Quintessential London: Discover the Delights of Marylebone

Paul McCartney Weds at Old Marylebone Town Hall

Old Masters are seen at the Wallace Collection, outstanding Marylebone museum

Marylebone is a smallish but charming, lesser known London neighborhood within Westminster Council’s borders, just a mile from Sir Paul’s house in better known leafy St John’s Wood. Regent’s Park sits between the two neighborhoods. The Marylebone Old Town Hall, built a century ago, is McCartney’s chosen venue for a small civil ceremony on his third wedding in 2011, as it was for his first wedding, in 1969. Madonna is among those to call an address in a Marylebone residential garden square home.
Strange name. Why?… -> 

Suggestions for Planning Your First Visit to London

If you are visiting London for the first time, you will find that it is a massive, sprawling city. No visitor can cover it all in one visit, so make a list of your five or ten must-not-miss sights. If you are planning your visit during the 2012 Olympics, there are even more reasons to plan ahead of the crowds.

Even after 24 years living in London, I certainly did not manage to see it all! Pace yourself and plan for any kind of weather. Pack a jumper, a brolly and a mac (that’s a sweater, an umbrella and a raincoat) for it can be damp and rarely hits 80 degrees. Luckily, it rarely snows, either so anytime of year will suit.

A London Thought for Today

“Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” - Samuel Johnson

Top Five Sights for First Time Visitors are… -> 

Buckingham Palace is on the list for a first visit to London