Walking the Southbank

London’s Southbank is both a tourist mecca and a historical epicentre, with traditional and contemporary architecture. I walk from Tate Britain to Tate Modern recording my highlights…

London’s Southbank is both a tourist mecca and a historical epicentre, with traditional and contemporary architecture.

I walk from Tate Britain to Tate Modern and across the Millennium footbridge to St Paul’s Cathedral, past the Globe, National Theatre, Gabriel’s Wharf, OXO Tower, London Eye, and Borough Markets, shooting some of the interesting must-see places amngst the thousands you could see and do.

Here are some of the highlights…

Tate Britain is a wee while back down the Thames but an easy walk along Millbank to the houses of Parliament. Get off at Pimlico tube stop for Tate Britain, and entry is free. It’s much smaller and more intimate than Tate Modern and had some incredible exhibitions.

Below: A love-tate relationship; Megan at Tate Britain.

Tate Britain is holding an exhibition by Fiona Banner, Harrier and Jaguar, where real UK RAF planes with the names of animals were taken out of context and stripped of livery.

A Jaguar in polished metal lay upside down like a helpless animal and the silvery mirrored surface invited viewers to become part of the exhibit.

A Harrier was decorated in feathers like its bird namesake and suspended upside down from the ceiling. Below: a young student lies under the suspended Harrier. "Yeah I’m a bit scared!" he said when asked.

Tate Modern escalator. The Tate Modern was holding an exhibition on surveillance and hidden cameras and voyeurism, so we did a bit of own, turning the camera back on its own patrons attending the same exhibition.

Tate Modern: Venus of the Rags 1933, by Michelangelo Pistoletto of Italy, brings together the iconic classical woman with the detritus of modern society.

All roads lead to dome: the view of Millennium footbridge lines up perfectly through a vantage point at Tate Modern with St Paul’s cathedral at its end.

Borough Markets’ Monmouth coffee company.

Monmouth has flat whites (2 pounds 30p). Common in NZ, flat whites weren’t offered on menus on my last trip to London, but are surprisingly commonplace this time around.