Palaces, parks and the Thames
Westminster is London at its most ceremonial. Whitehall runs past Horse Guards and the government offices, Westminster Abbey stands beside Parliament, and St James's Park stretches west towards Buckingham Palace, the view from the bridge over its lake among the loveliest in the city. Further south the streets turn residential, with the Georgian terraces of Smith Square and Lord North Street tucked behind the Abbey.
In the daytime it belongs to officials and sightseers. After dark it belongs to the few who stay: guests of the riverside hotels, delegates from conferences at the QEII Centre and people who simply like having the great landmarks of London almost to themselves.
The river sets the calendar. Summer evenings bring the pleasure boats past the terraces with their decks strung with lights, and on New Year's Eve the fireworks burst over the water beside the London Eye, a sight the river facing rooms on this side of the Thames see perfectly.



























