15 Things to do at London 2012

Jul 27, 2012, 06:27 IST5 min

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Chelsea Football ClubPlatinum and VIP tours give you access to areas reserved for players and officials. Visit the Stamford Bridge dressing room where John Terry and Frank Lampard get ready for matches, then go down the tunnel to pitch side and feel the roar of the crowd. After lunch, sip champagne in one of the luxurious millennium boxes. Manchester United fans can cruise to Old Trafford on a city barge before a Legends Tour with an iconic player like Alex Stepney. Check availability as the stadium is an Olympic Venue.

Image by Adrian Dennis / Getty Images

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Champagne and canapés Capsule in the EDF Energy London EyeHave a private party 135 metres high with stunning views of London on the world’s largest cantilevered observation wheel. You get half an hour in a luxury transparent capsule for two or 20 with Pommery Brut Royale Champagne and a gourmet 120-piece canapé menu. This package is exclusive to summer 2012

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National Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory and the Cutty SarkStand astride the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory, then visit the Maritime Museum's exhibits on the East India Company before climbing aboard the Cutty Sark, the only surviving tea clipper

Image by Copyright: National Maritime Museum

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The James Bond Thames RIB ExperienceDon a wetsuit and life jacket and charter a high-speed Rigid Inflatable Boat (used by Special Forces and carrying up to 12) to Canary Wharf or the Thames Barrier. Or be an agent for an hour learn about the British Secret Service and international espionage. Sail past the headquarters of MI5 and MI6 and hear about author Ian Fleming and his master-agent creation James Bond. Hold on as the skipper opens up the throttle and speeds at 35 knots towards the mighty O2 arena and bomb around to Bond music—exhilarating!

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The Courtauld Gallery in Somerset HouseHow often can you get your nose this close to a Michelangelo or a Rembrandt? In a hidden oasis of calm off the bustling Strand, have an intimate experience viewing world-class paintings at The Courtauld Institute of Art, where the head of the gallery might show you the lopsided table and disproportionate head sizes of Cézanne’s The Card Players himself. Currently on display are line drawings so fragile they are only exhibited every couple of decades. Sir Mark Tully likes the Courtauld Gallery and restaurants near the “magnificent” Somerset House courtyard for lunch or tea

Image by Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London

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The India Club The India Club in the Strand is one of London's oldest Indian restuarants, started in 1946 by Krishna Menon, India’s first High Commissioner to the UK. Jawaharlal Nehru and Lady Mountbatten were founding members, and images of Indira Gandhi, Dadabhai Naoroji and President Radhakrishnan adorn the walls. Chef Purushattam Krishnaswamy has cooked his large, no-nonsense meals for 35 years. Heiress Bridget Steinway loved the club so much she waitressed there for £1.00 a week

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Churchill War RoomsChurchill’s wartime bunker is an underground maze of rooms where planning and strategy decisions happened during the Second World War. Make friends with a supervisor or take a private tour with Director Phil Reed and you can step behind the glass doors to see the Map Room as it was on August 16, 1945, with thousands of pinholes charting the progress of the Allies. Check out the Transatlantic Telephone Room where Churchill had secret conversations with Roosevelt, and the War Cabinet Room, where he presided over meetings. See the scratch marks he made on his chair when the pressure got too much for him.

Image by Copyright: Imperial War Museums

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The V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal GreenThis museum houses the Victoria and Albert Museum’s national collection of objects celebrating childhood, dating from the 1600s to the present. There are toys, dolls and dolls’ houses, games and puzzles, and many more objects related to play and learning. The earliest surviving English rocking horse sits alongside 20th century toys which show how children have played all over the world. Baroness Susan Greenfield calls it “a special place. With all the modern technology that is around today, it reminds you of how children used to be.”

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The Mayfair Royal Warrant TourGet personal access to luxury retailers in Savile Row, Bond Street and other parts of Mayfair with a luxury brand historian to escort you on a bespoke experience visiting wine makers, jewellers, watchmakers, perfumers and 'By Royal Appointment' craftsmen. Previous guests have seen the archives of Garrard & Co., jeweller to the royal family, and indulged in a chocolate master class

Image by Richard Booth

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The Palace of WestminsterBook a tour of the ancient home of modern democracy, or ask a Member to host you. The despatch boxes where MPs take their oaths of allegiance now contain the Gita. The Commons Speaker may urge agitated MPs to stay behind the red lines, two-and-a-half sword-lengths apart—the origin of “toeing the line”. The comfy seat of the Speaker of the House of Lords—"the Woolsack"—contains 500-600lbs of wool from all the Commonwealth countries. Find Indian references around the estate, like the portraits hanging in the Queen's Robing Room that once belonged to Duleep Singh. Anxious new peers are occasionally found in elder statesman Lord Dholakia’s office, seeking his advice.

Image by Forbes