The weekend guide

Our tips to help you plan ahead and get the best out of your weekend in the city: Friday 3 - Sunday 5 July.

Kids and families

It's the sheer scale of the place, and the 80-odd aircraft on display with classics like the Spitfire and Hurricane alongside vintage models from the USA, Germany, Japan and France; no wonder then that a visit to Hendon's Royal Air Force Museum is such a jaw-dropping experience.

There's also a simulator ride, an interactive area where you can take an aptitude test and 'Our Finest Hour', a multi-media retelling of the Battle of Britain. In addition, to mark Independence Day, children can learn about American RAF personnel and design a squadron crest to take home.

Royal Air Force Museum, Grahame Park Way NW9, Saturday 4 & Sunday 5 July, 11am - 1pm & 2 - 4pm.

RAF Museum

Festival fun

The Pride London Parade hits the streets on Saturday in a dazzling flurry of colour, fun and attitude; decorative banners, a few thousand sequins, muscle-toned men in shorts, gay families, curious onlookers and incredulous tourists are all part of what gives the event its unique character.

825,000 people are said to have been part of Pride London last year

You can join or watch the parade at any point from Baker Street, down Oxford Street and Regent Street before it swings round through Piccadilly to Trafalgar Square.

There, you'll find food and drink stalls, an eclectic mix of speakers and a line-up of main stage performers, including Boy George, R&B singer Michael Ashanti, rapper Chewy, Heather Small and the stars of West End shows Priscilla and Avenue Q.

Pride London Parade, Baker Street from 1pm, Trafalgar Square from 3pm, Saturday 4 July.

Pride London

More festival fun

The "best of British culture" is being celebrated at West India Quay in Docklands with a mass of themed free events, entertainment and attractions.

The emphasis this weekend is on fitness activity and sport with a mix of twice daily 'come and try' activities and demonstrations ranging from gentle aerobics and step to street dance and spin.

You can also take a break for strawberries and cream, washed down with some ice cool Pimms while small screens show the Wimbledon tennis finals.

Big Splash Festival, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road E14, Saturday 4 & Sunday 5 July, quayside classes 1-2 and 6-7 pm daily.

West India Quay

Spoken word and performance

Bibliophiles can head for the Southbank Centre and the 2009 London Literature Festival's programme of poetry, debate, interviews and music - and writing from around the world.

Buzz Aldrin is one of the few people in the world who has stepped onto the moon

Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy is a sold-out headliner (Thursday 2 July), but the rest of the weekend brings The Long Firm author Jake Arnott (Friday 3), Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin (Saturday 4) and composer Harrison Birtwistle on music and myth (Sunday 5).

Coleridge's classic The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, meanwhile, will come to life in a free outdoor production beside the Thames with original music and a cast that includes 150 children from Lambeth and Southwark primary schools (Saturday 4 at 12pm and 3pm).

The London Literature Festival, Southbank Centre SE1, ongoing to 16 July.

The London Literature Festival

Art

Popeye, inflatable beach and bath toys, a giant lobster: it can only be US artist Jeff Koons in the first major exhibition of his work in a public gallery in England.

The exhibition is at the Serpentine Gallery

While paintings of Popeye and Olive Oyl are integral to the show at the Serpentine Gallery, Koons is also exhibiting his "inflatables" - dolphins, a paddling pool and monkeys cast in aluminium with painted surfaces.

"In our own life we're inflatable. We exhale and it's a symbol of death", he says by way of explanation.

The king of kitsch and the world's most expensive living artist, in a lakeside setting in one of London's most beautiful parks, and it's free, too. What's not to like?

Jeff Koons: Popeye Series, Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens W2, to 13 September.

Serpentine Gallery

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