1. Monument: Monument Yard, Fish St Hill, EC2. Monument or Cannon St tube station. Sir Christopher Wren's spectacular column symbolizing the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666 (its 202ft height is equal to the distance it stands from Pudding Lane where the fire started). Magnificent views over London are offered to those brave enough to conquer the column's 311 steps. Open Mon-Fri 9am-5.40pm, Sat/Sun 2pm-5.40pm.

2. Notting Hill: It's quite hard to believe that what is currently London's most fashionable area was described as "a massive slum, full of multi-occupied houses, crawling with rats and rubbish" only 40 years ago - definitely a no-go area. Such an area would not have warranted a second glance by London's hip and famous, let alone have inspired a film starring a bumbling Englishman and a starry American actress (if they did indeed make such films 40 years ago). The area had always been though of as the bad part of the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, yet in the past 30 or so years it has seen a massive transformation to the status it holds today. (Click on the photo below to view in details)

The "famous" flat with the blue door. This is the home of Hugh's character in the movie "Notting Hill"

This is the cafe, which Hugh Grant bought the orange juice and crashed into Julie Roberts at the corner of the street on his way back to his book store.

Although in the film Hugh Grant owned "The Travel Book Co.", the shop on which that was based is actually called The Travel Bookshop, as shown here below. The red writing that you can just about see on the window reads "We're nearly famous now" (!).

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The "famous" flat with the blue door. This is the home of Hugh's character in the movie "Notting Hill"

Notting Hill became home to a large number of Afro-Caribbean immigrants, causing some racial tension in the past. Britain's first race riots occurred in August 1958. However, the next year the Notting Hill Carnival emerged as a reply to the riots in an unofficial manner; by 1965 it took to the streets and has grown ever since. Its presence in the last weekend of August sees around one million people joining the party, backing up the claim that it is the world's biggest street festival outside Rio. Although the carnival has seen some trouble in the past, it is a relatively safe event now.

Aside from the carnival weekend, Notting Hill is a rather quiet area for most of the year. The exception is on Saturdays when Portobello Market is jam-packed.

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3. Kensington Garden: Hyde Park and Kensington Garden are the green lungs of London. These parks are located close to each other. This is where strollers, joggers, toy boat enthusiasts and tourists come together. Kensington Palace can be found in Kensington Gardens, part of Hyde Park. If you would like to pay tribute to late Princess Diana go there. After her death thousands upon thousand's of people came just to lay the flowers and leave cards.

   				Kensington Palace	Kensington Palace

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4. Royal Albert Hall: is an arts venue dedicated to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, situated in Kensington Gore in central London. The Albert Memorial is situated in Kensington Gardens, London, England, directly opposite the Royal Albert Hall. The memorial consists of an ornate pavilion containing a statue of Prince Albert, with statues representing Europe, Asia, Africa and The Americas at the four corners, all surrounded by a large sculptural frieze. By the late 1990s the Memorial had fallen into a state of some decay. A thorough restoration was carried out.

   In 1851 a Great Exhibition was held in Hyde Park, London, for which a so-called Crystal Palace was built. The exhibition was a great success and led Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, to propose that a permanent series of facilities be built in the area for the enlightenment of the public. Progress on the scheme was slow and in 1861 Prince Albert died, without having seen his ideas come to fruition. However, a memorial was proposed for Hyde Park, with a Great Hall opposite. The proposal was approved and the site was purchased with some of the profits from the Exhibition. Once the remaining funds had been raised, in April 1867 Queen Victoria signed the Royal Charter under which the Hall was to operate and on 20 May, laid the foundation stone.

   Designed by members of the Royal Engineers, influenced by ancient amphitheatres, the Hall was constructed mainly of brick, with terra cotta block decoration. The dome on top was made of steel and glazed. There was a trial assembly made of the steel framework of the dome in Manchester, then it was taken apart again and transported down to London via horse and cart. When the time came for the supporting structure to be removed from the dome after re-assembly in situ, only volunteers remained on site in case the structure dropped. It did drop - but only by 5/8 of an inch! The Hall was scheduled to be completed by Christmas Day 1870 and the Queen visited a few days beforehand to inspect. She was reported as saying "It looks like the British Constitution".

   The official opening ceremony of The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences (its full title) was on 29 March 1871 by the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria.

   Albert Memorial	Albert Memorial	Royal Albert Hall

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5. Hyde Park: This is the most prominent and famous park in whole of the UK. Surrounded from north with Queensway and Bayswater (plenty of youth hotels and hostels including Whiteleys shopping centre), with Mayfair (American Embassy, Bond Street, the Intercontinental hotel) from east, Kensington on west (nice small shops on Kensington Church Street) and plenty of bigger ones in High Street and Knightsbridge on south (Exhibition Road, Royal Albert Hall, Harrods shop, Belgrave Square with Embassies), this park has the best location from where you can reach main shopping streets and roads in London.

   Being 360 acres in size it can take some time to cross it over. In summer time there is option of renting a small boat and gently paddling in the lake, having refreshing drink or maybe fishing in certain allocated places. Beware; you will need a license for fishing. Just stroll around and see maybe a statue of Peter Pan or just enjoy the view.

   If you are into roller-skating this is the place for you. In the park itself there is Speakers Corner where you can let your soul out and scream at the whole world or have normal debate with strangers about topics that interest you.

   	Westmacott's Wellington Monument

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6. Marble Arch: was designed by John Nash, like much else of elegance in London. He was largely inspired by the Constantine Arch in Rome. The Arch was built in 1828 as the chief entrance to Buckingham Palace, but when the Palace was extended in 1851, the Arch was moved to its current site as an entrance to Hyde Park. Various road changes, most recently in the 1960s, have left the Arch on a traffic island, surrounded by cars and concrete. The metal gates within the Arch (by Samuel Parker) were the largest in Europe, and unfortunately were damaged in the move from Buckingham Palace, so that the semicircle at the top had to be removed. On top of the Arch was meant to be a bronze equestrian statue of George IV by Chantrey; this sculpture ended up in Trafalgar Square.

   The Marble Arch is of white Carrara Marble (cost 80,000 pounds when built), which looks rather splendid after its recent cleaning (February 1997). It has three archways, with Corinthian columns between, sculptural reliefs in the spandrels and in panels above the subsidiary arches, and wreaths at the ends completing the scheme. Keystone bearded heads form the keystones of each arch.

   The south side (park side) spandrels contain winged Victories with wreaths, and the main reliefs show a Roman-looking naval warrior with Justice on one panel, and Peace and Plenty on the other. They are by Edward Hodges Baily. On the north side, the reliefs include three female figures representing England, Ireland and Scotland; these are by Richard Westmacott. A 19th Century source attributes the wreaths to Flaxman, but I have not verified this.

   Marble Arch, 1880	Today's Marble Arch

    

John Nash: (1752-1835), famous designs: reworking of Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch, Carlton House Terrace, the layout of Regent Street, All Souls' in Langham Place and Park Crescent, the layout of Trafalgar Square& St James's Park in London. Outside London, rebuilding of Brighton Pavilion in Orientalist style. Back to Marble Arch

Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey RA: (1781 - 1841), one of the most important establishment sculptors in the early 19th Century. Among his many statues & monuments are the Sleeping Children<1871> in Lichfield Cathedral, a series of portraits in St Paul's Cathedral<including Gillespie & Heber> & in Westminster Abbey <including James Watt & Stamford Raffles>, William Pitt in Hanover Square & George IV in Trafalgar Square<made originally for Marble Arch>. A Queen Victoria is in the National Portrait Gallery. His Dalton is in Manchester Town Hall. His George Washington is in Boston State House, USA. Back to Marble Arch

Sir Richard Westmacott RA:  (1775-1856), studied under his father, Richard Westmacott the Elder, before going to Rome in 1793 to become a pupil of Canova. He achieved rapid success, and in 1797 was able to return to England and set up his own studio. He showed work at the RA from that year through until 1839, and became ARA in 1805 and RA in 1811. He was Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy from 1827 (after Flaxman), and was knighted in 1837. His studio was said to be the largest establishment of any sculptor bar that of Chantrey.

Westmacott produced a prodigal number of monuments, statues, busts and other works in stone, among the latter being the chimney piece for the Music Room in the Royal Pavillion, Brighton, the reliefs for the north side of the Marble Arch (as well as two other reliefs which ended up above the entrance to Buckingham Palace when the Arch was moved to its present location), the pedimental sculptures for the British Museum, and the Waterloo Vase.

The Waterloo Vase has a marble story? the enormous chunks of beautiful marble from which it was made were first spotted by Napoleon, passing through Tuscany on his way to Russia. Ever with an eye to posterity, the great general earmarked the marble to be kept in order to make a victory trophy for himself. Events did not turn out that way, and after Napoleon fall, the Grand Duke of Tuscany cautiously decided that presenting the marble to King George IV of Britain would be a good move. King George decided a Waterloo trophy would be most suitable, and Westmacott was given the commission. He produced a vase showing George on his throne, Napoleon unhorsed, and various allegorical figures. It was to go to the Waterloo Gallery at Windsor, but its great weight - 20 tons - meant that it in fact went to the National Gallery. Finally it was set up in Buckingham Palace Gardens.

Westmacott's more conventional sculptural work includes his diploma piece Jupiter and Ganymede at the RA, various allegorical works at Woburn Abbey, monuments at Westminster Abbey and St Paul, & statues of Nelson in Birmingham, Liverpool and Barbados (!). Outdoors in London may be seen a Duke of Bedford (Russell Square), C. J. Fox (Bloomsbury Square), Canning (Parliament Square), the monumental Duke of York on his pillar at Waterloo Place, and the even more monumental Achilles by Hyde Park Corner.

John Flaxman: (1755-1826), studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1769, and in 1775 became a designer for Wedgwood. From 1887-94 he directed Wedgwood's studio in Rome. While there, he produced several large sculptural groups. He also started designing for book illustrations, including for the Iliad, the Odyssey and Dante's Divine Comedy. He became the Royal Academy's first Professor of Sculpture (1810-1826). Sculpture by Flaxman can be seen in Westminster Abbey (Burns, Kemble, Mansfield) and St. Paul's Cathedral (Nelson). However, it is for his Wedgwood designs that he is best known today.

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