Anyone in London?

[GunnerX]

London, England, not London, ON, Canada. Will be going there next week as my wife has to be there for work. I'm just tagging along with my daughter for a vacation. Will be doing nothing but purely tourist activities.

 

Anyone there or near there that needs anything from Canada. I might be able to bring it across. I know how crazy the prices of things are in the UK.

 

As for attractions and things to do. Would love to hear suggestions from people who have been there as I am not sure where to go yet. Will be staying at Novotel City South.

[Ryan FB]

• London Eye. I think this is obligatory.
   
  
• Cask ales. If there's one thing I miss most about London, it's this. Just walking into a pub and getting whatever cask ale they have that looks good. Not freezing from a keg. Mmmm.
   
  
• Walk along South Bank. The whole area from the Tate modern to Tower Bridge (past City Hall), up across to the Tower of London, is a good, beautiful walk (depending on when you do it you can stop in the Tate Modern and the Tower and the bridge and various other attractions, but the bridge and City Hall are also quite nice at sunset).
   
  
• Shakespeare at the Globe. £5 for a standing ticket (not too bad really) and worth doing at least once.
   
  
• Tons of good live music. You can probably find something you like scheduled for when you'll be there.
   
  
• Museums, plenty of these. The British Museum still has their Hadrian exhibit on (buy tickets in advance online), which I've heard mixed things about but practically every conservator there got sucked into prepping for. I like the Tate Britain. The Design Museum is small but good, and rotates exhibits frequently. Tastes may vary. NHM, Science, and V&A are all right next to each other in South Ken, and you can walk up to Hyde park afterwards. A few I have on my list to visit but never got around to: Sir John Soane, Cartoon Museum, Horniman. There's also the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery around Trafalgar Square (the walk through Whitehall/Parliament to this is worthwhile).

[SCREWNUT]

An autography of David Tennant on something Doctor Who related please! lol

[Josh]

Ryan's suggestions are excellent. South Bank is the place to walk -- you can start at Parliament / Big Ben and go all the way to the Eye, Tate Modern, Millenium Bridge, Flower Market (where they filmed Bridget Jones), London Bridge...

 

I also love Carnaby Street. Cool shops and a lot of history there.

[GunnerX]

Great suggestions. I had some locations in mind but needed confirmation from those who have been there. I decided to pickup a London Pass for the 6 days we are there. I will be walking around with a DSLR with 2 lenses, a stroller and my daughter. So it will definitely be a challenge for me. I hope she co-operates.

 

The London Pass gives me access to the City Cruises Thames River Cruise. I can hop on and hop off the boats at any time. My daughter should enjoy it. The hotel is also right next door to the Globe Theatre and very close to the London Bridge so that's definitely a plus.

[James T]

Sherlock Holmes museum is nice and cheap (I'll let you figure out its location )

Madame Tuseaud's wax museum

If you fancy nice clothing, a walk down Jermyn st will do wonders

Camden Town(not sure abotu the town part) is like a large flea market if you're into the punk thing

Jack the RIpper night tour (which I never had the chance to take)

[Angry the Clown]

Ryan has things covered quite nicely. I think the season at the Globe has finished now though.... The museums are going to be your best bet for keeping costs low. London is really rather empty these days, by typical standards anyway, as the financial situation has hit tourism quite hard so crowds shouldn't be obscene.

 

 

Primarily for your daughter's sake bring warm clothing obviously as it's rather cold here at the moment now that October is here (we had a nice September)... oh and you'll need an umbrella as the rain is showing little sign of letting up.

 

What dates are you actually here from?

Edited October 7, 2008 by Doctor Hoo

[GunnerX]

It's actually colder here in Toronto than in London. We'll be there on the 14th and leave the 19th. So basically all day Tuesday until Saturday and leaving Sunday morning. I'll be bringing rain gear for sure.

 

Any tips on what to avoid? I will have a portable GPS so hope that will help me from getting lost.

[Angry the Clown]

Any tips on what to avoid?

 

Oxford Street.

[Ryan FB]

Especially if you're with the wife. :lol

[GunnerX]

Actually, the wife is worrying about me. Last time we were in Paris I spent over 300 Euros on 4 articles of clothing for my daughter. I hope she fits into the Christian Dior trench coat soon! Yes, my wife did freak out at me.

 

I didn't know what was on Oxford street until the warning. Now I'm actually quite tempted to go there.

[iainl]

An autography of David Tennant on something Doctor Who related please! lol

 

Lovely idea, but don't even bother. The RSC posted notices before they started that they won't be signing anything Who or Trek related. Spoilsports.

 

Most of the good stuff has been covered, but I'd recommend checking out Francis Bacon at the Tate Britain. Unless you have small daughter in tow at that time, perhaps - it's powerful stuff. She might well be fine, though. Plenty of his works are online if you want to get an idea, and obviously you know her better than I do.

[Angry the Clown]

I didn't know what was on Oxford street until the warning. Now I'm actually quite tempted to go there.

 

There's really nothing decent on Oxford Street aside from a big HMV store. It's dirty and over crowded. Regent Street is far nicer (both for the quality of the shops and for smaller crowds). At best on Oxford Street is Selfridges department store, which is up towards the end of Oxford Street merging with Baker Street and Marble Arch.

 

I'll second Iain's recommendation too. The Francis Bacon exhibition at the Tate is excellent.

[GunnerX]

Thanks again for the suggestions. It helps makes things easier when I'm there.

[Carlucci]

You London people staying safe? There's lots of reporting on the riots here in the U.S.

 

Hope you guys are hunkering down if you are near the rioting.

 

 

 

Carlos.

[iainl]

Only thing shut down way out here is the pub down the road, because they're shooting the new Charlie Brooker series. But Dan and I are off to see Steve Reich tomorrow night, and it's sounding pretty messed up in other parts of London.

[Angry the Clown]

You London people staying safe? There's lots of reporting on the riots here in the U.S.

 

Hope you guys are hunkering down if you are near the rioting.

 

 

 

Carlos.

 

 

I was in Ealing, dining in a restaurant on Monday night, as the gangs arrived on the green opposite where we were eating. The restaurant refused us desserts of coffee after our meals on account of them wanting to close up by 11. Police arrived and made roadblocks, but soon fell back and the kids vanished. I went to my brother's apartment which is just off the green to get my bag and chance the trains home, but ten mins later by the time I was back outside the station was shutting and there was pretty much nobody left on the streets but a few of us and about 50 or so kids in hoodies - most unarmed but some with bats and metal bars.

 

Know what the intimidating thing was? They stood there silently. I mean, these really are just kids... they didn't know what to do. They were just waiting for one to start and then they would all follow... One started, the rest followed, and we made a dash back to the apartment and watched the chaos going on in the streets around us unfold on the news (fires started, looting, armoured police vehicles taking to the nearby streets). Sure enough, the next morning the restaurant we were in was smashed up. The irony is before it broke out in Ealing I was concerned about getting back to North London where I live and was expecting it to kick off (Ealing surprised a lot of people. It's a nice leafy suburb). Islington went into lockdown last night, places closed by 9.30 and many were boarded up, but there wasn't much trouble.

 

It's not stopping me living my life. It could kick off tonight in London again, but as Iain said, we're off the the Albert Hall and I'm damned if a bunch of little shits are going to stop me. I'd be surprised if Kensington sees trouble, but I'll be tracking developments in my local area once I come out of the concert of course, just to make sure I can actually get home if North London does see some trouble. My area is well policed... I suspect having our Mayor living 5mins down the road from me helps. Police presence is supposed to continue tonight.

 

Just getting ready to leave and there are a whole lot of sirens going off in the area, but might be unrelated. I love some of the community clean-up operations going on in towns that have suffered. Great stuff and I am finding Twitter useful - though I'm trying to weed out - and contribute to - separating the fact from the scaremongering. "All stores advised to close by 2pm" was bs.... then you get things like "five shops boarded up" (fact) being "the whole street is boarded up!" (bollocks).

[jhfagan]

I WISH I was in London!

Would be nice.

[JTello]

This silent video from London in the 1950's is mesmerizing. The Woolworth's caught my eye, it looks just like I remember in downtown Boston growing up.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6cb_1321141514