I find that I hardly ever look up when I’m walking around in London. In a foreign city, my eyes will glance everywhere, around buildings, shops, windows and people, but in my home city, I focus on getting to my destination and precious little else. I must miss a fair amount.

While I am lucky enough to work in a tall building with terrific views, a lot of this city’s tall buildings are security guarded; we can look at them but can enter no further than the reception. While one can make a journey on the London Eye or make a trip up the Shard, the views are from above the city, staring down at an angled map, rather than looking at the city’s peaks and troughs.

This is why I appreciate places like the Portrait Restaurant at the National Portrait Gallery. Situated on the gallery’s third floor, it boasts views that skim the roofs of the National Gallery, across Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square; an entirely refreshing view of London.

While my friend and I sipped our wine, I saw others take advantage of the beautiful afternoon light to get an untypical image of the city: not looking up at, or looking down to, but looking over.  I had to do the same.