I am going to London December 4 - 10. I will be there essentially for a week and have nothing planned as of yet. My uncle is going on business and offered to pay my way for me to join him. He will be in meetings for 2 of the days, so I'll be free on Monday/Tuesday to do what I want.

What should we visit?

Where are good bars?

I believe we are staying near Hyde Park (sp?)...We will take several tours and do sight seeing, but what is off the beaten path that traveling books wouldn't recommend that were awesome and worth seeing?

Any advice is welcomed.

11/2/2009 4:08:57 PM

I have no advice but I wanted to say hi Jake.... long time no see.

11/2/2009 4:35:06 PM

I'd highly suggest a Premier League match

Arsenal and West Ham play at home on the 5th, and Fulham on the 6th

Even if you don't like soccer, its well worth the experience

[Edited on November 2, 2009 at 4:41 PM. Reason : oh and Sawyer's Arms is near Hyde Park...good place to get pissed]

11/2/2009 4:38:26 PM

there has been a london thread before... search for it. it had lots of suggestions.

11/2/2009 4:39:02 PM

i was there 2 weeks ago.hyde park has the museums i believe. they were ok but i think that the london tower was awesome and so was the zoo( i work at one so i may be biased)

11/2/2009 5:02:25 PM

there has been a london thread before... search for it. it had lots of suggestions.

11/2/2009 5:34:19 PM

Quote :

"Any advice is welcomed."

Bring lots of money. You'll need it.

11/2/2009 5:41:47 PM

get up early

get an all day tube pass

wander the city all day

you really can't go wrong in london

^and yeah, bring lots of money, you'll need it

[Edited on November 2, 2009 at 5:42 PM. Reason : .]

11/2/2009 5:42:21 PM

message_topic.aspx?topic=542852

11/2/2009 5:48:10 PM

My favorite thing in London is Westminster Abbey (Big Ben/Parliament are directly next door). If you have an interest in past Monarchs at all you will enjoy it. St Paul's Cathedral may still be under revonations, but it would be worth your time either way. The millennium bridge is right next to it I believe. Also I think the Globe theater is close by.

I would also suggest taking a train out to Windsor Castle one day. The town is also nice. There are a couple of small pubs with great fish and chips.

Notting Hill in West London is a great location if the weather is nice. Outside markets with fresh food of all types. Very pedestrian friendly. Covent Gardens is another Market more central to the rest of the city worth stopping by. Harrod's is of course THE shopping landmark in all of London. Fortnum & Mason qualifies as a shopping landmark as well.

As far as Museums go the most note worth are Tate Modern, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, British Museum, and Madame Tussauds which is the world famous wax figure museum (it really is impressive).

Other than that I think the Eye is a huge waste of time unless you have time to kill. That being said it sounds like you will have some extra time on your hands. Buckingham is nice to look at, especially if you catch a changing of the guard. St. Jame's is close by I believe. Tower of London is epic! Check the play bills for the West End as well. I saw Les Miserables last time I was there and it was well worth it.

As far as pubs go, they're everywhere. Do a quick google search for the most popular. The bars it lists may not actually be the most enjoyable though. In London I like to venture into the whole in the wall.

Take a exhorbent amount of money of course

11/2/2009 6:06:15 PM

Quote :

"I saw Les Miserables last time I was there and it was well worth it."

Do this! Definitely worth it, doesn't have to be too expensive, and it's an amazing experience, especially if you've never been to a show.

Also, you could do Oxford for a day or half day if you're interested in that (or just a literature buff or anything). A lot of your choices really depend on what your interests are.

And check out the Narnia light post in Hyde Park, since you'll be so close.

Tower of London is a must. National Gallery is great too, even if you aren't an art person, there's plenty you'll easily recognize there.

11/2/2009 7:37:01 PM

Quote :

"get an all day tube pass"

if you'll be there from the 4-10, definitely get a WEEK pass if they're still available

11/2/2009 9:36:16 PM

i got the oyster card, you put as much money on it as you want and you get it back.
god yes on the loads of money you will be raped out of

11/2/2009 9:44:34 PM

you should listen to the locals and go to this random time, get drugged and abducted and then tortured for money!

11/2/2009 11:31:07 PM

Quote :

"My favorite thing in London is Westminster Abbey (Big Ben/Parliament are directly next door). If you have an interest in past Monarchs at all you will enjoy it. St Paul's Cathedral may still be under revonations, but it would be worth your time either way. The millennium bridge is right next to it I believe. Also I think the Globe theater is close by. I would also suggest taking a train out to Windsor Castle one day. The town is also nice. There are a couple of small pubs with great fish and chips. Notting Hill in West London is a great location if the weather is nice. Outside markets with fresh food of all types. Very pedestrian friendly. Covent Gardens is another Market more central to the rest of the city worth stopping by. Harrod's is of course THE shopping landmark in all of London. Fortnum & Mason qualifies as a shopping landmark as well. As far as Museums go the most note worth are Tate Modern, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, British Museum, and Madame Tussauds which is the world famous wax figure museum (it really is impressive). Other than that I think the Eye is a huge waste of time unless you have time to kill. That being said it sounds like you will have some extra time on your hands. Buckingham is nice to look at, especially if you catch a changing of the guard. St. Jame's is close by I believe. Tower of London is epic! Check the play bills for the West End as well. I saw Les Miserables last time I was there and it was well worth it. As far as pubs go, they're everywhere. Do a quick google search for the most popular. The bars it lists may not actually be the most enjoyable though. In London I like to venture into the whole in the wall. Take a exhorbent amount of money of course "

Everything this person said.


Anyway.

When I went to London, I stayed in the Thistle Victoria, which is now the Grosvenor. I don't recommend it outside of location--it's the hotel ontop of Victoria Station, great locale... well sort of.

You'll want to go to Westminster Abbey, definitely one of my favorite outings. Similarly, I loved The London Eye, and the whole district along the Thames that area is in. And, actually, my favorite museum was the Tate Modern Art Gallery--fuck the bigger one, the Modern gallery is the place to be. Really great stuff.

Bring a lot of money, food is ridiculously priced in London. Also, don't go out of your way to go to any special pubs--there's just SO many of them in London, and they're all over the place. Just find a good one nearby and go there, or, as I prefer, go to a whole bunch and discover for yourself.

11/3/2009 1:05:36 AM

Just seconding (thirding, etc) that food is freaking ridiculously priced. The pound to dollar conversion does not help at all.

I thought the British Museum was fun, and the War Museum was interesting, if depressing.

11/3/2009 10:13:15 AM

BigT and Netstorm basically nailed it

I got a kick out of the London Dungeon as well. It was cool seeing all the old school torture equipment they used way back in the day.

11/3/2009 11:11:01 AM

Watch out for particular parts of town though. There's a lot of dirka dirka jihad going on around that joint.

11/3/2009 12:44:54 PM

Quote :

"I'd highly suggest a Premier League match Arsenal and West Ham play at home on the 5th, and Fulham on the 6th Even if you don't like soccer, its well worth the experience"

I saw a home West Ham game against Chelsea in 2003... it was fucking awesome. It was a huge win for them to keep above relegation zone at the time (they ultimately lost the next game and were relegated)... I had never watched soccer before that but it was such a great experience I really got in to it and actually like watching it/following it now..

** London Dungeon was pretty awesome. I, too, went there... My girlfriend and I actually stayed with locals so we went to so many awesome, down the alley type pubs/restaurants and it was so fun. Highly recommend the Pub Walks as well that were in omarbadu's thread that was linked to. Those were fun for early evening trips if you like history/beer.

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 1:04 PM. Reason : x]

11/3/2009 1:03:13 PM

Quote :

"Tate Modern"

If you're going to the Tate Modern to laugh at the ridiculousness and stupidity of the art they have there then go for it. We went and it's the most absurd stuff they are pretending to call art there. There are a couple cool things there but we went through all of it except the special exhibit and me, my girlfriend, her Irish friend and the irish friends BF laughed at almost all of the stuff in there that they were trying to call art.

Couple examples: Go you into one room and there are 5 video projectors projecting on the walls. The videos were of a woman nude sitting in a bathtub full of blood with a large (like 16" polish sausage) sausage sticking out of her mouth while she's rocking back and forth and clapping. Another video showed a midget with a jester hat/costume and boxing gloves on and he was boxing by himself.

another video was of a woman, nude again, pouring pigs blood on herself, she then lays down face first in some hay and then gets up with the blood and hay all over her. Somehow this is supposed to represent rape and the female psyche (or something).

Anyway, long story short, I'd skip the tate modern. Their art is way too eclectic and nuanced for 99% people to get if you're really going to appreciate art. If you're going there to see some crazy art that will make you scratch your head then go for it. I'd go to the Tate Britain museum and check that out instead. It's right next door.

edit:oh yeah, there was also one piece of art that was simply a white canvas board about 8 feet wide by 5. That's it. The whole display. The only reason it was interesting at all was because it was close to another piece that had a black light illuminating it which made cool shadows on the white canvas piece. I can only assume that they put them close to each other for that reason.

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 1:34 PM. Reason : I don't hate art, but this stuff was just too crazy.]

11/3/2009 1:29:42 PM

This is good advice...i appreciate your input...I'm looking to visit sites in the day and get my head right at night....I like what I am seeing...keep it up tDub.

11/3/2009 2:40:04 PM

Imperial War Museum. Outside of the British Museum, it was my fav when I lived there.

You need to spend a whole day at the British Museum. I lived there for 6 months, went every couple of weeks, and never got to see everything. There is just so much there it is amazing.

Go see The Mousetrap, a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. It's performed on the West End...and has been every year since 1952! My parents saw it when my dad was in grad school in Glasgow in the early 70's and we saw it when we lived there in the early 90's.

Speaker's Corner is a must. Always fun to go listen to rants and engage people in discussion.

Do a brass rubbing at Westminster Abbey. Really cool souvenir to have.

Do some walking tours. I loved the Sherlock Holmes tour we did and the Jack the Ripper tour.

11/3/2009 3:21:41 PM

Remember to look right then left before crossing the road!
I'm not joking. Out of habit I caught myself stepping right into the path of traffic several times.

11/3/2009 4:01:21 PM

^ I actually had a distant relative die in London because they looked the wrong way...

11/3/2009 4:12:01 PM

If you have time and money to waste, do the London Eye. I wish I had my 20 pounds or whatever it was back.

11/3/2009 4:15:03 PM

Yeah, there are "look left" and "look right" instructions on the curbs at street crossings. Get used to checking them out. It helps a lot.

Also, If you go to Westminster Abbey for Evensong, you can get in for free if you tell them you're there to worship. It's pretty badass to hear evensong at Westminster abbey. The pipe organ goes so low it shakes the place. Seeing Newton's grave along with Churchill's et al (pretty much any well known British writer) was awesome.

There is also the oldest wine bar in London right across the Hungerford bridge from the London eye. It's right by embankment station. Go across the bridge, then before the row of buildings, take a right and there should be a little patio like area there and on your left is a little hole in the wall that goes down into the level below and then opens up into an awesome bar in a dungeon/wine cellar-like setting. It was hot as blazes down there in August but it should be nice now. Have a glass of Amontillado right from the cask.


http://www.gordonswinebar.com/

11/3/2009 4:16:55 PM

Quote :

"If you have time and money to waste, do the London Eye. I wish I had my 20 pounds or whatever it was back."

That's true I suppose. I got on free because I was escorting an elderly, handicap woman (or at least we told them she was). I probably associate it as having been cool because you have to pass the NamCo (was it NamCo? Some Asian game company pavillion) area to get there, which I liked.

11/3/2009 5:14:54 PM

Don't go to a pub for fish & chips, go to a fish bar. Get some Indian food too, it is the most awesome food in the world.

If you happen to end up in North London around the Muswell Hill area, checkout Alexandra Palace, they've got tons of stuff going on there.

And definitely checkout Madame Tussaud's

[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 9:32 AM. Reason : ]

11/4/2009 9:31:03 AM

11 yrs ago there was this place called Sega World, bigass arcade and they had some indoor rides and stuff...i was 14 back then so it was cool, not sure how it is now, or if it's even still there

11/4/2009 10:00:13 AM

keep it coming...

11/5/2009 8:45:48 AM

I definitely recommend the Arsenal match if you can get tickets. My fiance's brother-in-law has a season ticket for Arsenal that we had to borrow to get in, and matches are usually sold out. But it's definitely worth it to be in the atmosphere and really taking it in, even just taking the tube to Finsbury Park is awesome and walking with all the fans to the Emirates wow, folks are just crazy having fun.

I'm planing a trip for right after you'll be there, I fly in on the 10th and then come back jan. 3rd but I'll be mainly out in Hertfordshire and the surrounding areas. In London if I were you I'd check out the Royal Albert Hall to see if there's any concerts going on, the higher up seats aren't badly priced plus there's a lot of history, really good ($$-$$$) restaurants inside to eat, and nice atmosphere. (Really good for summer-time trips too, especially the Proms)

If it hasn't been mentioned and you like really good indian/bangladeshi food, make sure you try some places along Brick Lane, I recommend Clifton's just off of Brick Lane if you're in the area try to find it, mmmmm-mmmmm!!

If you're into pubs/taverns, check out Ye Olde Mitre Tavern. It's hard to find (it's closely surrounded by tall, normal looking buildings) but worth it once you do. Here's an article related to old pubs you might wanna check out if you're into beer/history http://www.timeout.com/london/bars/features/272.html


I'll keep thinking of ideas and post back later

[Edited on November 7, 2009 at 2:02 PM. Reason : go arsenal! 0-4]

11/7/2009 2:01:06 PM

bttt

11/10/2009 3:16:20 PM

Go to China Town... Wander around and find a random Irish Pub (Yes in the middle of China Town) It's called like Paddy's or something. One of the best bars I have ever been too

11/10/2009 5:24:56 PM