Even if you don’t know much about fine art, it’s well worth a visit to the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House; it houses an extensive collection of paintings and drawings owned by the Courtauld Institute of Art, a college of the University of London. Most of the pieces are French Impressionist (Degas, Monet) and Post-Impressionist (van Gogh, Cézanne), but there’s plenty more to explore from other eras, plus a quiet cafe located at basement level. Some of the detail of these historic paintings is exquisite, so the opportunity to get up close and personal is a pretty special thing.