We continue our second visit to London. We continue where we left off from the previous entry, leaving the Palace of Westminster.
14th February
After a well-deserved lunch break, we set off again. As we leave the pub we come across The Cenotaph, a war memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
It was unveiled in 1920 as the UK’s national memorial to the fallen of Britain and the British Empire in the First World War. It was rededicated in 1946 to include those of the Second World War and has since represented Commonwealth casualties in those and subsequent conflicts.
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Nearby is the entrance to one of the most famous streets in the world, Downing Street. It is a street that houses the residences and official offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In a cul-de-sac next to Whitehall, it is 200 metres long and a few minutes’ walk from the Houses of Parliament. Downing Street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing.
For over three hundred years, it has housed the official residences of the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister. It is also the official residence of the Second Lord of the Treasury, the post held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Prime Minister’s official residence is at 10 Downing Street and the Chancellor of the Exchequer at 11. The Chief Whip of the Government has his official residence at 12.
A little further north is The Women of World War II, a sculpture representing the wartime contributions of more than seven million women. Including 650,000 who enlisted in the military services.
Continuing north along Whitehall is Dover House. A London mansion home to the Scotland Office. The building also houses the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact.
Next is the Horse Guards building. It was built in the mid-18th century, replacing an earlier building, as the Household Cavalry barracks and stables. The present and earlier buildings were, between the early 18th century and 1858, the main military barracks of the British Empire.
Although still in military use, part of the building houses the Cavalry Museum, which is open to the public.
Every morning, the Royal Horse Guards leave Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge. It passes through Hyde Park Corner, Constitution Hill and The Mall to assume guard duties in a ceremony held at 11am, or 10am on Sundays.
At 4pm there’s a parade on horseback, which is free to watch… if you can find a seat.
Directly opposite is the Old War Office Building, the former offices of the War Office. This was the former war department of the British Government.
It was built between 1904 and 1906 in neo-baroque style by architects William Young and Clyde Francis Young. The War Office occupied the building until it was abolished in 1964. After that, it remained the Ministry of Defence under the name of the Old War Office.
In 2016 Hinduja Group and OHL Developments bought the building for £350 million to build a luxury hotel.
A little further north we come to Great Scotland Yard, a street which in the 16th century was a series of open courtyards within the palace of Whitehall. At that time it was fronted by buildings used by diplomatic representatives of the Kingdom of Scotland. Over time, the land was divided into Great Scotland Yard, Middle Scotland Yard and Little Scotland Yard.
In the 19th century it was a street and open space, where the public entrance to the original headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police Service was located, making the name ‘Scotland Yard’ synonymous with the police service.
We retrace our steps and walk through the passageway at the Horse Guards building and emerge onto an esplanade leading to the entrance of St. James’s Park.
At the entrance to the park is the Guards Memorial, also known as the Guards Division War Memorial. It is a memorial to the fallen of the Guards Division and related units during the First World War. It also commemorates the Household Division in the Second World War and other conflicts since 1918.
Now we are on our way to St. James’s Park, a royal park of 23 hectares. It owes its name to a medieval hospital dedicated to St James the Less, now home to St James’s Palace.
In the 1530s, King Henry VIII fenced off the area to create a deer park near Whitehall Palace.
The park has a small lake, St James’s Park Lake, with two islands, West Island and Duck Island. The latter is named after the lake’s collection of waterfowl.
Walking through the park we come to the Queen Victoria Memorial, a monument to Queen Victoria. It was designed in 1901 by the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock and unveiled on 16 May 1911.
Behind it is Buckingham Palace, the royal residence in London and the administrative seat of the monarch of the United Kingdom.
It was built for the Duke of Buckingham and Normanby in 1703 on a site that had been privately owned for at least 150 years. It was originally called Buckingham House.
In 1761 George III acquired the palace and made it the private residence of Queen Charlotte and it became known as The Queen’s House.
In the 19th century it was extended by the architects John Nash and Edward Blore, who built three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace became the London residence of the British monarch with the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837.
A German bomb destroyed the palace chapel during World War II. The King’s Gallery was built in its place. It was opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.
During June and July there is a daily guard duty at 11am. The rest of the year Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. It takes place as long as it does not rain and it is a spectacle worth seeing.
As we were able to enjoy it on our 2009 trip, we had no plans to return this time.
The photo is not very good, from our trip in 2009. The camera wasn’t exactly the best on the market…
We sit down on a bench to rest for a while and then set off again. We walk along Constitution Hill and almost at the end is the Commonwealth Memorial Gates. It is a war memorial commemorating the soldiers of the British Empire from five countries of the Indian subcontinent. These are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. As well as from Africa and the Caribbean, who served for Britain in the First and Second World Wars.
Just ahead is the place we came to visit, Wellington Arch. It is also known as the Constitution Arch or Green Park Arch in its origins.
It is a triumphal arch built between 1826 and 1830 by order of George IV to commemorate the British victories in the Napoleonic Wars.
Passing through the archway, we come face to face with the Royal Artillery Memorial. The Royal Artillery Memorial is a memorial to the First World War.
Designed by Charles Sargeant Jagger and unveiled in 1925, the memorial commemorates the 49,076 Royal Artillery soldiers killed in the First World War.
To the north of the square is Apsley House, the London home of the Duke and Duchess of Wellington. It was designed by Robert Adam in the neoclassical style and was built for Lord Apsley in the 1770s.
It was acquired by Richard Wellesley in 1807 and passed to his younger brother Arthur, the 1st Duke, in 1817. It is perhaps the only surviving example of an English aristocratic townhouse of this period.
Since 1947 part of the house has been open to the public as a museum and art gallery. It houses the Wellington Collection, an extensive collection of paintings, other works of art and memorabilia from the 1st Duke’s career.
The other half belongs to the 9th Duke of Wellington for the private use of the family.
From here we went for a pleasant stroll through the affluent streets of Belgravia. It is one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods and is full of restaurants and luxury shops.
But we were interested in Harrods department store. In case anyone doesn’t know it, it is a luxury department store.
But first we passed by a building that caught my attention, the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It is an Edwardian-style building that opened in 1889 as flats and became a luxury hotel in 1902.
If you have some cash, you can always stay here for about €1,000 a night.
A little further on we come to Harrods. The building was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod and opened in 1905. It replaced the first shop founded by his father Charles Henry Harrod in 1849, which burnt down in 1881.
With an area of 100,000 m2, it is the largest department store in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Harrods is one of the most famous department stores in the world. So much so that it attracts 15 million visitors a year.
I don’t know if it’s because it was Valentine’s Day that night or if it’s just normal, but there were about 2 million people there. There were aisles that you couldn’t even walk down.
Another thing that struck me and that I saw in other places was that they didn’t put prices on many of the items on display. Here in Spain it is compulsory, both in shop windows and inside the shop.
After the exhausting visit we decided to have a hot chocolate, but not in Harrods in case they charged us 200£. We went to a chain called Nero just opposite. The chocolate was normal at £3.95 (4.75€). The guy who served us looked angry…
Once we were rested, we decided to get on the bus to go the distance to Piccadilly Circus. After a long 45 minutes of traffic, we finally arrived at our destination.
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. The Circus is particularly well known for the video screen and neon signs mounted on the corner building on the north side. Also for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain and the statue of Anteros.
Another place that was full of people.
We were pretty exhausted and decided to go in search of somewhere to have dinner. We wandered wearily through the crowds along Shaftesbury Ave. A street full of theatres.
We walked along the avenue, passed by the side of Chinatown but all the restaurants were packed to the rafters. So we decided to head for a nearby underground station to return to the hotel.
While we were there, we went to finish our daily visits to Outernet London. It is a leisure, art and culture district opened in 2022 in London’s West End. It is the largest digital exhibition space in Europe, with the ‘world’s largest LED screen display’.
Some of the videos shown were truly spectacular and immersive.
There is also another space called The Butterfly Trail. It simulates a butterfly farm where you scan a QR code and you can ‘play’ with a virtual butterfly. It’s silly but funny.
After such a pleasant and highly recommended experience, we entered the underground. Just opposite is Tottenham Court Road station. We got on the tube and about 25 minutes later we got off at the hotel.
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For dinner we decided to do as we had done the night before. Some noodles and sandwiches and a good night’s rest. By the way, dinner cost us £11.99 (€14.43). A very romantic Valentine’s Day dinner…
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