Exploring London - 4

West and Central London: Shopping and Entertainment

Covent Garden

While retaining its original purpose as a flower market, Covent Garden has metamorphosed into a major shopping and entertainment center in central London. The Royal Opera House is here for both opera and the Royal Ballet, but so are numerous street buskers that draw large crowds and entertain children. The arcade features a number of unique shops, such as the Banana Bookshop (located at 10 The Piazza), full of novelty books and children’s literature, and Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop, which has sold unique paper puppet theaters and French music boxes since the 1880s. Lush, which has now expanded throughout the United Kingdom and elsewhere, sells hand-made soaps and cosmetics, including massage bars containing real Belgian chocolate.

Covent Garden and Leicester Square are also in the heart of Theatreland, with 47 establishments featuring musicals, revues, comedies, and dramatic theater for every taste and budget. The official London theatre Web site is an especially good guide to theater schedules, including a special section for children’s theater that goes beyond the obvious offerings of the Sound of Music and the Lion King. If you are in London during the Christmas holidays, a pantomime, or panto, is also a great family outing. Loose interpretations of fairy tales such as Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, pantos also include lots of slapstick and audience interaction.

• West End view.
• Mark Kobayashi-Hillary

Options in Greater London

If you are lucky enough to have a week or more in London, below is an insider’s guide to lesser-known but worthwhile attractions.

• The start of a performance of Love’s Labour’s Lost at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
• Tony Hisgett

Museums

• Museum of London. The history of the City, displaying household artifacts and other memorabilia of daily life from the era of the Romans to the present. Imaginatively presented, and the exhibit about the Great Fire of London in 1666 is especially well done. Kids programs let them talk to a Tudor merchant or to the Celtic warrior Boudicea.
• Old Operating Theatre. Not for the squeamish, this museum is housed one of the few remaining operating rooms and apothecaries’ garrets built before the advent of anesthesia or antiseptics. Staff “demonstrate” what early operations were like, and there are herbal workshops where budding physicians can roll their own “pills” and learn about early medicine. Highly recommended, though not wheelchair accessible.
• Handel House. Want to see the room where Handel wrote the “Messiah” and which later was part of Jimi Hendrix’s apartment? In posh Mayfair, the Handel House Museum delivers, with Handel memorabilia and intimate concerts.
• Sir John Soane’s Museum. A monument to British eccentricity, Soane was the architect of the Bank of England, and an inveterate collector of bric-a-brac. Highlights include the Egyptian sarcophagus in the basement, and a hidden gallery containing artist William Hogarth’s “The Rake’s Progress.” It can be crowded, and is only suitable for older children.

Amusements

• The London Eye. This giant Ferris wheel constructed for the Millennium celebrations offers a wonderful bird’s-eye view of London. Booking ahead online shaves 10 percent off the tickets and is a great way to avoid a long wait. For special occasions, you can rent a private capsule and have champagne.
• The Globe. A reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original Wooden “O,” the Globe offers Shakespeare in the world’s most authentic setting, but only in the summer (it is, like the original, an open-air theater). For £5/$10, you can be a groundling in the pit watching the action on the stage up close (the actors do throw bread rolls at the groundlings, so watch out!), but if you want a seat, that will cost you more. The Annual Concert for Winter during the holiday season is free and features local school children.