Visit the home of the father of modern psychology

During the final months before the outbreak of the Second World War, Sigmund Freud, legendary Austrian psychiatrist and founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology left his native Vienna with his family and settled on a leafy street in South Hampstead. Following Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria, Freud, who was from a Galician Jewish background, and his family had received numerous visits from the Gestapo and he made the decision to leave for England so he could "die in freedom".


Just over a year later, in September 1939, following the return of oral cancer brought on by heavy smoking, Freud convinced his doctor and friend Max Schur to assist him in suicide.

What remains of the house in which he lived, largely preserved by Freud's daughter, Anna, has been turned into a small museum which gives a glimpse into his life and work, containing amongst other things Freud's library and study, preserved just as they were during his lifetime, his remarkable collection of antiquities, and his legendary psychoanalytic couch, on which his patients reclined.

The museum is a short walk from Finchley Road Tube, and entrance is £5. You can find out more at the website at http://www.freud.org.uk/.

Ride London's free passenger ferry

It is easy to forget that London still has a free scheduled ferry service. But out at Woolwich that's exactly what we have, quietly chugging away across the Thames every ten minutes from 6.10am until 8pm every day (11.30am-7.30pm Sundays).


A ferry has plied this route since the fourteenth century, and the free ferry has been in operation since 1889, and is still going strong.

However, now may be your time to ride the service, as it has a new challenger in the form of the DLR extension to Woolwich Arsenal, which opened yesterday, and passes through a new tunnel across the Thames near the ferry. Read more about that over at the Londonist.

You can read more interesting facts about London's remaining free passenger service over on Wikipedia.

^{^Picture from flickr courtesy of Nicobobinus ^}

Tour the oldest surviving Music Hall in the world

Wilton's Music Hall, just off Cable Street in the East End, is the world's oldest and last surviving grand music hall.

Though it now hosts regular theatrical and music-hall events, parts of the building are still derelict and only 60 percent of is safe, and in use.

As part of the drive to preserve this important part of London's history, the music hall offers tours of the building for just £5.

They're fairly irregular, only held approximately once a month, and must be booked in advance but they are sure to be an interesting introduction to the history of London's music halls, which were once a key part of life in our city.

Wilton's Music Hall is a 10 minute walk from Tower Hill or Aldgate East.

For more information visit the website here, or if you're more interested in taking in a show, have a look at what's on offer here.

^{^Picture of the Wilton's Music Hall Entrance from Wikipedia under Wikimedia Commons^}

Indulge your creative side at a creative cafe

If you ever feel like you don't tap into your artistic side enough, then this one could be for you.

Art 4 Fun is a creative cafe in the heart of West Hampstead, and it's your chance to get into arts and crafts for an afternoon, or just a couple of hours.

The concept is simple, you go along with your friends, pick an item (usually something ceramic), and paint it, and see who is genuinely artistic, and who is just trying hard. Talking is also allowed.

You then leave it for them to fire in the kiln and pop back at a later date to pick it up. Yes, you could be forgiven for thinking this is for kids, but why should kids have all the fun.

It's also open for parties and work team building, if you're interested. For more information and directions, have a look at the Art 4 Fun website at http://www.art4fun.co.uk.

Discover Hackney with the Hackney Society

The Hackney Society was formed in 1967 to "preserve Hackney's unique heritage and make the area a better place in which to live and work".

Whilst there are those who often dismiss Hackney in the knowledge that it is one of the most deprived local authorities in England, there is another side to the Borough, which has a rich history and is home to some 1,250 special historic (or listed) buildings and 20 conservation areas. Those who question this could do worse than taking a look at the Hackney Society's comprehensive photographic survey.

To promote the rich history of the area, the Hackney Society runs regular events and walks to encourage locals and those from further afield to learn about what makes Hackney special. Walks are about £5 to non-members, free to members (membership is £15) and you can find out more on the website at http://www.hackneysociety.org/events.htm.

Explore a 22 mile system of caves in the suburbs

It's a 22 mile system of tunnels dug out of the ground, only 20 minutes from London Bridge, inside the M25, and it's open to the public five days a week, fifty weeks a year. Where is it?

Chislehurst Caves were dug over the course of nearly eight hundred years between the 13th and 19th Centuries, as chalk and flint mines.

Since then, they've been used as an ammunition depot during the First World War, an air raid shelter during the Second World War, a music venue used by Status Quo, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and David Bowie, a mushroom factory, the set for a 70s Doctor Who episode, to film recent BBC series Merlin and to make a Cradle of Filth video.

The caves are open Wednesday - Sunday and 45 min tours start hourly between 10am and 4pm, and cost £5.

Regular trains run to Chislehurst from Charing Cross and London Bridge, and it's a short walk from there. For more information visit the website.

See the only street in Britain where cars drive on the right

I was under the impression that cars driving on the left was a universal rule in the United Kingdom. Not so, of course, for our great nation is defined by its quirks and differences.

So to the Savoy, or more precisely, to Savoy Court, the only street in the UK where vehicles are required to drive on the right. Apparently, this is a hangover from the original horse-drawn hackney carriages, where drivers would reach out of the driver's door window to open the passenger's door, without having to get out of their seat. I'm not quite sure why this would particularly make a difference but it seems to have stuck.

The hotel itself is currently closed for refurbishment so you'll probably have to wait a while to observe this faintly interesting phenomenon.

Wikiresearch on this also told me that the hotel entrance's small roundabout meant that vehicles needed a turning circle of 25 ft (8 m) in order to navigate it. This, we learn, is still the legally required turning circle for all London cabs.

^{^Picture from wikipedia under Wikimedia Commons^}

Try to work out which is London's smallest pub

There is a bit of dispute about which is London's smallest pub.

The Rake in the heart of Borough Market, claims to be London's smallest pub, but then so does The Feathers in Marlyebone, and the Cask and Glass in Victoria.

Meanwhile, the Dove in Hammersmith apparently has a genuine place in the Guiness Book of Records as having Britain's smallest bar in a pub, but is not London's smallest pub (though it's a pretty tight squeeze at weekends).

So why not grab your tape measure and hit the pubs yourself. Maybe you'll discover an even smaller one.

^{^Picture of the The Rake from flickr courtesy of Ewan-M^}

Hold a gold bar worth £240,000

In the heart of the City, in the Bank of England itself, is the Bank of England Museum, which charts the history of the bank and it's roles, as well as providing background on various aspects of economic policy and it's work.


Your author had been planning to go for some time, but the drawback of this very interesting little museum is that it's only open during banking hours: precisely 10am until 5.00pm, Monday to Friday. Closed weekends and Bank Holidays (naturally).

Whilst this is a problem for those of us who work, it is worthwhile making the trip if you're ever in the area as it's reasonably enlightening.

One highlight is the opportunity to hold a gold bar, which is surprisingly heavy, but there are also good background displays on things like inflation and bank notes. Some of these, however, are a little dated, and spill over with 2005-style economic optimism.

It's another free museum in London though, and if you work in the City it wont take longer than your lunchbreak to visit. Some bankers would do well to take a few moments to learn a little more about their jobs.

The museum is on the East side of the Bank of England. The best tube station is, naturally, Bank. Find out more at the museum's website here.

^{^Picture from flickr courtesy of sophie !!!^}

See London's underwhelming Roman Amphitheatre

Deep beneath the Guildhall Art Gallery there are a series of small walls which form part of a semi-circle.

These are the remains of Roman London's Amphitheatre, discovered during excavations beneath the Guildhall in 1988, and included in the new art gallery when it reopened in 1999 (having been closed since it was bombed out in 1941).

To be honest the whole experience is rather underwhelming, but nevertheless it is part of London's history and it is a reminder of how our city has changed.

It's open 10am-5pm Mon-Sat and 12-4pm on Sundays. Entrance is included in the price of the art gallery at a very acceptable £2.50, and it's free if you can prove you live or work in the City of London. For more information click here.

Visit an island with a place in rock history

Deep in the heart of Twickenham is Eel Pie Island, a small islet which is home to around 120 people.

The island was formerly home to the Eel Pie Hotel, which played host to a range of rock and roll greats during the 1960s, until it burned down in 1971. Charles Dickens also wrote Little Dorrit at the hotel.

The island is revered by those who visited in the 60s and was home to Eel Pie Studios, owned by Pete Townshend. Today the rock legacy is maintained by the band the Mystery Jets, who live there, and to a certain extent by the Eel Pie Club, a music club which is situated on the mainland nearby.

To get to the island from Central London, catch the tube of mainline railway to Richmond, then the H22 or 490 bus to Twickenham and walk from there. There are no roads of vehicles on the island and the only access is by a single footbridge. Click here for a map.

Learn about London's Canals

One of the London museums one rarely hears much about is the London Canal Museum. Opened in 1992 in a former Ice Warehouse, the museum charts the history of London's man-made waterways.

It costs £3 to get in but it is entirely independent and self-funded so I'm more than happy to chip in. I just hope Canals are interesting enough.

The nearest tube is Kings Cross St Pancras and you can find out more on the website at www.canalmuseum.org.uk.

Join the Tired Of London New Years Day Walk

Following on from the success of last year's New Years Day Walk on Hampstead Heath, you are invited to a second annual New Years Day Walk to bring in 2009.


Seeing as Kew Gardens is open for free on New Years Day, a walk along the Thames Path in the vicinity of Kew and Richmond is the plan, with a (short) visit to London's most famous overpriced gardens thrown in. Keep an eye on the facebook event for more information, but the walk probably involve meeting at Kew/ Barnes at around 11am on New Years Day. The consumption of a pub lunch by the river is more-or-less inevitable.

**************This event has now passed**************

Embrace austerity Britain - go charity and second hand shopping

In these times of recession and credit crunch, so long as you keep your job, it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom.

Back in 2007, Time Out put together a guide to some of the best charity shops in London, which due to their longevity is still very relevant.

Alternatively, if you're looking for something more chic on a budget, YouLoveFashion has a list of some of London's best vintage clothes shops.

So go and buy yourself a nice warm dead man's coat, turn down the heating and act like you're George Orwell in Keep The Aspidistra Flying.

Eat in the bath

Ciro’s Pizza Pomodoro at Bishopsgate is a modern pizzeria based inside a former Ottoman Hamam (Turkish Baths). Originally built in 1894 the restaurant classes itself as "one of London’s hidden architectural gems", and is definitely worth a look


It's at Bishopsgate in the City and pizza's are less than a tenner. You can book online or on 020 7920 9207, but it's closed weekends (like all of the City).

_{^Picture by Squirmelia^}