Alternative tourism (I)

One of the coolest things about London is you never stop discovering new interesting places... and, much more important than that, you never stop doing that for free. Yesterday I focused on the City, hence it was a difficult task as it is very likely the area I know better. I succeeded, though, as I found out as much as four new different things you might be interested to visit the next time you're coming to this great city.

1. Old Bailey
Old Bailey EC4M 7EH, London


The Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court) is one of the few places in the world you are allowed to attend a trial. You have even brochures on the door, so you can choose the petty criminal you prefer to be jailed today... quite weird stuff, by the way. It is one of the oldest Criminal Courts in the world, and, very likely, the most famous one. Moreover, you can check on the Internet what trials are going on every single day, and decide if you feel like murdering or rape as today's dessert ;D.
Or, at least, it is supposed to be like that, because the real thing is I wasn't let through. The reason? No electronic devices are permitted inside, and that includes an ipod (fair enough) and a mobile phone (¿?¿?)... so, if you want to visit it, leave all that at your place, and forget to dress one of those cyberdog t-shirts :D



Even not going in, the building from the outside is impressing, so the visit was worthy enough. And I'll go back when Adrian (a lazy lawyer friend of mine) is coming in a couple of weeks, so he'll kindly explain all the technical stuff. And, if you are really pissed off about not surpassing the door check, you can always go back to this blog most referred movie, V for Vendetta:



2. The Guildhall
London Guildhall

The Guildhall was really a discovery. The center of the city's government since the middle age, this amazing building highlights an great square, where the Guildhall Art Gallery (a nice museum I didn't visit as it's not for free) and a couple of churches make up a relaxing hidden den in the middle of the city's din. The Great Hall is the third biggest civil Hall in Great Britain, and it is possible to visit it when no meeting or honorific event is taking place on it (I did so). If something's going on, you can always take sit and attend the event, which sure creates an incredible old fashioned atmosphere.
The Great Hall is cool. The coffered ceiling is amazing, and all the paintings, engraved statues, stained glass and embellished furniture add up to an awesome place to visit. There are some monuments to Britain Heroes as Churchill or Wellington. Moreover, as it is quite unknown, you'll be able to visit by your own, which contributes to the place's charm. And the reception workers are really sympathetic, and treated me in a really warm and friendly way (in cotrast with the bloody Old Bailey bastards).


3. The clockmakers museum
London Guildhall

This cosy museum, adjacent to the Great Hall and the Great Library in Guildhall, describes the history of clock making craft, focusing in its London history. I am not really crazy about clocks or swatches, but I have to say that it was a piece of instructive museum, this one. Founded by the Clock Makers Company (former clockmakers guild, 1631), it's not big enough to get boring, and not as small as to be completely irrelevant, I really enjoyed the visit, as the explaining panels are concise, clear and quite entertaining. You discover there that the clockmakers guild was once a powerful mafia, as chemists or taxi lobbies or associations are today in Spain ;). Again, the reception personnel were really nice.

4. College of arms
Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4BT


Well, this last one really didn't worth the visit. The College of Arms is a pompous institution devoted to armorial bearings and heraldry in the UK. Great for them. The only thing you can actually visit is the Earl Marshall Court (the one in the picture), which is nice but not nice enough for the walk. No reason to come back, really, unless you are really interested in heraldry, family trees and all those posh things.


5. Street Art (Tate Modern)
Bankside, London SE1 9TG

Tate Modern is one of the best modern art museums in the world, and one of my favourites. It worth an own post in the blog, so I won't write a lot about it now. What I visited yesterday was a new and original graffiti exposition (Street Art, as they call it) in the front walls of the museum... just have a look at the pictures I took with my mobile phone, they are cool (they are something as 15 m tall each!)