Not The Tube Olympics: Piccadilly Line
In the Tube Olympics, the big challenge is to visit all the London Underground stations in the shortest possible time. I've decided to do the same thing - plus the DLR - at a slower pace, getting out at each station and finding something interesting to take a picture of...
Gone, but not forgotten
Aldwych Piccadilly Line Added on 16 Apr 2009
"How did you get to this station?" I hear you cry. "Aldwych isn't on my Tube map!" All right, I didn't go by train to this one, because its branch on the Piccadilly Line closed in 1994 ... but I found its old entrances. Apparently it's now used as a film set, so it can be made into any station you fancy - and if you like, they'll even throw in a moving train. So to speak. But "Vauxhall Cross" in James Bond's "Die Another Day", sadly, is only a reconstruction.
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Welcome to England
King's Cross St. Pancras Circle, Hammersmith and City, Metropolitan, Piccadilly, Victoria and Northern Lines Added on 1 Feb 2009
This statue, that greets Eurostar travellers at the new St. Pancras terminal ... er, station, was originally going to have the two lovers kissing, but that was thought to be a step too far. I guess at 10 metres tall and in the middle of the concourse it is what one would call a "public display of affection" - or PDA.
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Fascinating light fittings at the V&A
South Kensington Circle, District & Piccadilly Lines Added on 2 Jan 2009
At the National History Museum, my favourite section is the Human Body, because it has the most interactive exhibits and buttons to press. And interesting psychological experiments where you pretend to be a detective ... or a red blood cell. (Not sure which takes the more imagination.) The V&A, sadly, doesn't focus on this sort of display, and after wandering through room after room of cabinets, vases and ornate Tudor cup-holders, I concluded (maybe unfairly) that the most interesting thing to see in this museum is its fabulous entrance hall ceiling light. Which is very pretty.
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In London, even pedestrians park
Holborn Central and Piccadilly Lines Added on 14 Nov 2008
If you thought it was difficult to find a parking place for your car in most cities, spare a thought for Londoners. It's so busy and congested here in the capital that the government have decreed that even pedestrians must use the designated parking facilities.
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Possibly the world's most awesome map shop
Leicester Square Northern and Piccadilly Lines Added on 1 Nov 2008
I like maps. I can look at them for hours. So a world-famous cartography and travel emporium on three levels, where even the floors are made of maps, is my idea of a Good Thing. It's amazing - they have everything from city plans of Cape Town to hiking maps of the Lake District, from 1931 Tube posters to expensive floor-standing globes. I came out of Stanfords clutching a large A-Z London poster, a sheet of 1960s-Tube-map wrapping paper and a guide to the quickest way out of every Tube station, to help me on my quest. Fabulous.
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