Best & worst London landmarks (w/reasons, plz)

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I was briefly in London last Friday, too briefly to do any fap-type stuff, sorry. I'll most likely be back in July. London seemed a lot nicer than it used to be, and I enjoyed being there! Yes! Anyway:

Worst:

Marble Arch
The bus goes past it on the way in. It just looks a bit pathetic, grubby, lost & sad. I kind of feel sorry for it when I look at it. It seems kind of out-of-scale, like it's a proof-of-concept model for the 3 times larger real thing that never got built.

"queen Elizabeth" Gates to Hyde Park
Unbelievably tacky & tasteless! Stand up close so you can't see the whole thing, and some of the detail, plus the stainless steel finish is nice, but the whole thing is like either an over-elaborate wedding cake, or one of those tacky model village things you see in ornamental china shops.

Best:

The Post Office Tower
the best example of 50's-60's modernism I can think of, IE the way the future was supposed to look, and all that cliche stuff. Such a weird and unlikely looking thing. looks great from any angle b/c wheee! it looks the same from any angle!! Every time I see it it kind of makes me feel all retro-nostalgic.

Tower Bridge
Eccentric-looking structure (hopeless mishmash of architectural ironmongery & twee scottish stately home) which is pleasing to my eye, despite looking like it was designed by people who didn't give a fuck what it looked like, as long as the bridge mechanism worked. Nice colourscheme too. I was flying back from Cyprus a few years ago, and I remember looking out of the plane window and seeing the tiny little tower bridge on the ground in the dim distance, and the sight of it filled me w/glee!!


Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:22 (twenty-one years ago)

worst-Albert Memorial: neo classical meets baroque neither come off well. Everything that was wrong wth the victorian period.

Best-St John's arch Clerkenwell: totally medieval looking and placed right in the middle of the nicest bit, of the nicest bit of london.

lukey (Lukey G), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Worst - Millenium Dome. Unmitigated disaster - no function and no associated regeneration, just a big empty tent.
Best - London Wall, cos the Romans built it. Runner up - Tower of London. Might be overpriced tourist magnet but it still looks great and is managed fairly well, and it's a castle which says it all.

beanz (beanz), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:41 (twenty-one years ago)

worst: archway library, reminds me of sunderland,

best: too many to mention, but i always liked the huge manor house pub, it was like a The Midland Hotel for the green lanes

charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:43 (twenty-one years ago)

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oliver.merrington/lidos/charltonlido.jpg

charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Best:

ihttp://www.nbhtravel.com/Europe/highgate,%20karl%20marx%20grave.jpg

Worst:

http://www.suprmchaos.com/maggie-thatcher2_052102.jpg

Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:48 (twenty-one years ago)

you have to pay hard-earned capital to see marx's grave ffs.

N_RQ, Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Worst: the gherkin; incongruous out of place, dynamite it now, please

Best: very difficult to say but either St pancras station or canary warf jubilee line station might fit the bill

Ed (dali), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, but that statue of maggie thatcher with its head knocked off could be the best!

I was in hyde park, watching mentalists people swimming in the serpenting, and i thought of "charlton lido", I must admit.

Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

you have to pay hard-earned capital to see marx's grave ffs.

Not if you walk to the back of the grounds of Highgate mental hospital.

Ed (dali), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:52 (twenty-one years ago)

serpentine

Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Worst: Millennium Dome. Intrusive, aggressive, ugly and useless.

Best: Battersea Power Station. Intrusive, aggressive, ugly and useless.

$V£N! (blueski), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 11:57 (twenty-one years ago)


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