 |
|
|
|
 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
by Monica Conrady
Double-Decker Buses. When the word got around that the beloved red double-decker bus known as a Routemaster was to be retired, there was a huge outcry. Progress eventually won out, but two buses, the numbers 9 and 15, were reprieved and now buzz along what are called Heritage Routes. The 9 runs from Kensington to the Aldwych, passing by the Royal Albert Hall and Piccadilly. The 15 runs from Trafalgar Square to Tower Hill, passing St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London on the way. Some Route Masters have been replaced by what Londoners call Bendy buses. They’re the long, articulated ones that ‘bend’ in the middle. Nice, but not as nice as the Routemaster.
St. Pancras Station. It used to be a bit of a dinosaur, but no longer. Built in 1868 in the Victorian Gothic style, it has now been reborn as St. Pancras International. It was back in 1964 that the then poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman, launched a campaign to save the historic station from the wrecking ball. Through his efforts it was designated a Grade 1 Listed building, but over the years it still fell into disrepair. Its salvation came with the arrival of the new Eurostar terminus, home to the high speed train to the continent, which has moved from its former location at Waterloo Station. These days St. Pancras is a destination in itself with--as well as trains--upmarket shops, a daily farmers’ market, a new gastropub and Europe’s longest champagne bar.
Royal Geographic Society. The London headquarters of the society, founded in 1830, is now open to the public for the first time in its history. Among the society’s collection are Charles Darwin’s pocket sextant used on the HMS Beagle, Dr. Livingstone’s watercolor sketches of Victoria Falls and the diaries of Lord Hunt, leader of the 1953 expedition in which the Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the top of Mount Everest. There is also a permanent exhibition of photographs relating to some of the world’s most famous explorers.
Return to: Potpourri , Top, Home.
