Where was I?

Ah yes, the Open House weekend in London. It's been going for several years now, but this is the first time I've managed to participate. It's truly a splendid idea, and one I'm quite enamoured with, especially after today. And, judging from some of the queues I witnessed (more on that in a moment) I'm not alone in that sentiment.

First you'll have to permit me a small whinge about the Jubilee line. It's a line on the underground which runs through the capital from, roughly speaking, east to west. It was recently extended to serve the long neglected east end of London and some of the architecture for the new stations is quite remarkable. Vast silver and grey spaces which managed to make me rethink my instinctive dislike of concrete. Anyway, my whinge is regarding the maps on the trains themselves which display the stations through which the line runs. This particular map, in fact. Have a look at it. Now, given that the line runs east to west, would you guess that Stratford, the first station present on the map, is located in the east or west? West, you say? Well no, that would be too obvious. The stations are presented in precisely the opposite arrange you'd expect. Things like that just get to me. Whinge ends.

City Hall was up first, another recent creation from the ubiquitous Lord Norman Foster, an architect who work can been seen in virtually every corner of the city. It's a curious looking structure from the outside, interesting rather than dazzling. From the outside. But it was the interior I'd really wanted to see, largely because of it's central stair case. It's takes up an vast amount of space, is probably completely impractical, but is visually stunning. It also bounces slightly if you run up and down it. But don't tell anyone I told you. Besides that I was also pleased to discover there are some fine views to be had from the top of the building too, especially of the neighbouring Tower Bridge.

I anticipated that The Swiss Re Tower (aka the gherkin) would be a popular destination, so I headed there next, hoping that I would be early enough to avoid the inevitable crowds. Not early enough as it turned out. Not by a long shot. It should have been a giveaway that the normally deserted streets of the City at the weekend were thronged with people strolling along holding copies of the Open House guide, but I was still amazed to reach the tower and discover a queue the likes of which are rarely encountered outside of Disney World. I quickly decided that any queue I couldn't see the end of probably wasn't worth joining (which also ruled out the adjacent Lloyds of London). It was a bit of a shame, since the Tower allegedly offers spectacular views, but it would have taken the best part of a few hours to reach.

The The Royal Courts of Justice were next. Visually it's one of my favourite buildings in London. It's exterior resembles a enormous gothic cathedral, and I'd long been curious as to it's contents. Unfortunately, the interior was disappointing. Sparse is probably the best way to describe it, or austere. There's very little in the way of decoration inside, though it was worthwhile to get the chance to sit in a courtroom, and the atmosphere felt as though it was trapped a hundred years in the past. However, I was intrigued to find out that they will be staging a re-enactment of a famous court case in October. I quite fancy trotting along to that.

Also disappointing were the Offices of the Deputy Prime Minister. These could only be seen by way of guided tour, which turned out to consist of only two rooms. Both were of historical interest, one having been Nelson's boardroom, the other having been were Nelsons body lay overnight before being transported to St. Paul's. The former was reasonably interesting, having been well preserved, and containing some elaborate wood carvings as well as a still operational wind dial mounted on the wall. The latter on the other hand was little more than an empty office. This was a little irksome, especially considering the lengthy security check involved to get there.

Much more interesting was Freemasons Hall. It's a glorious art deco building full of intricate stained glass windows and mosaics. And I'll admit to a great deal of curiosity to the Freemasons in general. Of course, perhaps the biggest surprise was the discovery that the hall has a giftshop. I bought some chocolate and moved on.

And finally was the Royal Institution. I'll admit that I was a huge fan of the institutes Christmas Lectures. I arrived just in time to sit in on lecture put on for the open day. I'll confess the content, whilst interesting, wasn't nearly as much fun as simply sitting in the lecture theatre looking around. I'd dearly like to attend one of the Christmas lectures themselves, but alas, I'll be out of the country at the time.

Sorry to cut this short, but it's a school night and I can't stay up too late. But before I go, I promised you a picture of myself in a kilt. Don't laugh now. I'm the short one. The handsome gentleman to my left (your right) is my brother Nicky.