parts of London's ancient city walls. In others are gardens. It's these gardens which are the really surprising feature of Barbican, giving a great feeling of space for such a densely populated development. You'd do worse than to start off at the Barbican Centre or Library, which overlook Barbican's most stunning vista. A huge rectangular courtyard, surrounded by piled, balconied apartments, dripping with plants, overlooked by walkways. Up the middle runs a great slash of a lake. At one end a great cataract, appearing seemingly from nowhere, plunges into the lake. It's dramatic, and unexpected in the middle of London. On the lake itself there are fountains and strange almost-islands on piers where you can sit surrounded by water. Take a wander and find more of Barbican's hidden secrets, though you should be prepared to be foiled by locked doors: some areas are for residents only. It's best to visit on a bright sunny day: though at night it's still dramatic with its soaring towers, in the evening the gardens at the Barbican are dark, and the fountains and cataract are turned off.

Anyone remember the graffiti wall that used to appear at the start of the TV program Dragon's Den?…read moreWell, that was on Coronet Street, just down from Sh! Sadly it's been sandblasted clean (and looks pretty awful right now). However the graffiti artists have not been put off and there are some rather good stencils and poster art along this road: take a look while you are in the area, you'll never know what will be there. Walk along Old Street towards the tube station and you'll find more to look at. Just past Pitfield St there's a whole area of painted walls. Nothing stunning. As you get to the tube station's roundabout look up at the anonymous brick building (I believe it's something to do with the tube?). On the East side over the top of shop next door there's a beautiful painting of a girl angel holding a skull. I think it could be El Chivo, though I don't know. It's quite new right now, so I hope it lasts. Round the other side of the building you'll find a nice Space Invader. Walk North up City Road to Moorfields Eye Hospital, and you might be able to spot the Banksy rat by a disused entrance. On the South side of the road at the junction with Gt Eastern St look carefully over the Chinese Takeaway. There's an advertising hoarding up, but if you look carefully partially visible behind it is a set of Banksy happy choppers. I guess they are getting protected, shame you can't see them properly! I've done other reviews of Banksy works: if you are interested use his name as a search tag to find them. There are several more close by.

Old Street tube station basically has about 5/6 exits all around a massive busy traffic roundabout…read more The exit for old street, heading towards shoreditch is the best for seeking out street art. Pitfield Street & the little alley ways off it are known to have new things popping up all the time - that is when the council haven't gone on a recent mission of cleaning all the walls! The streets surrounding Hoxton Square are also good, then if you cross Old street again & head over to Rivington Street & the surrounding area, you'll normally spot bits n peices on the walls. Just really depends on how active the council have been in the area at removing / repainting walls as to what you'll stumble over. But there's usually a few visiting artists in London at any given time, who'll stop by this area to paste /stencil something on the walls, that make it worthwhile having a look around if you're so inclined! Faile is the most recent to have pasted up stuff locally - just in the last week - as an example.

I saw many recommendations for Sky Garden when doing research for my trip to London, and I can say…read morethat it's well deserved. You really can't beat a free observation deck. Though Sky Garden is free, you still need to book a timed reservation in advance...as in, right when they release the dates 3 weeks in advance. They will run out pretty quickly even if you wait a few days, especially if you're going during busy season. I saw that the reservation is good for one hour, but honestly, they didn't check when I went so they might not be strict on that depending on the crowd level. I went in about 20 minutes early because I wasn't doing anything. You'll check in and go through security. Then you'll get in an elevator to the top. My reservation was at 10:00am, so I got through the initial line and security quickly, but I imagine it would be a long wait later in the day. The view out is great, and there's a balcony so you can take pictures outside. I think the interior architecture was the highlight though along with the greenery. There's so much natural light that gets in the room. It would have been amazing to go during sunset, but that didn't fit in with my plans. Luckily, the view in the morning was good, and the sunny weather was on my side. They have a cafe and a restaurant there. Though overpriced, I still got a flat white to sip on while I took in the views. Overall, I spent about an hour at a slow pace. You definitely don't need that much time, so if you have the chance to visit, it's definitely worth it. Only issue was the line to go back down took longer than expected since people don't maximize elevator space.

Sky Garden ended up being such a fun experience while we were in London…read more We started at the restaurant on the 27th floor and ordered a bottle of champagne for my friend's birthday. They gave us a really nice birthday discount which was unexpected and appreciated. The service the whole time was fantastic and the views were honestly incredible. After that we went down to the 26th floor and stayed there for a while because the vibe was just really good. Live music, more amazing views, people hanging out and enjoying themselves... it felt very "London night out" in the best way. Touristy? Sure. Worth it? Absolutely. Definitely something I'd recommend making time for if you're visiting London.

I come across this quirky little gallery on my lunch break one day when I used to work nearby…read more Places like this certainly makes life a little more interesting. The main gallery space is quite compact with prints sprawled everywhere and a workshop out the back. Downstairs which you 'enter at your own risk', as the sign says on the wall has a warehouse feel to it with whitewashed brick walls, concrete floors and blinding fluorescent blue and purple light art pieces on the walls. The art work here is mainly graffiti, prints, drawings and paintings. Well worth a look.

This gallery is definitely tiny - but it's worth a look if you're into graffiti and street art…read more I went here for the preview of the ROBBO show, which wasn't amazing but which was memorable because of the place's interesting, musty basement. Walking down a creaky, narrow stairwell, we encountered piled-up doors (yes... doors) in the corner - all painted robin's egg blue - mossy brick walls, dirt floors and a solarium-style ceiling. It was all the perfect setting to display edgy street art pieces in. Most intriguingly, the room was inhabited by a group of musicians in suits playing folksy-sounding, Beirut-reminiscent music apparently at random. Another gallery-viewer came up and presented a tiny mandolin, which one of the musicians immediately picked up and started playing with. It was all very charmingly memorable in a bizarre sort of way. I'd definitely be interested to see what other quirky bits of randomness this gallery has to offer in the future.

We attended Sunday's Choral Mattins at St. Paul's Cathedral. What an amazing Cathedral to visit,…read morebut I think most attendees were tourists (like me). We arrived early and were allowed to sit with the choir up front. What a great honor to sit with a great vantage point of the service. The choir is composed of children and adults, men and women and the voices are extraordinary. The service was beautiful and I couldn't help but think about the people who had attended over the past 300 years. The Cathedral was designed by the great Christopher Wren and is gorgeous inside with massive arched ceilings and ornate marble archways and statues. The choir seats are a dark aged wood with beautiful carving. Photography was not allowed inside so my only photos are of the outside. Tours during no the week are available and going up into the dome is supposed to be an extraordinary experience where whispers can be heard far away. After the service, the bells rang outside in an amazing display.

After booking reservations online weeks in advance, the hard part was waiting to see Christopher…read moreWren's masterpiece on the inside. Because the building does not open until 10am, the front doors are closed and guests are expected to queue up. Surprisingly, there are no signs to tell you where to queue up, so people are waiting in front of the doors until they open. Upon entering, my bag is inspected and you can pick up an audio tour device which has not only information about the cathedral, but has reflection and prayer passages where you can take a seat (there are plenty) and just be. At intervals, the pastor will ask everyone in the building to be silent as he prays for our world. After the prayer and blessing, the pastor makes himself available to anyone. Taking time to pray to God for us and our world was special. While the audio tour was good, talking to the red-sashed volunteers was special in that they had information that was not in the audio tour. For example, the wood carvers would leave a signature on the carving that would be unique like a hidden rocket ship with stars behind some carved vines. If you're a Harry Potter fan like me, you can ask a red-sashed volunteer to show you the Dean's Staircase, a stairway leading to Professor Trelawny's divination class that was used in the film. Unfortunately, you can't walk up the staircase, but you can take some amazing photos. Walking to the Stone Gallery and Golden Gallery requires climbing up 31 flights of stairs, so train well before you arrive. Not only does the Stone Gallery give you a closer look at the paintings on the Dome, but the wall offers a neat little trick, but it takes two people. If you speak into the wall, another person standing on the opposite side (180°) will be able to hear you. On a non-foggy day (good luck with that), you can walk around outside and be able to have stunning views of the city. There's so much to say, but I would rather you experience it for yourself.

I was ambling down curtain road with a friend with the intent on visiting the white cube, when we…read moresaw a man in sportswear and white trainers, covered in paint daubing a wall next to a bar I once frequented. Stopping to wonder whether it was a commissioned piece he was doing, I discovered that he was actually a painter, rather than a graffiti artist and furthermore, that he had a show exhibiting in a gallery right next to us. The signal gallery is a tiny, single-roomed space with exposed brickwork that looks more like one of the local fashion showrooms than an art gallery. It therefore gives work that exhibits a there an edgier feel than they might have had if they were in your usual pristine white box. Not to say that the work I saw there wasn't edgy enough. It was a shown called echoes and exorcisms, by Dale Grimshaw (the name of the man I learnt was painting outside). It was a series of unintentionally autobiographical works (hence why all of the paintings looked faintly like him) mainly in black and white, with decidedly eerie-looking reflections, aggressive paint splashes and deep contrasting shadows. The story was one of a lot of pain and internal turmoil, and his next show, Heart in Darkness promises to carry on that theme.

I can't fault them for trying to get more into the street art side of things. I mean who isn't…read moretrying to get into that these days, but what always drives me barmy, is, as with the gang over at the Pure Evil Gallery, they charge West London prices for these things, when you can get better value in the area elsewhere. They have interesting shows and it's definitely worth being on the mailing list and going to previews, but as with the aforementioned galleries, I look forward to breaking that mold and making my first purchase.

I was so incredibly happy with the kindness I received here! Fad gave me such good recommendations!…read moreThe hotel is beautiful and such a good vibe. Couldn't recommend it enough! Thanks Fad and Kesha

Really easy ground to get to. Bit rough in places but has wonderful character to it. A great crowd…read morewho deserve to be higher up.