IT might be undergoing an image change, but they still complain about the Tube. Why, I dunno. Surely the good folk of Chapelfields would sell inheritances for a cheap, efficient service, where trains come by every three minutes. So why do the Londoners hate it?

That furore aside, London is enjoying a new outlook. The Dome is no more, the Eye is popular, the Tate has gone Modern. So it was that Liz and I were invited down to the Big Smoke, to see it all happening, by the city's tourist board.

Our base for the weekend was the Radisson Edwardian Kenilworth, in Bloomsbury, all sleek black-and-mauve colour schemes, and warm, welcoming rooms.

Our first stop was that London fixture, the Show. This was My One And Only, a glitzy, feel-good affair consisting of classic Gershwin tunes strung together with an undemanding plot about flyboys in the Charles Lindbergh era. Staged in the Piccadilly Theatre, and competing with musicals about Queen and Boy George, the show more than held its own. Nice Work If You Can Get It, that's what I say.

The next day, we awoke to that tingle of promise - and partial dread - which greets the prospect of a day in London.

We began with the London Eye. It's a staggering thing; a slender array of pinwheel and pods which somehow contrives to make you feel totally safe. It's a good place to stargaze, both at night and in the daytime, when a dozen TV pop shows use it as an interview venue.

A wander north-east will take you to Tate Modern. Formerly a vast and imposing power station, the building is now a vast and imposing modern art gallery. Whatever your views on modern art, it gives you something to think about.

The main turbine hall is virtually empty, containing just one enormous work by Paul Munoz, involving elevators passing slowly through holes in the floor. Very good, we muttered sagely, before moving on, chuckling quietly.

Tate Modern is hosting an exhibition of work by the spaced-out pop artist, Andy Warhol, and this is very much worth your while. It's the essence of modern art, challenging you to ask whether 48 cans of soup and a triptych of Jackie Kennedy can really claim a place next to the Mona Lisa.

You progress from Warhol's early work, involving crude copies of Superman comics and half-sketched black shapes, through rooms filled with helium balloon "clouds" and rooms painted in camouflage, to the stuff that made him really famous. Marilyn. Mao. Assassinations, executions. More cans of soup. Missing, though, was his Velvet Underground material. Not a pink banana in sight. That said, it's a great show, mimicking its subject: vibrant, playful, yet betraying a frisson of menace.

Outside TM is something else Londoners like to gripe about: the Millennium Bridge. York's is better, frankly, and now it doesn't wobble any more, London's has lost its appeal.

Across the bridge is St Paul's, magnificent and expensive. As York Minster considers entry charges, let us hope it never has to make them as hefty as they do here.

Better value is to be had at the Tower Bridge Experience. As a kid, I had always wanted to see what those upper walkways were like, and now you can.

A lift takes you up the north tower, where an unconvincingly-acted video tells you the saga of the bridge's construction. The Victorians needed a new crossing at the business end of the river, and, as is usual in such quandaries, the guy with the answer was the one they all ignored, until the last minute.

In fact, the views aren't great. But when you remember you're hundreds of feet up in a great chunk of Victorian genius, you doff your hat and remember your place, old bean.

Then it's down to the boys-with-toys department, as you travel to the bridge's engine room to gasp at mammoth brass pistons. Heaven for a little lad; Liz started to despair of ever seeing Oxford Street.

Where next? Well, we had tickets to the Paris exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, but Press man Mike Laycock went there a few Saturdays ago, dear reader, so ask him.

Scrubbing up, we headed into Soho, and to the Italian delights of the Getti restaurant, in Wardour Street. You'd find the menu in any Italian restaurant, but seldom will the food be prepared and presented with such dazzling azzuri style.

Parma ham, bruscetta, gnocci and a delightful salmon penne played their part, but the desserts were the killers. Liz waxed lyrical about her crme brulee, while I had tremendous fun with a zesty lemon sorbet, drizzled in champagne. All this, and some house white, will set you back a mere trifling £80.

Worse was to come: adjourning to the Kenilworth, we had a nightcap of a lager and a g 'n' t. It cost £10.10. We went to bed sober.

The next day hit us with a downpour, so we spent most of it in the British Museum. Apart from the permanent delights of Egyptian mummies, the reading room and the Elgin Marbles, up to six temporary displays can be in there at any one time.

At present, you'll find Unknown Amazon and Agatha Christie & Archaeology topping the bill. The Amazon voyage is short and forgettable, but the Christie display is strangely compelling. It centres on her travels with her second husband, a renowned archaeologist who excavated sites such as Ninevah and Ur, inspiring Agatha's writing to boot.

We did some shopping, of course; Liz found the shoe and clothes stores, while I checked out arcane comic shops in Bloomsbury. Job done.

So has it changed? Not sure. London will forever be one of the world's most exciting cities, so it's unfair to bill it as anything other than what it always is: an expensive, fabulous, enlightening, maddening place. It couples a proud historic heart with the very best in modern lunacy.

And guys, trust us, the Tube is fine.

Fact file

Nick Hallissey's London weekend was hosted by London Tourist Board & Convention Bureau and Radisson Edwardian Hotels. A two-night weekend break at the four-star Kenilworth Hotel costs £129 per room per night on a bed and breakfast basis and includes taxes. This rate is valid from now until 7 April 2002. For further information call freephone on: 0800 37 44 11, or visit www.RadissonEdwardian.com

Attractions and Exhibitions

The Andy Warhol exhibition at the Tate Modern runs until April 1 and costs £10 (£8 concs). Book on 0870 166 8283, or online at www.tate.org.uk

Entry to the Tower Bridge Experience costs £4.50 (£3 concs). Ring 020 7940 3985 or see www.towerbridge.org.uk

Agatha Christie and Archaeology at the British Museum until March 24 costs £7 (£3 concs). Box office on 020 7323 8181, or see www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Tickets for My One And Only range from £19.00 to £37.50. Ring 020 7369 1744.

Getti Restaurants on 020 7437 3519. Set menus from £12.95 (two or three courses)

For further information, visit www.londontouristboard.com

Reader Offer

Running from March 16 to April 30, Radisson Edwardian is offering Evening Press readers a special deal for weekend stays.

The offer entitles readers to a complimentary upgrade of room, from a standard double to a Hallmark/Delux room. The price of a room is £99.00 per weekend night on a bed and breakfast basis and includes taxes. Call freephone on 0800 374411 and quote Spring Breaks.

Updated: 12:22 Saturday, March 16, 2002