Page 64 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

62  BRIT AIN AND IRELAND

q Madame
Tussauds
Marylebone Rd NW1. Tel 0871-894
3000. 1 Baker St. Open from 9:30am
daily; closing times vary. Closed Dec
24 (afternoon) & Dec 25. & = -
7 ∑ madametussauds.co.uk
Madame Tussaud began her
wax-modeling career making
death masks of victims of the
French Revolution. In 1835,
after moving to England, she Wooden rowboats available to rent on Regent’s Park boating lake
set up an exhibition of her
work in Baker Street, near the garden suburb, dotted with 56 In 1730, the Westbourne
museum’s present site. villas in a variety of Classical styles. River was dammed by Queen
Traditional techniques are Eight villas were built inside the Caroline to create an artificial
still used to create the figures park (three survive round the lake – the Serpentine. Today,
of royalty, politicians, actors, edge of the Inner Circle). cafés, restaurants, and the
pop stars, and sporting heroes. The boating lake boasts Serpentine Gallery, which
In the renowned Chamber of many varieties of water has exhibitions of
Horrors, some of the original birds. In summer, Queen modern art, dot the
French Revolution death masks Mary’s Gardens are full of fringes of the lake, which
are displayed, and vivid scenes flowers and Shakes peare is a popular venue for
of murders are recreated: the productions are staged at the boating and swimming.
murderer Dr. Crippen, Vlad the Open Air Theatre nearby. At the southeast corner
impaler, and the chilly gloom Musical performances are of Hyde Park stands
of an east London Victorian also held at the Apsley House, the grand
street during Jack the Ripper’s bandstand on the former home of the
time in the late 19th century. weekend. Broad Walk Duke of Wellington.
In the final section – the Spirit provides a picturesque Now a museum of
of London – visitors travel in stroll north from Park memorabilia to the
stylized taxi-cabs and participate Square towards great politician and
in momentous events in the Primrose Hill. soldier, the lavish
city’s history, from the Great Fire London Zoo, interiors designed
of 1666 to the Swinging Sixties. with its vast animal Statue of Peter Pan in by Robert Adam are
enclosures, borders Kensington Gardens also worth seeing.
the park, and is also A law passed in
an important center of wildlife 1872 made it legal to
research and conservation work. assemble an audience and
address it on whatever topic
e Hyde Park you chose. Since then,
Speaker’s Corner, at the
W2. Tel 0300-061 2000. 1 Hyde Park northeast corner of the park,
Corner, Knightsbridge, Lancaster Gate, has been the established
Marble Arch. Open dawn–midnight venue for budding orators.
daily. 7 ∑ royalparks.org.uk Crowds gather on Sundays
to listen to lively speeches.
Making a model of singer Luciano Pavarotti The ancient manor of Hyde was Adjoining Hyde Park are
at Madame Tussauds part of the lands of Westminster Kensington Gardens, the
Abbey seized by Henry VIII at the former grounds of Kensington
Dissolution of the Monasteries in Palace, which were opened
w Regent’s Park 1536. James I opened the park to the public in 1841. A royal
to the public in the early 17th residence for centuries, the
NW1. Tel 0300-061 2300. 1 Regent’s
Park, Great Portland St, Camden Town. century, and it was soon one palace was Princess Diana’s
Open dawn–7pm daily. 7 London of the city’s most fashionable home until her untimely death.
Zoo: Tel 0844-225 1826. Open from public spaces. Unfortunately, Attractions in the gardens
10am daily; closing times vary. Closed it also became popular with include the bronze statue of
Dec 25. & ∑ royalparks.org.uk duelists and highwaymen, J. M. Barrie’s fictional Peter Pan
prompting William III to have (1912), by George Frampton,
This area of land was enclosed 300 lights hung along Rotten and the Round Pond where
as a park in 1812. John Nash Row, the first street in England to model boats are sailed. The
designed the scheme and be lit at night. Today, Rotten Row dignified Orangery (1704) is
originally envisaged a kind of is used for horseback riding. now an upscale café.
For hotels and restaurants see pp104–6 and pp107–9

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