Last June I spent a week around this time in London and wanted to share my experience. During the week I visited The British Museum ; had drinks at London's highest rooftop garden: SkyGarden ; spent a day at the races at Royal Ascot; climbed up the O2 with Up at the O2 and finished the week with a day in Maritime Greenwich, visiting both The Royal Observatory & The Cutty Sark.
At the British Museum you can easily spend a day there and not see everything properly so it's best to both book online in advance to avoid queuing (entrance is free) and then decide what areas of the museum most interest you. Antiquity collections range from ancient Egypt, to the Americas, Greece, Africa and China, as well as additional temporary installations. Personally, I've always been fascinated by Egyptology because the engineer in me marvels at the achievements the ancient Egyptians achieved thousands of years ago without the benefit of today's technology. I also find that the archifacts are so well preserved; a combination of Egypt's arid climate and the materials that they were made out of, which tend not to decay.
The British Museum got a makeover in 2001 with the opening of the covered Great Court, which beautifully links the central quadrangle with the old British Library Reading Room (now located at St. Pancras). I remember the controversy at the time around the rebuilding of the south portico and the use of French, rather than Portland Stone. Once completed, it became the largest covered courtyard in Europe, and I believe it retains that accolade to this day in 2023. The Courtyard is where you will find the cafés and souvenir shops. I did want to have afternoon tea at the restaurant located on the top floor but unfortunately they only serve this at certain times of the day. Late afternoon (around 5:30pm) was just a little too late unfortunately.
The SkyGarden is a fully enclosed atrium garden at the top of the 'Walkie-Talkie' building and is open to the public. This is another attraction that is free of charge, but your time slot must be booked in advance online here [if video killed the radio star, the pandemic certainly killed the spontaneity in travel!]
Once you ascend the fast moving lifts to the top, you have magnificent views of London from the observation deck, which for the photographers out there, you can make the most of not having reflective glass spoiling the shots. There is also a nice bar to buy drinks and cocktails, but they tend to be on the pricey side. It was disappointing however, that there wasn't anywhere to sit as most of the seats around the bar area are either reserved or for the use of the companies that share the building. Perhaps it was the time slot that was the issue, since mine was the last slot of the afternoon, at 17:00 which is obviously also when the bar tends to get busier from the building's tenants.
Perhaps the highlight of the week was a day at Royal Ascot . I'd been before with a good friend in 2017 but on that occasion we were not so lucky with the weather (constant rain then; constant sun in 2022). We also (perhaps foolishly with hindsight) elected to stay locally, which has two issues: hotels around the Ascot area obviously inflate their prices around the week of the races; and secondly getting taxis can be problematic owing to the number of people trying to do the same. In 2022, I opted to stay in Central London and then travel by train from Waterloo to Ascot which takes just over an hour. It was by far a much better travel experience and I saved money on the hotel!
Royal Ascot is the most famous and prestigious event of the racing calendar with the Royal Procession taking place each of the five days at 2pm; a tradition which started in 1825. I was keen to get a glimpse of our late Queen as it was mooted she was attending, but sadly in the event this did not happen. Some confusion arose on the first day of the race when the Royal Standard was raised and the press, like myself, thought that the Queen was present but as it turned out she wasn't present although had been expected. The best location to get a view of the Royal Procession is the Parade Ring (show above and below) which is open to ticket holders of the Queen Anne & Royal enclosures:
Racing has come in general for some criticism in recent years since the pandemic for being over-ticketed (resulting in long queues for everything) but this was not the case at Royal Ascot at all. They have actually reduced the number of tickets made available in recent years and this really showed in everything: very little queuing, if any, for either food, drink, and the facilities. Another criticism has been of the behaviour and over-drinking in general, but thankfully, whilst people certainly enjoyed and made use of the bars, I personally did not witness any rowdy behaviour. Another area for praise for Royal Ascot was the cleanliness and attention to detail of the venue, but perhaps this goes without saying for an event so closely linked with the Royal Family.
Next was my climb at the O2. This also was a ticket purchased in advance as it's a popular attraction. You get to climb (well more like a steep incline really) over the roof of the O2 (fromerly the Millennium Dome). It's very well organised: once you check-in they go through a safety video and then you're given instruction to put on your climbing gear. I found myself and my friend were two of the oldest in the group but I've never let age to a barrier to anything and certainly if you are reasonably fit you should be fine doing this activity. The steepest part of the climb was actually the final descent where the curvature of the back of the Dome takes a steep angle downwards for the very last section.
You go up with a guide: ours was both very informative and friendly and overall it made for a fun experience and something different to do in London. Once at the top, you are treated to an amazing view of SE London -including Canary Wharf (so-called because of the trade with the Canary Islands I discovered from our guide) & Maritime Greenwich. You have an opportunity to get out your smartphone (the only item allowed up on the climb: all other items are stowed away in a locker) to take photos. I highly recommend this activity for anyone of reasonable fitness and a sense of adventure. I think professional climbers may be a little disappointed however, as it's not an extreme climb - but more of a steep walk!
My final day in London was a day in Maritime Greenwich. I have always loved Greenwich as it has retained its village feel; it has plenty of historic places to explore; it has a wealth of nice pubs and restaurants to eat; and of course from a tourist perspective you have the opportunity to stand on the Greenwich Meridian itself which is part of the Royal Observatory and only accessible from within that complex (where it is marked of course!).
The Royal Observatory is perhaps not surprisingly dedicated to astronomy and time, there having been an observatory in Greenwich since 1675, opened by King Charles II. It is perhaps lesser known for illustrating in the museum , the solving an 18th century conundrum: how to accurately measure time at sea in order to navigate accurately across the globe, since pendulum based clocks obviously had no use at sea! This is depicted in the Harrison clock collection.
The time part of museum has a collection of clocks which cover everything from long cases from the 18th century, to novelty watches from the 20th century and atomic clocks from the 21st. Perhaps I'd rather overlooked an obvious point here, but I never understood why New York uses a ball drop to denote the stroke of midnight to mark the start of each New Year: they simply borrowed from Greenwich where the ball drops at noon to denote PM!
The area denoting the Greenwich Meridian has changed since my last visit. Now recording cities -both West & East with their longitude:
The Cutty Sark was the world's fastest sailing ship of its time (built 1869) and was primarily used to ship tea, and latterly coal across the world . When steam was invented its days were numbered because steam-powered ships could take a much shorter route through the Mediterranean Sea, where the still conditions did not lend itself to speed on sailing ships.
Tragedy struck during the restoration in the 2000s when a fire nearly gutted the ship in 2007. Fortunately the damage was not as serious as first thought; and many of the artefacts and decking had already been removed. Today, the ship resembles a glimpse of life on board a Victorian sailing ship ; with videos and stories to bring the ship to life. As the ship has been raised with a remarkable glass and steel base, you are able to make your beneath the hull where also the café is located, along with an odd assortment of ship figureheads
In closing, there are some great activities to be done in London (some of which are free) - and in all cases it's better to book online in advance - both to avoid queuing and avoid disappointment. Many of these attractions are busy again and I think people are keen to visit places that were either closed or restricted during the pandemic. For Greenwich, it's more cost effective to buy the combined ticket which covers the principal attractions (the Naval Museum, the Observatory and the Cutty Sark) than buy individually if seeing all three. For Royal Ascot, I strongly recommend travelling from London by train, rather than staying locally in a hotel in Ascot: it was just much less hassle and more pleasurable for that.