Download PDF Secret London An Unusual Guide Rachel Howard 9782361951108 Books
Download As PDF : Secret London An Unusual Guide Rachel Howard 9782361951108 Books
Where can you find monsters in Trafalgar Square? Whatever happened to Bedlam? Where can you praise God, buy meat- balls and have a sauna? What's in the House of Dreams? To which secret society does Prince Charles belong? What's the trick to instant weight loss?
Secret London, An Unusual Guide, is the original and still the best of all the many alternative London guides accept no imitation. Authors Rachel Howard and Bill Nash have prowled the city streets, seeking out the hidden, eccentric and overlooked. Now the definitive insider's guide to London has been fully updated, with over 40 new entries and a brand new look.
Far from the crowds and the usual clichés, London still reserves a number of hidden treasures for those who know how to wander off the beaten track.
Download PDF Secret London An Unusual Guide Rachel Howard 9782361951108 Books
"A lot of useful information. I hope to find some out of the way places to discover on my upcoming visit to London. It has been 30 years since my last visit, so a lot has changed, I am sure. I prefer to find unusual spots wherever I go, so I try to find this sort of guide before traveling. The book has a lot of interesting and unusual spots to visit, and the maps with marked locations, done by city areas, look to be especially great for allowing my and my travel buddy to find interesting side junkets on top of the big, "must see" things (like theater and Buckingham palace, for which we have tickets.)"
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Secret London An Unusual Guide Rachel Howard 9782361951108 Books Reviews :
Secret London An Unusual Guide Rachel Howard 9782361951108 Books Reviews
- "It's a serene, unpretentious little place with a real sense of community - a perfect spot to settle in with the Sunday papers while your kids make a beeline for the poisonous plants." - from SECRET LONDON, regarding Chumleigh Gardens
London is my favorite city of all those in the world I've visited. SECRET LONDON by Rachel Howard and Bill Nash (with photos by Stephanie Rivoal and Jorge Monedero) is for travelers like me who've been there more times than I can count and might foolishly wonder what there's left to see.
This "unusual guide," which can fit in a backpack, is divided into the city's geographic areas. They are, with the number of described points-of-interest in parenthesis Westminster to Camden (35), Temple to Angel (38), Tower Bridge to Shoreditch (26), Marylebone to Shepherd's Bush (14), Westminster to Hammersmith (10), South Bank to Brixton (15), Whitechapel to Woolwich (19), Greater London - North (20), and Greater London - South (14). There's also a bonus section listing thirty-five Unusual Bars, Cafes, and Restaurants around town.
Each area is prefaced both with a color map showing major streets and a numerical listing of the points-of-interest for that area; the numbers are positioned on the map.
The majority of the points-of-interest are described by a single color photo and a half-page to a full page of text that includes address, website, phone number, hours, admission fee (if any), and nearest Tube station. On each page there may also be noted "Sights Nearby," which may or may not be included in the numbering scheme.
Of the 191 numbered listings, I'm ashamed to admit that I've seen only two John Snow's Cholera Pump and the Thames Flood Barrier. Having admitted my disgrace, however, I must point out that most, if not all, would appeal to those whose interests are rather esoteric, and I likely wouldn't visit many of them anyway. The City of London Bowling Club? The Cherry Tree at the Mitre Tavern? The Fan Museum? The Handlebar (moustache) Club? The Twinings Tea Museum? The London Buddhist Centre? The Fetter Lane Moravian Burial Ground? The Bread Basket Boy? The West Reservoir? The Marylebone Cricket Club Museum? The Magpie Alley Crypt? The Brixton Windmill? The Traffic Light Tree? The Giant Scribble? Um, no to all and many more, I'm afraid.
But, I would attend to such as the Westminster Abbey Undercroft, the Hyde Park Pet Cemetery, the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising, the Materials Library, Nunhead Cemetery, Relics of the Elephant Man, the BFI Mediatheque, the Old Operating Theatre, and a few more. Perhaps even Chumleigh Gardens to watch the unsupervised kids make a beeline for the poisonous plants.
I'm awarding five stars to SECRET LONDON because it does beautifully what it was intended to do, i.e. provide guidance to London's unusual and alternative attractions. My only complaint is that the authors' dry humor is displayed only rarely. - Once you feel familiar with a given city, how do you start to delve into the place at a deeper level? We took Secret London “An Unusual Guide†and it was a delightful way of finding some new and unusual things to see.
We were based Fitzrovia/Bloomsbury and so focused on some of the suggestions for that area. An interesting excursion to The Hardy Tree, in Old St Pancras Churchyard (just 5 minutes’ walk from at the back of St Pancras, was a bit of a revelation. How often had I passed by that graveyard without realizing the gems within.
Author Thomas Hardy originally trained as an architect and was involved in clearing graves to make way for the extension of the Midland Railway. Dealings with dead informed his writing in later years. Today, those stacked up gravestones have been incorporated into a tree over the years and makes for a real blend of man-made and natural elements. The same graveyard offers up the tomb for John Soane (architect of Dulwich Picture Gallery, also mentioned in the book). This provided inspiration for the iconic red telephone boxes that dotted the city until very recently. Who know?
Have you noticed the caryatids at St Pancras Church, modeled on the Erechtheum of the Acropolis? Now rather blackened because of its location on, Euston Road. Sculptor Charles Rossi constructed them off site and when they were transported from his studio to the church, he discovered they were too tall. He thus cut out their midriffs.
And the gems just keep rolling in. A lovely guidebook to take you away from the big tourist attractions…. - A lot of useful information. I hope to find some out of the way places to discover on my upcoming visit to London. It has been 30 years since my last visit, so a lot has changed, I am sure. I prefer to find unusual spots wherever I go, so I try to find this sort of guide before traveling. The book has a lot of interesting and unusual spots to visit, and the maps with marked locations, done by city areas, look to be especially great for allowing my and my travel buddy to find interesting side junkets on top of the big, "must see" things (like theater and Buckingham palace, for which we have tickets.)
- This book is great, already through part of it. I understand that the average tourist wants to hit the common places, but just in case, its always good to steal away to find the small out of the way places. I have been to London several times and purchased this for my husband. We both love it and look forward to using it as we just found out we are moving to London for a bit...so excited to see all the little out of the way places! Thanks for writing such a fantastic book!
- In the last two years, I have been to London four times and wanted to see less touristy things this time around. This book is awesome and just what I needed! I have a couple of friends who live in London (even one who was born and raised) - and even they didn't know about some of the things in this book. Had many great adventures thanks to the spots listed in the book. Also, for days I didn't want to carry the book around, I made a xerox copy of the maps and highlighted the locations I wanted to see that day, and was able to just walk around and find the locations just fine.
- We used this guide on a recent visit to London, and found it useful, opening doors to the obscure we might not have noticed. The descriptions are accurate as far as we tested them, and the format is portable. There is another book with the same title - get both! More fun than Pokemon Go.
- This is a great book packed with a lot of information covering all the different sections of London. I was surprised with how dense it was and with the great production quality. If you're looking for things to do beyond the normal touristy stuff, pick this up. It is delightful.
