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How to see the real London

You've whizzed around in a red double-decker tour bus, watched the changing-of-the-guard at Buckingham Palace, wandered through Fortnum & Mason and ogled at Westminster Abbey.

But this time you're after something a touch more local yet within easy reach of central London.

Try taking a walk along the Thames River around Bankside and South Bank. Even if you only have a few hours to spare while stopping over in London, it provides a good blend of markets, museums, attractions and shops.

The once-disreputable south side of the river has been transformed into a vibrant showcase of urban regeneration. Bankside was once packed with seedy drinking dens, brothels and bear pits. South Bank left its industrial past behind when drab concrete factories and power stations became trendy museums and hip entertainment precincts.

I begin my stroll at the Borough Market, where a typical Saturday scene sees Londoners flock to fill their larders with fresh produce.

Surrounded by barrows of fresh carrots, artichokes and apples, the apron-clad greengrocer enthrals the crowd with an operatic rendition of Bizet's Carmen.

His music weaves its way around shoppers clutching brown paper bags and past nut sellers pushing free samples of their wares.

A few metres along, the Sillfield Farm stall is a flurry of activity as butchers in theatrical red, white and maroon uniforms complete with bowler hats bustle about.

Perhaps it's their eye-catching outfits or perhaps it's the sign advertising "A major supermarket purchased our special dry-cured bacon last week" that is drawing a crowd.

At one stall, there's nothing but wooden buckets filled with varieties of olives, feta cheese and Greek dolmades, while another throng is pressed around the Dark Sugars confectionary stall, eagerly piling freshly made sweets into paper bags.

Near the market is a little-known historic gem. The Old Operating Theatre, Museum and Herb Garret is a quirky chamber of horrors tucked away in the garret of St Thomas's Church.

A shoulder-wide spiral staircase leads me to a cramped souvenir shop where another flight of creaking steps opens up into a reminder of life before anaesthetics and antiseptic surgery.

The museum looks like a set from a science-fiction horror movie complete with exhibits of 19th-century medical instruments once used by surgeons to amputate limbs, perform skull operations and childbirth procedures.

Next to the museum, the Herb Garret has displays of herbs and potions that would make a witch blush with pride.

In those days, the operating theatre was a godsend for the poor, whose only means of receiving treatment from a skilled surgeon was to agree to be operated on in a public arena watched by an enthusiastic audience of medical students. Rich patients were treated and operated on in the privacy and comfort of their own homes.

It's drizzling outside and up goes my umbrella as I make a dash for another museum-like attraction just a few blocks away. At the entrance of Vinopolis, I'm furnished with an audio guide that steers me through exhibitions of wine regions around the world. The section on Australia is fairly extensive with wall maps, photographs and free wine samples. At the central wine-sampling table, Jacques, an effusive Frenchman, plies me with wine from far-flung destinations like Georgia, Israel and Thailand.

Walking along the river reveals a vibrant culture of colourful street performers and sidewalk artists, historic bridges and re-developed wharfs, galleries and museums.

I arrive at Shakespeare's Globe just in time to check out the world's largest exhibition devoted to Shakespeare, before joining a guided tour of the theatre.

Opened in 1997, the theatre is a replica of the 1599 open-air playhouse for which Shakespeare wrote many of his greatest plays and is one of London's key Shakespearean attractions.

Enthused by tales of the bard, I'm inspired to test my acting skills in a scene from Romeo And Juliet. Inside one of the multimedia recording booths at the exhibition area, I practice being Juliet with a pre-recorded reading of Romeo performed by a Globe Theatre actor.

Another Shakespearean-influenced attraction on the south side of the river is Southwark Cathedral, where William Shakespeare's brother Edmund was buried and where a large 19th-century stained glass window depicts scenes from well-known plays.

The cathedral also holds a statue of a reclining Shakespeare, posing with his trusty quill.

Next to the Globe Theatre is the contemporary Tate Modern, London's national gallery of international modern art.

Created a few years ago from the decommissioned Bankside Power Station, the Tate Modern's vast display of artworks spans a period of more than a century, from 1900 onwards.

Opposite the Tate Modern, crowds of pedestrians amble across the river over the Millennium Bridge, which is a streamlined structure built to commemorate the year 2000 and London's first new central river crossing for over a century.

A restaurant with a riverside view at Gabriel's Wharf is my idea of a top spot to put my feet up and watch the world go by.

What were musty old garages have been converted into colourful studios and retail shops that sell funky jewellery, fashion and home accessories.

There are lots of shops and restaurants to choose from in this precinct. Next to Gabriel's Wharf, the ex-power station and meat factory - Oxo Tower Wharf - has also been converted into a fresh new retail space with designer shops and more riverside restaurants.

Further along the river, outside the National Theatre underneath the Waterloo Bridge, I thumb through hidden treasures at the South Bank book market.

There are ancient maps, old magazines, out-of-print books and faded prints that look like they might make unusual mementos.

My final stop is the London Eye where, from my glass capsule in the sky, all of London is laid out like a giant three-dimensional Monopoly board with a bird's-eye view of the city's attractions.
source:http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,23422418-5009000,00.html

This post was written by: beemagnet77

BeeMagnet is a professional graphic designer, web designer and business man with really strong passion that specializes in marketing strategy. Usually hangs out in Twitter has recently launched a blog dedicated to home design inspiration for designers, bride, photographers and artists called HomeBase