Art/Shop/Eat London

Rating:
Summary: Museums in depth, plus a surprisingly useful general guide
Review: This is a small book, chock full of information for the London visitor who expects to spend a lot of time at the major museums. While most travel books devote a few pages (at most) for a museum, this one spends 22 pages on the National Gallery alone.

In addition to the mundane details, such as opening hours, charges, and tube station -- which are a lot less mundane when you're in need of that data! -- the museum listings show you the highlights (i.e. the art you'll want to see if you're on a mad rush), plenty of maps, and a wing-by-wing guide. For example, for rooms 52-53 of the National Gallery, it says (in part), "The paintings in this room and the next were made before 1400, and show how the rather static, frontal style we recognize from Byzantine icons gradually incorporated greater realism, through the influence of Giotto." And then it tells you a bit about the paintings (or whatever) you're looking at. I'm not sure this is better than a live guide, but it's sure an improvement from wandering around the place, feeling as though I'm supposed to be impressed but unsure why.

The book gives detailed information about these museums: National Gallery, Courtauld Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, Wallace Collection, Sir John Sloane's Museum, Tate Modern, Saatchi Gallery, Tate Britian, Queen's Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Each is grouped by neighborhood, so you can plan your day at Westminster or South Kensington, etc.

If that's all it did, it might be worth the modest price... assuming you're doing a trip devoted to museums. But if, like me, you'll spend only a bit of time in the museums, buying (and lugging along) a book solely on that subject might seem silly.

However, that's where I was pleasantly surprised. Art/Shop/Eat London really does live up to the Shop/Eat part of the equation. For each neighbhorhood, the book includes a section called "On Route," which lists commercial galleries as well as other, and smaller attractions (such as the London Transport Museum or the Photographer's Gallery). You'll also find a list of shopping destinations in the surrounding area, everything from bookstores to clothes to kids' stores.

*Quite* appreciated is a description of the eating and drinking at both the museums themselves and restaurants in the surrounding area. As I'm sure you know, sometimes a museum cafe is a destination in itself, and sometimes it's an overpriced fast-food joint. This book really guides you: "small and can be very busy," or "sophisticated French cuisine, with a surprisingly good range of vegetarian options." Plus, the general restaurant listings are clear enough (if short) that I'm certain I'll take this book with me on my next trip.

It does list hotels (also by neighborhood), but they're nothing to shout about. You'll probably want to turn to one of your other travel books (or the Internet) to find a place to stay.