Cultural Centers
Several of London's large cultural centers are bleak, concrete monstrosities, but the events held inside are world class. The South Bank, on the 'wrong side' of the Thames, looks spectacular at night, and includes the Hayward Gallery, the brilliant Festival Hall, the National Theatre and the National Film Theatre. The Barbican is a brutal architectural nightmare, saved only by the fact that it's the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Classical Orchestra. The restored Globe Theatre is a faithful reproduction of the original （complete with thatched roof and ash and nutshell floors）, which featured Shakespeare's plays and was closed by Puritans in 1642. The Institute for Contemporary Art is a great place to relax, hang out and see some cutting-edge film, dance, photography, theatre and art.
Green Bits
Huge Hyde Park used to be a royal hunting ground, was once a venue for duels, executions and horse racing, and even became a giant potato field during WWII. It is now a place of fresh air, spring color, lazy sunbathers and boaters on Serpentine Lake. Features of the park include sculptures by Jacob Epstein and Henry Moore, the contemporary Serpentine Gallery and Speaker's Corner. Regents Park is the home of London Zoo, a mosque, and an open-air theatre. The Queen Mary Rose Gardens in the center of the park are particularly spectacular. Nearby Primrose Hill has a great view of London.
Kew Gardens, in Richmond, Surrey, is both a beautiful park and an important botanical research center. There's a vast expanse of lawn and formal gardens and two soaring Victorian conservatories - the Palm House and the Temperate House - which are home to exotic plant life. Hampstead Heath is one of the few places in London where you can actually forget that you're in the middle of an 800-sq-mile （1300 sq km） city. There are woods, meadows, hills and bathing ponds and, most importantly of all, lots of space.
Plant your feet in two different time meridians at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park. Nearby is the world's biggest, emptiest and most expensive bouncy castle, the Millennium Dome, which is now closed as a tourist attraction.
Markets
The huge Camden Markets could be the closest England gets to free-form chaos outside the terraces of football stadium. They stretch between Camden and Chalk Farm tube stations, incorporating Camden Lock on the Grand Union Canal, and get so crowded on the weekends that you'll think you're in the Third World. The markets include the Camden Canal Market （bric-a-brac, furniture and designer clothes）, Camden Market （leather goods and army surplus gear） and the Electric Market （records and 1960s clothing）.
The colourful Portobello Market is London's most famous street market, best seen on a Saturday morning before the gridlock sets in. It's full of antiques, jewelery, ethnic knick-knacks, second-hand clothes and fruit and vegetable stalls. Petticoat Lane is East London's celebrated Sunday morning market, but it's overrated, overpriced, and appeals only to those so bleary-eyed from the night before that they think they need broken chocolate bars, ugly trinkets and cut-price cans of Ajax. Brixton Market is a cosmopolitan treat made up of a rainbow coalition of reggae music, slick Muslim preachers, halal meat and fruit and vegetables. Its inventory includes wigs, homeopathic root cures, goat meat and rare records.
No other area of Britain is as rich in history, tradition, and cultural associations as London. Throughout the capital there are great mansions, venerable old buildings, quaint houses, unrivalled collections of art treasures, tremendous sweeps of glorious parkland and colorful ceremonies to suit every possible taste and mood. History is from there and ,of course, it is worthwhile visiting London.
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