Keeping in step with London

By Chris Oliver
Advertiser Travel Writer

•	London fast facts 7.5 million people 200 languages 9,476 listed buildings 29.7 million tourists in 2002 $11 average cost for a taxi ride 13,775 lost cell phones reported 8,348 lost umbrellas reported 70 square miles of park land $75,000 per year for a parking space in Mayfair 108,700 estimated homeless people Source: Time Out London

Traffic-besieged Trafalgar Square is being revamped as an Italian-style piazza; motorists who drive through the city's West End must pay a $7.50 dawn-to-dusk "congestion charge," and in a move to draw more visitors to the arts on the South Bank, two new bridges — the Millennium (the one that wobbled) and the Hungerford across the Thames — are footbridges only.

Walking has become the new black cab.

Between the two new bridges, the distance is less than a mile, so, if you're visiting the capital, keep a day aside for this easy walk that crosses one bridge and returns across the other, a total of less than three miles.

The walk has something for everyone: art lovers, theatergoers, history and architecture buffs, foodies and great stuff for kids. You can extend it with a one-hour river trip down the Thames to Greenwich or with a 30-minute skywalk above Big Ben and Westminster, courtesy of the London Eye, sort of a giant Ferris wheel.

Best of all, the day won't cost an arm or a leg; all the attractions cost less than $12. And the great thing about walking is it's free.

Take the tube to Waterloo and begin at the Royal National Theatre.

Curtain call

A severed head, a slab of cheese, a French loaf and a bloodstained spear lie on a prop table backstage at London's National Theatre. An electrician wanders by trailing wires as our group gapes at the ghoulish tableau. Disembodied voices discuss voltage meters somewhere above our heads.

Theater guide Lucinda Morrison picks up the head, explaining how it was cast from the actor ("not just any old head") whose character was guillotined in "Danton's Death," a play about the French Revolution.

We're backstage, hoping for a glimpse of someone famous but looking at the Paint Frame, a gigantic 100-foot sliding frame on girders used to paint scenery back of the Olivier Theatre. The workshop, "big enough to fly a double-decker bus" is also the wood shop where complete sets are built and rolled offstage to one side or raised into the fly space above the stage.

"The National," as it has been called, has been labeled one of the 10 most inspired buildings in London and one of the 10 most disliked. Outside, it's a dirty-colored concrete fortress with terraces overlooking the Thames, but inside visitors blend into the daily "human life performance" in a "fourth auditorium" envisioned by architect Denys Lasdun. Lasdun wanted audiences to wander around the building, enjoy a meal in the National's restaurants, conduct affairs, view the changing exhibitions and listen to live music performed daily in the foyer.

"Each tour is different, depending who is on the tour," Morrison said. "If folks are especially interested in the technical aspect of theater, we'll concentrate more on that; if we have people interested in costume, we'll focus on that.

"Rehearsals are going on constantly, so we're always trying to balance letting the public see what is happening with stepping around the company. Often it's a difficult balance."

Tours weave past dressing rooms to where technicians, musicians, prop managers, wardrobe assistants and set designers mingle with directors and actors. It's a heady experience.

Morrison guides us to the back of a darkened auditorium. "Jerry Springer: The Opera" will open the next day in the Lyttelton Theatre. The set — two empty chairs on stage — is bathed in neon. Our group, mostly Americans, are mystified about how the theater will present the trash-talking talk-show host in such a setting. Morrison admits she, too, is baffled.

Getting an Eyeful

Less than a quarter-mile from the National, British Airways' London Eye moves at a pedestrian speed. Built for the turn of the millennium, this 450-foot-high monster wheel was planned with a five-year life span. Instead, the Eye's success has extended its lease for 20 years. According to VisitBritain, more than 4 million people rode the Eye last year.

It's easy to gush about the the view; it's fabulous, day or night — especially so in a city where many tall buildings once accessible for viewing London have been closed because of terrorism fears. Step into one of the Eye's 32 enclosed glass capsules for a 30-minute ride with views on a clear day up to 25 miles. Right below you is Westminster ... Big wheel, Big Ben, and that's cool.

• At County Hall next to the Eye, Salvador Dali fans can step inside "Dali Universe," where more than 500 paintings and sculptures are on show for an insight into Dali's quirky view of life.
• The London Aquarium, also inside County Hall, has a wide range of water dwellers, big and small, ugly and beautiful in extra large tanks, but coming from Hawai'i, this may not be top of your list of "must-sees."

Bridge with a view

One of the best ways to see London is from the Thames. The Hungerford footbridge, flanking the ugly railway bridge across the Thames between Waterloo and Charing Cross stations, is all white pylons and cables, a bit like a ship's rigging. Pedestrians walking across the bridge on the upriver side have a panoramic view previously blocked by the railway bridge since 1860. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are on one side and the London Eye, and County Hall are on the other. Cross on the downriver side for views of the city.

At the Charing Cross pier just below the bridge, you can catch a riverboat for travel downstream to Greenwich and upstream to Hampton Court. Most of the boat trips are narrated, and all have refreshments on board.

Fountains for free

After crossing the Hungerford Bridge, turn right and stroll through the riverside Embankment Gardens past the Dorchester Hotel to Somerset House. "House" is perhaps a misleading term for this vast building, once a palace belonging to Henry VIII. The building now houses the Courtauld Gallery, the Gilbert art collection and the Hermitage Rooms, which re-creates Russia's famous Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Somerset House is beautiful to walk around. As well as the art exhibitions, there are lectures, a river terrace cafe, the Admiralty Restaurant & Bar and the magnificent outdoor Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, where fountains gurgle and put on displays at 1, 6 and 10 p.m. During the day it's lovely; by night it's spectacular. Each winter, the Fountain Court turns into an open-air ice rink.

Millennium Bridge, the Globe

From Somerset House, continue past Temple and Inns of the Court walking downriver toward the Millennium Bridge. After its shaky start (the bridge had to be re-engineered after it swayed unpromisingly shortly after it opened) pedestrians can now leisurely cross the river from St. Paul's Cathedral directly to the steps of the Tate Modern. But before you step off the bridge, look to the left for Shakespeare's Globe.

Nearly 400 years after Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre burned to the ground during a performance in 1613, the Globe has been rebuilt almost on the same site using construction methods and materials as close to the original as possible. The open-air Elizabethan theater is octagonal; for winter productions, there is an indoor theater. Visitors from October to April can take a guided tour and learn how it was to attend a play in Shakespeare's time. There are no afternoon tours during the summer, when historically authentic Shakespeare productions are staged.

Big at the Tate Modern

From the outside, it's an unadorned and abandoned power station. On the inside, the Tate Modern presents 20th-century British and European art in more than 80 galleries with titles such as "Memory/History/Society" or "Still Life/Object/Real Life."

The Tate Modern is not only Europe's largest gallery for modern art, it's the repository for some of the largest pieces of art on the planet.

In the foyer earlier this year, Anish Kapoor's "Marsyas," a dark red PVC membranous "swaying" sculpture, filled the Turbine Hall (the hall is 500 feet long, 75 feet wide and 115 feet high). The piece is so big it cannot be viewed in its entirety from one position, thus mystery surrounds its true form.

Standing beneath it, a faint hum is audible as the huge sculpture moves and gently displaces the air waves.

Riverside stroll

From the Tate Modern, it's a short walk back to the National Theatre starting point along the newest section of the Thames Riverside Walk, opened exactly one year ago. The walk passes riverside pubs and Gabriel's Wharf square formed by the backs of old warehouses painted to resemble housefronts.

A short walk from Gabriel's Wharf is the Riverside Walk Market in front of the National Film Theatre, where book fiends can immerse themselves among trestle tables full of new and second-hand books and prints.

If you go ...

Getting there

A round-trip fare to London can cost as much as $1,400 between June and September. Cheaper fares are available on the Internet.

What to do

There is no charge to use the Hungerford and Millennium footbridges.

• Royal National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX, (020) 7452-3400, www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. Waterloo tube. Backstage tours: 10 a.m., 12.30 p.m., 4 p.m. daily. $8.
• British Airways London Eye, South Bank, Waterloo tube, (0870) 5000-600, www.ba-londoneye.com. Book well ahead. Hours: April-October, 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., May-September, 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. $15.
• Dali Universe, County Hall, Waterloo tube, www.daliuniverse.com. 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, $12.
• London Aquarium, County Hall, Waterloo tube, www.londonaquarium.com, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. $12.
• Somerset House, Embankment, Charing Cross tube, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Fountain Court is 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the summer). (020) 7845-4600, www.somersethouse.org.uk. Admission to Somerset House and the Fountain Court is free; art collections, $8.
• Globe Theatre, Bankside, SE1, 7902-1500, www.shakespearesglobe.org. Tours and exhibitions: May-September 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. daily. October-April 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. $12.
• Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1, 7887-8000, www.tate.org.uk. Blackfriars tube. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Free.
• Gabriel's Wharf Market is Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where to eat

There's no shortage of good eateries on this route but be warned — eating out in London is expensive. Luckily, pubs provide great alternatives to pricey restaurants.

The National Theatre has several options for lunch and dinner. The Mezzanine restaurant has a set menu and waitress service, open noon to 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., $15-$40. An espresso bar in the foyer is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and until 7 p.m. Saturdays. Circle bars and restaurants are linked to performance times. The Lyttelton buffet in the foyer has a delicious selection of sandwiches, salads and quiches with alcoholic and soft drinks, noon to 11 p.m.

At Somerset House Admiralty Bar & Restaurant, you can linger over lunch with excellent terrines, generous desserts and fine wines overlooking the Thames, but expect to pay for the privilege, $60 per head, 7845-4646.

The slim, oak-beamed Anchor Tavern, wedged on the riverside, has a long history with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre nearby. The Globe bar has a Tudor doll's house that commemorates the great bard's theater, while Dr. Johnson's room evokes memories of an earlier era.

Beer enthusiasts can sample a number of ales, including Directors Bitter and Ruddles, and Adnams beer. Upstairs, the neat restaurant specializes in English food, with grills and roasts among the most popular dishes. Tom Cruise had a pint here in "Mission Impossible." In the bar, a pint of best bitter costs around $6.50. Pub grub ranges from hearty sandwiches to hot dishes, mostly under $10.