Emma and her boyfriend Brendan (who live in Australia) are saving up for their first trip abroad together. Emma’s uncles, Tim Benzie and Paul Joseph, made this video to convince the couple to come to London instead of going on a cruise. Emma and Brendan: we agree that it’s got to be London! Find out more about the video at www.itsgottobelondon.com.

The obelisk was given to Britain in 1819 as acknowledgment of Britain’s role in frustrating Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition. However, the large piece of granite remained in the Alexandrian desert for the next 60 years, due to the cost and difficulties of transporting it. When it finally it arrived in London there was some debate about where to put it. The picture here shows the spot that many people preferred, outside the Houses of Parliament.

After much debate, it was finally erected on the new Victoria Embankment in 1878. This was one of London’s newest developments, a marvel of modern engineering, only completed four years earlier. The embankment created a new wide promenade along the north bank of the Thames. Beneath the road lay tunnels housing the trains of the Metropolitan Railway and a modern city sewer.

Placing the ancient obelisk in a place that represented London’s modernity must have appealed to the Victorians’ sense of history. They also thought about the future. The pedestal contains two large earthenware jars, a time capsule containing an odd selection of things chosen by the public. They include “wire ropes and specimens of submarine cables, presented by Mr R.S. Newall”, and   “photographs of a dozen pretty Englishwomen, presented by Captain Henry Carter”.

The obelisk doesn’t look out of place in London, where Egyptian architectural styles have long been a favourite. North London has an Egyptian-style Art Deco former cinema (The Carlton Cinema) and a building supposedly modelled on a temple to the cat-goddess Bubatis (Carreras Cigarette Factory, which used to produce Black Cat cigarettes).

The Museum of London has two large statues of the Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris, which used to stand on the façade of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly. The statues now stand on either side of the museum’s car park entrance, where we hope they bring the museum good luck!

A guest blog by the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. More London history next week.

Rob Eagle’s video highlights some of the brilliant free things to do in London, from the British Museum to the Hunterian Museum.

The film won the Raindance Film Festival award in UCL’s London for Free competition.

Thanks to reader Lucas Veuve who got in touch with this fab London video. Lucas says:

“When I first moved to London, I was struck by the number of people living in this great city and the speed at which they move from one place to another. I wanted to capture how I saw London when I first moved here.”

We think he’s done a great job. Look out for great shots of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin and The Shard, Tower Bridge, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the Southbank Centre and Trafalgar Square.

Look out for more London videos on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/VisitLondonVideo

Here’s a lovely video from British Airways, showing two of their cabin crew, Mark and Lucy, enjoying a perfect day in London. 

From London Heathrow Terminal 5, to the Houses of Parliament, Primrose Hill, Camden Passage, The Langham, Hamleys, Fortnum & Mason, Natural History Museum Ice Rink, and Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, they certainly enjoy a busy day. (I’m just not sure about that picnic, considering today’s temperatures are hovering around the 3°C mark.)

For more London videos, check out our YouTube channel.

This week, I wanted to share this great video from TheWorldCities, which gives some of London’s most famous locations a “toy-town” makeover.

Look out for Liverpool Street Station, the Houses of Parliament, Boris Bikes, Earl’s Court Station, Millenium Bridge, Charing Cross, Monument, Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus and Tower Bridge as you’ve never seen them before!

Check out more London videos at youtube.com/user/VisitLondonVideo

By Amanda Craighead-Wheeler

Bonfire Night is a great way to experience London after dark. The Houses of Parliament are where the traditional began – and almost ended – in 1605. As well as over a dozen firework displays in the week around 5 November, London has a wealth of themed parties, gigs and club nights over the weekend where you can get the most bang for your Bonfire Night.

Battersea Park fireworks are one of the biggest displays. As well seeing them on the ground, there’s also the chance to see them on the river and even in the air. Thames Dinner Cruises are offering a Bonfire Night special, with drinks, live music and a special cruise letting your enjoy London at night and alight. The EDF Energy London Eye is offering 30 minute flights, giving you the chance take in not just one display but as many as the eye can see.

There are more unusual ways to remember the gunpowder, treason and plot, too. Club de Fromage at the O2 Islington is a club for those who like to wear silly outfits and party hard, playing all kinds of pop from the last 40 years. The club’s Neon Night special takes place on 3 November with upbeat cheesy tracks, bright lights, friendly faces and fancy dress.

If you want something more erudite, try the Midnight Apothecary on 3 November, a pop up cocktail bar on the roof gardens at the Brunel Museum. Five pounds will get you entry to the opening of the first tunnel under a river, the chance to try cocktails with ingredients handpicked from the museum’s gardens, and of course a bonfire and sparklers.

Have we missed any? Tell us if there’s somewhere you know that paints London red (or green, or gold with sparkles…)

We love this video of the best of London’s architecture by Mattia Bicchi via YouTube.

Locations featured include King’s Cross Station, Strata Tower, Palestra Building, Royal Albert Hall, British Museum, RBS Building, Wembley Stadium, Heron Tower, Broadgate Tower, O2 Arena, St Giles Building, Tower Bridge, The Shard, National Maritime Museum, Wellington Arch, St Paul’s Cathedral and Canary Wharf and the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben (or the newly named Queen Elizabeth Tower to give it’s correct monkier.)

You can see more London videos on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/VisitLondonVideo

Each Friday, we like to highlight a particularly great London video we’ve found online.

This week top video is by FramE FramFilm on Vimeo, and shows London looking gorgeous in natural light. Look out for some top London attractions including Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, The Shard, Oxford Street, Tower Bridge, the London Eye and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Check out more London videos on our YouTube channel

London’s famous double-decker buses are an ideal way to see the city if you’re on a budget. Buy a Travelcard for the day and take a self-guided city tour on London’s best bus routes. These five cover most of the major sights in the city. Their routes are described from west to east and the return journey passes the same sights in reverse.

Number 74
Starting in Putney, this route travels past London’s museums hub in South Kensington where the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum sit side by side. It then passes luxury department store Harrods and the boundary of one of London’s largest green spaces at Hyde Park Corner. You can catch a glimpse of The Dorchester hotel just after, followed by the famous haunt of public rhetoric – Speaker’s Corner at Marble Arch. The final stop is Baker Street, home to both the Madame Tussauds waxwork museum and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, at the site of the fictional detective’s residence.

Number 9
The number 9 is one of only two routes operating the old-style Routemaster buses on part of its route. Leaving from Hammersmith, it passes Kensington Palace (you’ll have to get off to see it) followed by the beautiful Royal Albert Hall and the monument to Queen Victoria’s husband which sits opposite it. Like the number 74, the 9 passes the museums in Kensington, Harrods and Hyde Park corner. It takes a different route afterwards to visit St James’s Palace, Trafalgar Square, The Savoy hotel and arts and cultural centre Somerset House.

Number RV1
The RV1 is a favourite route for us here at VL Towers! Despite being a single decker, it still passes through some of the best parts of London, giving you a great cultural tour of the city. Soak up some shops and street theatre at Covent Garden before taking the RV1. Hopping on it will take you to the South Bank where you’ll see the London Eye and Royal Festival Hall. The London Bridge stop is metres from the London Dungeon and City Hall is the next sight on the route, which crosses Tower Bridge to finish up at the Tower of London.

Number 24
The 24 sets off from Camden Town which offers alternative fashion and food. The bus then heads to the more mainstream Leicester Square in the centre, calling in at Trafalgar Square and Horse Guards Parade. The political heart of London is next as the bus passes Parliament Square where you’ll find Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, as well as the nearby Westminster Abbey where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were married last year. The final site is the city’s policing headquarters at the iconic New Scotland Yard building.

Be aware that some bus routes might change during the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games – read our top tips for Olympic travel here