Nearby highlights Hit Liverpool Street at the wrong time and you're caught in swirling currents of bankers and insurance brokers. But here are some of London's coolest experiences. The goat's hair Bedouin tent at the St Ethelburga's Centre (78 Bishopsgate, stethelburgas.org) hosts lunchtime talks on peace and reconciliation. Broadgate Ice Rink (broadgate.co.uk, £9/£7) provides more active contemplation: just turn up and skate. One of the best things around is The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town (themayorofscaredycattown.com). Go to the Breakfast Club cafe (12-16 Artillery Lane, Spitalfields) and ask for the Mayor. You'll be shown through the door of a white Smeg fridge and down a staircase to an American speakeasy with cocktails and fat burgers. Finally, make a reservation at Sushisamba on the 40th floor of Heron Tower (110 Bishopsgate, sushisamba.com, spot the huge aquarium downstairs). The ride up in the lift is unforgettable.

Did you know? Liverpool Street underground station opened in 1912 as the Central London Railway's first easterly extension. In the 1930s, the station was the arrival point for many of the nearly 10,000 mainly Jewish children brought to Britain as part of the Kindertransport scheme nine months before the outbreak of the second world war. In 2003, a sculpture by artist Flor Kent commemorating the scheme was erected at the station.