At 135 metres tall the London Eye is the worlds largest cantilevered observation wheel. The London Eye was designed by Marks Barfield Architects & launched in 2000 as a temporary attraction. The London Eye has quickly become one of the most popular paid attractions in the world carrying over 3.5 million visitors each year. On a clear day visibility is up to 40km allowing views of Windsor Castle & the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at Dartford.

County Hall was designed by the architect Ralph Knott & opened by King George V in 1922. The building served as the headquarters for the London County Council & then the Greater London Council. Today County Hall is home to the Sea Life London Aquarium, London Dungeon, Namco Arcade, hotels, restaurants, private apartments & conference & event spaces.

Royal Festival Hall is the last remaining building from the 1951 Festival of Great Britain. The hall can seat 2,500 guests & is situated in the Southbank Centre, the largest arts centre in the United Kingdom. Over 5,000 events are held at the Southbank Centre each year including exhibitions, festivals & performances by some of the worlds most famous artists.

Florence Nightingale was a pioneer of modern nursing & a social reformer, she became known as the Lady with the Lamp after her night rounds tending to wounded soldiers during the Crimean War. The Florence Nightingale Museum is situated at St. Thomas Hospital on the site of Florence Nightingale’s Training School & celebrates the life & work of Florence Nightingale through collections of over 3000 objects.

The Royal National Theatre was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1976. Three individual theatres occupy the site & over 20 different performances are shown each year. The Olivier Theatre is the largest theatre & seats 1,100 guests.  The Olivier Theatre takes its name from the National Theatre’s first artistic director, Sir. Laurence Olivier.

36 Craven Street is the only remaining home of the Benjamin Franklin, a famous scientist, diplomat & Founding Father of the United States. The house itself dates from around 1730 & is an authentic representation Benjamin Franklin’s time in London. Tours of Benjamin Franklin House are available for the public & there is also a small shop & toilet facilities onsite.

Known as the ‘Houses of Parliament’, the new palace was built between 1840-1870 after the original palace was damaged during a fire. The palace is the home of UK Parliament & the iconic Elizabeth Tower (known as Big Ben).

Cleopatra’s Needle was erected in Heliopolis around 1450 BC. The needle was already over 1,300 years old when Cleopatra became Queen. The needle was presented to the United Kingdom in 1818 to commemorate British military victories at the Battle of the Nile & Battle of Alexandria but it was not moved to London until 1877.

Westminster Abbey was built by King Edward (later to become St. Edward the Confessor) on the site of a Benedictine Monastery on Thorn Ey (Thorn Island) in Westminster. King Edward’s Abbey was consecrated on the 28th December 1065 however Edward was unable to attend the consecration due to illness, he died just days later sparking a succession crisis which intimately led to the Norman Conquest of England. William the Conqueror was coronated King William I on Christmas Day in 1066 & every coronation has taken place at Westminster Abbey since.

King Edward’s abbey stood for over two centuries until King Henry III started to rebuild the abbey in a Gothic style. Henry’s abbey was consecrated on the 13th October 1269 & still stands today. Westminster Abbey is the resting place of 17 monarchs & a number of poets, musicians, scientists and politicians.

The Jewel Tower is one of the last remaining structures from the Medieval Palace of Westminster. The Tower was built by Henry Yevele between 1365-1366 for King Edward III & originally served as a store for precious items including silver plate. After much of the medieval palace was destroyed by a fire in 1834 the Jewel Tower became a records office for the House of Lords. In 1869 it became a testing office for the Board of Trade Standards Department (More commonly known as Weights and Measures).

The Supreme Court was formally established on the 1st October 2009 & is the highest court in the United Kingdom. The court hears appeals for civil cases in the United Kingdom & criminal cases in England, Wales & Northern Ireland. The Supreme Court sits in the Middlesex Guildhall, an art nouveau gothic style building designed by J. S Gibson & completed in 1913.

The Banqueting House is the last remaining building from Whitehall Palace, home to a magnificent ceiling painted by Sir Peter Paul Rubens & the execution site of King Charles I. The building was designed by Inigo Jones in the Palladian style for King James I & was completed in 1622.

Stamford Wharf started its life as a power station before being converted into a cold store for the manufacturers of the OXO Beef Cube. Today “OXO Tower Wharf” is home to over 30 design studios, specialist shops & restaurants.

The National Gallery was founded in 1824 & opened to the public on the 10th May of the same year. As the collection grew the gallery moved from a small building at 100 Pall Mall to the present building, a purpose built structure designed by William Wilkins. Both The National Gallery’s building & collection has grown over the years, Sir James Pennethorne, Sir Charles Barry & Sir John Taylor have all extended the building & over 2,600 paintings are now housed within the collection. Today the National Gallery is free to visit & they organise a range of exhibitions & events showcases works from the collection. The gallery also has a number of giftshops, a dining room & cafés.

Somerset House was designed by William Chambers & completed 1801. The house has been home to the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Society, the General Register Office & the Inland Revenue. Today Somerset House is open to the public and regularly hosts concerts & other public events.

The Savoy Hotel was built by Richard D’Oyly Carte & opened in 1889. The Savoy proved popular with tourists & was the first hotel in Britain to utilise electric lifts & be lit entirely by electric lighting. The Savoy boasts numerous bars & restaurants & is adjacent to the Savoy Theatre.

St. James Park is London’s oldest royal park & is surrounded by three royal palaces, the Palace of Westminster, St. James Palace & Buckingham Palace. In 1536 the royal court was based at the Palace of Westminster & King Henry VIII purchased land at St. James to build St. James Palace & a new deer park. After his accession to the throne in 1603 James I had the park drained, landscaped & filled with exotic animals including camels, crocodiles, birds & an elephant.

St. James Park underwent further alterations when Charles II opened it to the public & had it re-landscaped in a more formal style with a large canal. St. James Park saw another makeover in the 1820’s when the Prince Regent (later to become George IV) commissioned the architect & landscaper John Nash to give the park a more natural look. The canal was shaped into a lake & an iron bridge was built offering excellent views across the lake. The current bridge (The Blue Bridge) was built in 1957 & is the third bridge to span St. James Park Lake.

HQS Wellington is a Grimsby Class Sloop launched in 1934. She escorted convoys in the North Atlantic throughout the Second World War. She is now permanently moored on Victoria Embankment and is the livery hall of the Honorable Company of Master Mariners.