london

London's world famous department store, Harrods has been a city fixture since it opened in 1849. Impeccable service and a wonderful, diverse selection have earned the store a place in the hearts of Londoners. Although prices are somewhat steep they're attached to quality merchandise including apparel, toys, home furnishings and groceries. Plus, twice yearly sales make things more accessible to budget minded shoppers. Cultivating a bit of spectacle in Harrods are the Egyptian Room and a memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed owner Mohammed's son. It gets busy at Christmas but is definitely worth a visit if happen to be in London at that time of year as it's Christmas tree and window displays are a delight.
 

Between the Courtald Gallery, the Tudor vaults and the vast bustling Edmond J. Safra Square, London Fashion Week, and buzzed up new restaurant Spring, one realizes Somerset House might very well contain all of London's very best bits. Formerly a place of residence for 17th century nobility naval housing and the opulent office space for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Somerset House's stratigraphy of city evolution is hidden behind every corner and through every secret passageway. Book a historical tour or go for a wander, have lunch at Tom's celebrity Chef Tom Aiken's highbrow restaurant or get summertime cocktail on the back terrace. Somerset House is a cultural experience unlike any else and need to put aside a chunk of holidays to experience all it has to offer.
 

The Royal Exchange is a majestic building built in the 19th century once home to the city's trading exchange. Today, the huge neo classical building with a portico of eight Corinthian columns and a pediment houses offices, shops and restaurants. Strolling through the luxury boutiques, one cannot help but think of the importance of the site in the economic history of the country. The present building is actually the third version of the Royal Exchange since its opening in 1571. Sir Thomas Gresham a wealthy merchant first founded the institution as a centre for stock trading. Unfortunately, fires successively carried away the first two buildings leading to the construction of the current building in the 1840s. It was not until 2001 that the site was transformed into a high end shopping and gastronomic centre.
 

The British Library might be one of the most academically imposing institutions on Earth, with 170 million archived items including the Magna Carta, Da Vinci's notebook and the original scraps that Beatles songs were written on and swathes of stressed out students roaming its bright interiors. But it's also a dream for the frugal tourist with most of its most famous items available for viewing in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery. The library also curates free exhibitions like Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK and Lines in the Ice: Seeking the Northwest Passage, exploring the role of European explorers in the Arctic.
 

Piccadilly Circus owes its name to Roger Baker a famous couturier who made Piccadills collars of lingerie formed of folds and fashionable in the 17th century. The word Circus was added to refer to the direction of traffic all around the statue of the Greek god Anteros. Today, this name is associated with the lights the entertainment and the exuberance of a very trendy city. Piccadilly Circus is a spectacle that attracts Londoners and tourists day and night. Piccadilly Circus is located at the crossroads between Regent Street, Shaftsbury Avenue, Piccadilly and Haymarket. It also connects several neighbourhoods, including Trafalgar Square, Soho, Chinatown and Leicester Square. In the centre of the square the statue of Anteros a winged archer dominates the fountain in memory of Lord Shaftesbury. Created by Alfred Gilbert and erected in 1893 it is one of the first aluminium statues.
 

The London Transport museum is a wonderful family friendly place to visit in the capital. Housed in Covent Garden in some old tram sheds, there are more than 80 full sized vehicles to climb aboard and a nice mix of technical and fun history to cater for everyone's tastes. There are lots of interactive exhibits to help teach people about how the London underground system was designed, the first underground train and the evolution of the famous double decker London bus through the ages too from horse drawn carts on to the bendy buses and eco engines of the modern world. The museum focuses on the history of transport and culture from 1800 onwards and looks at how the transport system helped the growth of the modern capital. For art lovers the gallery concentrates on beautiful collection of London Transport posters from the twenties onwards.