London Museum Explores Jewish Contribution In First World War

The world's oldest Holocaust library launches a temporary exhibition looking at German-Jews in WWI The Wiener Library, the world's oldest library devoted to the study of the Holocaust, launches a temporary exhibition on 24th June 2014 that runs until 8th October and will examine the contribution of Jewish soldiers to the German Army in the First World War. The exhibition is part of London's commemorations for the centenary of the 1914-1918 war. The Wiener Library is Britain's largest specialist collection of material on the Holocaust and genocide, with an archive going back 80 years. It was founded by Dr Alfred Wiener, a German-Jewish who himself fought for the German Army in the First World War. The library is located in the West End of London close to numerous museums and galleries. For more information on the library see here. Around 100,000 German Jews donned military uniform and approximately 12,000 died fighting for the German Army between 1914 and 1918. For many Jews the experience of the First World War was defined by a profound sense of commitment to Germany. The Jewish soldiers whose stories are told in the exhibition through the display of striking photographs, postcards, prints and books had remarkable experiences, performing surgery in Gallipoli, working with casualty dogs in the Ardennes, and setting up book stores on the Eastern Front. Dr Toby Simpson, curator of the exhibition, said: "The commitment of German Jews to patriotic ideals during and after the First World War is particularly striking as we look back on this moment in history at a distance of 100 years. The later attempts of the Nazis to distort, and even obliterate the contribution of Jewish soldiers to the First World War make the survival and richness of these collections all the more poignant." More information about the exhibition is available here.   About LondonTown.com LondonTown.com is the number one Internet site for London. With over 18 years of experience assisting visitors to the capital, they pride themselves on their customer service and editorial independence - no advertising or paid for content is allowed. The LondonTown.com team assist in finding cheap London hotels, sightseeing tours, ticket information and events. Trusted and with a loyal following, LondonTown.com is a very reliable source of recommendations and advice on what to do in London.

Travelore Tips: The Top 10 Museum Exhibitions In London

Many of London's museums are free to enter, but they also offer a wide range of temporary paid-for exhibitions. Don't miss these fantastic London museum exhibitions as selected by our editorial team. 

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Vikings: Life And Legend

The British Museum comes under invasion from the dreaded Vikings as it stages the first exhibition about the warriors in more than 30 years. Alongside the treasures that illustrate their raider and trader lifestyles, the centrepiece and highlight of the exhibition is a 37-metre-long Viking warship.6 Mar-22 Jun

Designs of the Year 2014

Hosted by the Design Museum, this prestigious contest looks to find the greatest efforts the vast world of creative design. Covering various categories, efforts include creations from the worlds of architecture, digital, fashion, furniture, graphics, transport and product. 26 Mar-22 Jun

Britain: One Million Years

Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story is the fascinating  exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Going back to the Swanscombe skull (from the earliest known Neanderthal in Britain) and the Clacton spear (the oldest wooden spear in the world), visitors are taken back in time with some amazing objects from Britain's past. 13 Feb-29 Sep

The Glamour of Italian Fashion

A showcase of Italian fashion since 1945 at theVictoria and Albert Museum in Kensington, including gemstone designs once owned by actorElizabeth Taylor. Visitors can examine the craftsmanship and luxurious materials that have made Italy a leader in couture and fine tailoring. 5 Apr-27 Jul

Mammoths: Ice Age Giants

Go on an inspiring journey through the life of one of the largest creatures ever to walk Earth withMammoths: Ice Age Giants at the Natural History Museum. Combining cutting-edge science, original skeletons and life-sized models, this is a chance for a close encounter with a long dead species. 23 May-7 Sep

Sensational Butterflies

Sensational Butterflies is the new interactive exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Visitors can take a stroll among hundreds of the colourful creatures, becoming involved in an exhibition in new and exciting ways. 3 Apr-15 Sep

Bond in Motion

Bond in Motion is the largest collection of official James Bond vehicles to ever be displayed in London. The exhibition includes models, production art, props and iconic vehicles including the white Lotus Esprit/submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me and ‘Little Nellie’ from You Only Live Twice. 21 Mar-31 Dec

Useful and Beautiful

The exhibition is a showcase of innovation and creativity relating to objects made for use in the home. The work of bright new talents and established designers has been brought together, covering everything from wallpaper, furniture and lighting to homeware and domestic products. 29 Apr-25 May

Hello, My Name is Paul Smith

Explore the creative world of Paul Smith at London's Design Museum. This unique exhibition traces the designer's career from small beginnings in Nottingham to international prominence today.15 Nov-22 Jun

Large Hadron Collider

Step inside the world's greatest experiment as the Science Museum recreate the inside of the Large Hadron Collider. Thousands of scientists and engineers worked together to uncover the secrets of the fundamental building blocks of our universe. Relive their dazzling efforts in this immersive exhibition that blends theatre, video and sound art.13 Nov-6 May

Travelore Tips: The Hottest New Restaurants And Bars In London

London’s drinking and dining scene has been extremely busy of late. New bars and restaurants have been opening up all over London. One particular food craze and one specific area of London both seem to be flourishing at the moment.

Burger CrazyThe hunt for the best burgers in London continues: Tommi’s Burger Joint has opened a second restaurant on the King’s Road in Chelsea; StreetFeast regulars, Baba G’s will be dishing up their Bhangra Burger sliders at Apples & Pears on Brick Lane from 10 April; Psychic Burger will open their second outlet at The Old Queen’s Head in Angel on 24 April (with a menu that will feature a burger made from 100% ethically-sourced horse meat); and Patty & Bun open restaurant number two on Liverpool Street in the City of London on 23 April. In other burger related news, Honky Tonk Chelsea are creating a dessert burger for Easter made from a brioche bun and warm chocolate mousse; and Honest Burger recently teamed up withBrewDog bar to create a limited edition burger that required customers to show ID before ordering due to the alcoholic amber ale glaze on the burger.

Covent Garden is BloomingPossibly London’s most prolific area for new bar and restaurant activity at the moment is Covent Garden in the West End. The American-inspired Big Easy now has a second London location where diners can enjoy their BBQ meats and seafood. Thai beer brand Singha has opened its first European restaurant Pacata in Covent Garden recently and Asian street food dominates the menu that was created by the first Michelin starred Ramen Chef. Following the recent Notting Hill opening of Boom Burger, Caribbean food now also has two new Covent Garden restaurants to boast: Jamaica Patty Company, headed by the twice-voted Caribbean Chef of the Year, and Dub Jam, a colourful BBQ and rum shack located in a former cloakroom. Dub Jam’s signature punch is pumped through the restaurant’s speakers to infuse the drink with authentic reggae sounds! On the Covent Garden horizon, keep an eye out for the new venture from popular Spanish restaurant, Barrafina (also of Soho) which opens in May.

Further New Bar and Restaurant OpeningsOne Kensington is the glamorous new hangout for lunch, dinner, cocktails and late supper overlooking Kensington Palace Gardens.

Chef Rainer Becker is back once again with yet more contemporary Japanese Robatayaki cuisine at Roka Mayfair.

Traditional Georgian cuisine served in the most splendid of Mayfair settings at Marani.

Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous goes rustic with his second London restaurant Barnyard,which is decorated to match its name.

Bravas is a new Spanish restaurant in St Katharine Docks, only minutes from Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

Holborn Dining Room and Delicatessen sees high class British dishes set amongst historical elegance in the new, ultra-luxury, five-star Rosewood London hotel.

Contributed by Christian Rose-Day

London's Museums And Galleries Open Their Doors After Hours

Museums at Night returns, reports LondonTown.com

Offering twilight tours, royal banquets and even some sleepovers, Museums at Night returns  with more exclusive viewings and events. With museums, galleries and heritage sights all across the UK taking part, a number of London venues will be opening their doors after hours.

Venues taking part in this year's event include Hampton Court Palace, offering a hearty supper and the chance to sleep like a king; Museum of London, a collection of London's best comic improvisers create a late-night show inspired by mystery medieval objects; and Tate Modern, which will host a number of workshops, events and conversations.

The National Trust launches its London Project this weekend. This radical reworking of the 117-year-old charity aims to engage a younger audience with London's built heritage, history and outdoor spaces through a number of one-off events that span arts, culture and the urban green environment.

The project kicks off with a partnership with Chelsea Fringe, which runs throughout the summer, with further collaborators including The Art of Dining, The Last Tuesday Society and 200-year-old gamesmaker, Jaques.

There are two major exhibitions in London, including In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion at The Queen's Gallery, which displays a number of paintings, jewellery items, garments and armour to explore 16th and 17th century royal fashions, proving that the fascination with royal fashion started long before Kate Middleton. While the British Library launches Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, a representation of propaganda in many forms, from its origin in ancient Greece up until the present day, and how it affects us every day.

Food lovers have a number of events to choose from across the weekend with Kitchen Party being at the forefront. Set across a three-story building, this giant party invites a number of London's best culinary entrepreneurs and chefs to host unique events and foodie experiences. While the RAW Artisan Wine Fair celebrates high quality, fine wine and top notch artisan food, and the Fabulous Feast in Battersea provides a day of food workshops, bake offs, food & beer pairing, and ice cream making.

Frock Me! returns this weekend to provide the perfect day's shopping for any vintage fashionistas and the Angel Flea Market sells up-cycled, recycled, retro and vintage art pieces, books, furniture, collectable and clothes.

Be sure never to miss a great event in London with LondonTown.com's Something for the Weekend mailer, a guide to the top ten events every weekend in London throughout 2013.

Beyond Perception..London Has Become A Great Destination For Foodies

• Contributed by Clifton Wilkinson
• Lonely Planet

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Gone are the days when London’s food scene left more than a little to be desired. These days the British capital is recognised as one of the world’s great foodie destinations, where Michelin-starred restaurants battle it out with inexpensive ethnic eateries, where food markets are the new rock ‘n’ roll, and where just about everybody likes to think of themselves as some kind of culinary expert. Here we give our expert opinion on why London is great for food lovers and where to sample the best on offer in the capital.

A-Y of cuisines

OK, so it doesn’t quite stretch from A to Z, but London’s range of cuisines comes pretty close. From authentic Afghan food at the Afghan Kitchen in Islington, to yummy Yemeni dishes at the Queen of Sheba in Paddington, via Ethiopian eatery Lalibela in Kentish Town, Georgian grub at Bethnal Green’s Little Georgia, and Peruvian delights at Ceviche in Soho, you can take your taste buds on a gastronomic world tour without leaving the city.

Best of British

While celebrating the wonderful mix of international cuisines on offer, London also provides food lovers with some great options for sampling classic British dishes. Rules, in Covent Garden, is the city’s oldest restaurant (215 years and counting) and the best place to try traditional desserts like sticky toffee pudding. St John, in Clerkenwell, famously pioneered nose-to-tail dining, in which every part of an animal is considered meal-worthy – the roast marrow salad is famous. Great Queen Street, in Covent Garden, is a superior and stylish gastro pub with a menu of seasonal British fare. And Albion, in Shoreditch, is a contemporary cafe-style place where the breakfasts, English wines and local London beers deserve your attention.

Stars in their eyes

London, with over 60 Michelin-starred restaurants in 2013, offers plenty of opportunities for splurging on quality cooking. You can’t go wrong with the innovative Chinese food at Yauatcha, perfect pasta at Locanda Locatelli, or the classic French cooking at three-star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. But you don’t have to break the bank to enjoy top class dishes – some of the best food you’ll eat can be had at inexpensive ethnic options that showcase the city’s multicultural cooking scene. Indian food in Whitechapel (try Tayyabs), Turkish food in Dalston (try Mangal Ocakbasi), Chinese food in Chinatown (try Jen Café) – all come with high standards and low prices.

Restaurants and diners in Chinatown. Image by Cultura Travel/Alex Holland/Getty Images. 

Do-it-yourself

Food markets have become some of London’s most popular attractions. Borough Market has been feeding the city’s citizens since the 13th century and is now busier than ever, providing picnic essentials for the thousands who flock here at weekends. Alternative (but no less tasty) options include super-cool Broadway Market in Hackney, and small-but-perfectly-formed Spa Terminus Market, in and around the railways viaducts near London Bridge train station. More upmarket shopping can be had in the amazing food halls in Selfridges and Harrods department stores. Big enough to get lost in, they’re gourmet wonderlands where you’re guaranteed to discover something you’ve never heard of but suddenly feel the need to try.

Fishmonger at Borough Market. Image by Tony C French/Getty Images. 

Tastings, tours and events

Such is the enthusiasm for food these days that specialist tours and events take place across London. One of the biggest is the Taste of London Festival, held annually in Regent’s Park (in June this year) and part of a global celebration of food. To burn off some calories (and make room for some more), the people at Foodie London have monthly walks around the city, focusing on different neighbourhoods and sampling local favourites.

British cheeses have never been so popular (fact: there are more varieties in the UK than in France) and several wonderful shops across the city specialise in them. Neal’s Yard Dairy, tireless promoter of homegrown cheddars, stiltons et al for over 30 years, has excellent tasting sessions where you can try some of the tastiest cheeses around while learning about how they’re made.

Anyone with a soft spot for chocolate is spoilt for choice, with numerous specialist chocolate makers throughout the city. But if you really want to satisfy your cravings then artisan chocolatier, Montezuma’s, offers Indulgence Evenings for adults, along with kids’ parties for younger fans.

And if you’d like a good red or white to accompany all these gourmet delights, then Vinopolis on the South Bank has wine tours that provide an exploration of all things viticultural, with free samples to add to the enjoyment.

For a rundown of the latest pop-up food outlets, cooking classes and top supper clubs, where a local will prepare a meal for you in their own home, check out Ms Marmite Lover’s The English Can Cook website, which is packed full of useful information and mouth-watering recipes.

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After an amazing year, the magic continues in London. Come celebrate everything the capital has to offer and see for yourself just how special London is: www.visitlondon.com 

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/travel-tips-and-articles/77665#ixzz2NoKEK2ux

Mummies, Monet & Napoleon’s Toothbrush: Discover London’s Top Museums

• Contributed By Clifton Wilkinson
• Lonely Planet Author

London is home to the world’s greatest collection of museums and galleries, from blockbusters to tucked-away treasures. The result of private and royal collections, and years of imperial acquisitions and plunder, these museums are one of the main attractions of the British capital for locals and visitors alike. Here we shine a spotlight on our favourites, and introduce some of their lesser-known, yet equally intriguing, cousins.

British Museum

The mother (or should that be ‘mummy’?) of all museums, the British Museum (or BM, as it’s known by staff and regulars) is the world’s oldest national public museum and London’s top free attraction. Since opening in 1759 to ‘all curious and studious persons’, people have come to view the unrivalled collections of antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Rome and Britain, among others.

With over six million objects it’s impossible to see everything on one visit so either pick one or two civilisations and spend an hour or two exploring their cultures in depth, or head straight for the highlights – the Rosetta Stone (the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics), the Parthenon Sculptures (controversially brought to Britain from Athens in the early 19th century), the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon burial hoard and, of course, the mummies. From March to September 2013, the exhibition Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum will showcase objects from the city famously buried by a volcano in 79AD.

If you like the British Museum check out Sir John Soane’s Museum in Holborn. London’s worst-kept secret, this eclectic collection of ancient artefacts and paintings is housed in the eponymous architect’s stylish 18th-century townhouse.

The British Museum. Image supplied by visitlondon.com.

National Gallery

For a who’s who of Western art, from Michelangelo to Van Gogh, head to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Sq. If it’s a chronological run-through you’re after then start in the Sainsbury Wing with the likes of Botticelli and his racy (for its day) Venus and Mars, then amble past Rubens, Velazquez and Turner until you reach one of the most popular galleries, the Impressionists, with masterpieces by Monet and his pals. Or plot and print out a personalised itinerary using the ArtStart multimedia system – ask at one of the information desks for details. The main exhibition this year, Barocci: Brilliance and Grace, is showing from February to May and will bring this relatively unknown 16th-century Italian painter’s work to the attention of the wider public.

If you like the National Gallery stroll along the Strand to the Courtauld Gallery, a small but exquisite collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings within Somerset House.

Science Museum

You don’t have to be a geek to enjoy London’s Science Museum – but if you are, you’ll be in heaven. Seven floors cover humanity’s scientific achievements, from the 1829 Rocket train that started the railway revolution, to a display on how astronauts go to the toilet in space. It’s a big and busy place so if time is short, or you just want to tick off the biggest wows in the collection, focus on the Making the Modern World gallery with its show-stealing selection of objects that have changed history over the last 250 years. A special exhibition on Alan Turing, computer pioneer and WWII codebreaker (he was part of the team that cracked the Enigma Code), is on until July 2013.

If you like the Science Museum especially its medical section, then the Wellcome Collection in Bloomsbury has fascinating displays on the history of medicine. Look out for Napoleon’s toothbrush and the story of the human genome.

Interior of the Science Museum. Image supplied by visitlondon.com.

National Maritime Museum

The best way to get to Greenwich’s National Maritime Museum and learn about when Britannia ruled the waves is, appropriately, by boat down the Thames from central London. With an hour or two you’ll be able to uncover highlights such as the bloodstained (and surprisingly small) coat that Admiral Nelson was wearing when he died at the Battle of Trafalgar, exhibits on the British love affair with the seaside, and a compelling display examining Britain’s role in the slave trade. Photography from the Mountains to the Sea, an exhibition of photographs by Ansel Adams, is on until the end of April 2013 and focusses on works by the famous American photographer that have a particular connection with water.

If you like the Maritime Museum then visit the Cutty Sark clipper, just a five-minute stroll away. Beautifully restored in 2012, its exhibits cover the ship’s history, especially its time as the fastest boat plying the tea trade between China and Britain.

Tower of London

Part medieval fortress, part museum, the Tower of London encapsulates over 900 years of London’s history. Famous for being a prison, its lesser-known roles include being a former royal mint, military garrison and even the capital’s first zoo (in the Middle Ages monarchs liked sending each other exotic animals). The execution site may be gore-free (just a small plaque listing seven names – most people were executed on nearby Tower Hill), but join a Beefeater tour (included in the admission price) and have the place brought to life with an hour of gruesome and historical tales. Then get your sparkle fix at the Crown Jewels – the queue is inevitable, but they’re worth the wait.

If you like the Tower and want more on London’s history, check out the Museum of London. Perched above a section of original Roman wall near St Paul’s Cathedral, the museum has enough prehistoric axe heads, medieval church paintings, plague-related objects and reconstructed Victorian streets to keep the most enthusiastic historian happy.

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After an amazing year, the magic continues in London. Come celebrate everything the capital has to offer and see for yourself just how special London is: www.visitlondon.com 

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