My London Vacation Idea Link

Hi, all... Been awhile since I've posted, but I have included a link to an off-topic post I have started... I'm in the planning stages of a vacation to London and I would really like some ideas from the locals! Thanks for your help! (perhaps we can meet for a pint and chat when I get there!)

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The Vax museum can be booked via Internet and then you dont need to stand in a long long que...

http://www.madame-tussauds.co.uk/

And at the same time look at the London experience... to.. same house but downstairs... Great show!! Think its included in some sort of ticket...


There are a museum called London Dungeon to... http://www.tourist-information-uk.com/london-dungeon.htm

...newer been in that city??? - take a seigthseeing bus.. jump off and jump on.. jump off and on... its in the ticket...

Camden Lock are interesting Market outside London - Take the tube and walk around with a crowd of people... http://www.camdenlockmarket.com/flash_main.htm


As I dont know what you like to spend on food i cant tell any places..

The show I was at last Time was the: We Will Rock You.. one ticket ca 80 Euro... but worth it.. http://www.eolts.co.uk/index.php?pg=13&action=show&id=1041&width=800

Queen...!


and last:

http://www.visitlondon.com/

GoodLuck its a lovely town this Lundun...

Get a weekly travel card.

I hate touristy bits - but Tate Modern is nice. Shakepeare's Globe Theatre is nearby as well.

If you want to see bits of real London I'd recommend Brixton and its large Caribbean market.

Camden market is popular. Carnaby Street is just tourist hell.

You should go and see Tower Bridge really (it's the bridge that many think is called London Bridge). The Tower of London is nearby. On the other side of Tower Bridge is the Greater London Authority Building - not often open to the public but worth a visit if you like modern architecture.

I definitely second Roberta's reccomendation to visit the Tower Bridge. Beautiful.

There was also a restaurant that I ate at when visiting called Cantaloupe. Don't know if it's still around but if it is, it's a must eat at.

Thank you for all the wonderful ideas! This is going to be a fabulous vacation! I wish I could leave tomorrow!

Hmm, I used to live in london and I can't really think of anything recommend (I guess when you live there you tend not to do any of the 'touristy' things..

Obviously there's the London Eye (also known as the bloody big wheel). I have been on that and you sure can see a long way at the top of it.

And I've never been, but if you want to see artifacts plundered from ancient civilisations, the British Museum has no equal.

I was a semi-local for most of 2003. If I had to pick one thing you should see that won't immediately spring to your guidebook's lips, it would be Sir John Soane's Museum, a tiny little house packed with statuary and the full set of Rake's Progress paintings (not the lithographs). It's worth it as much for the atmosphere and feel of the house as for its contents. Soane designed the Bank of England building.

There's so much more in that city, though. *sigh*

But don't get the audio tour

www.visitlondon.com is the best site I can find I think.. Lots of stuff

Don't forget to visit the London Eye (Big Wheel) on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Big Ben. Great views from the top if you can stand hights

visit: London Eye website, you can even book online.

Its told (a rumour ?) that the London Eye are the only part of Brittish Airways that are profitable.-)))))

I newer dared to get up in it..

Well, the trouble is, you see that there is soooo much. I would recommend:

The Museum of London - small museum within walking distance of Moorgate tube station (you can take the sky walk from Moorgate all the way to the museum, past Barbican). Includes interesting potted history of London from stone age to today, often has interesting small exhibitions from the collections.

The Tower of London/Tower Bridge/HMS Belfast are all within walking distance of each other - from Tower Hill tube station. About fifteen minutes walk from there is Petticoat Lane, which has a busy street market every day. About ten minute's walk from Tower Hill is Leadenhall Market, which Harry Potter fans will recognise...when they go to Diagon Alley in the films, they always seem to set off from Leadenhall Market. Don't expect good shopping there though - it is mostly food, game and cheese etc. There is a Chinese alley around there which is good for obscure Chinese culinary ingredients .

There is a huge amount of stuff within the square mile of the city. The Guildhall has a permanent exhibition about Roman London I believe, although it is years since I went there. There are bits of Roman wall visible from the Museum of London, but in many other places too.

For shopping, people usually talk about Regents Street and Oxford Street, or if rich, Bond Street etc. The locals go to Camden to shop...and Camden Market. It's very "in" at the moment, lots of boho fashion and small indoor markets, handmade and imported stuff. It is very busy and grubby, but the bit around Camden Lock is interesting too.

Covent Garden is also good for shopping - but I would take the tube to Holborn (pronounced Hoebun) and walk from there rather than taking Covent Garden tube - it is very deep, and waiting for the lifts is a pain. There are good places to eat in the area around Covent Garden, in the market area itself (which used to be the old fruit, flowers and vegetable market) places are expensive, a walk around may find better and cheaper. There are market stalls and lots of street theatre, mime, jugglers etc here.

For cheap places to eat you can't beat the Chinese restaurants around Leicester Square...but be very careful in the area of Leicester Square - it is a haunt for pickpockets, and people trying to part tourists from their money. Some years ago I was pressed to take a job by a seedy looking man who offered to lend me 10p to use the phone. As I was working as an editor at the time, I declined his offer of 10p and the job, but I reckon it would have been hard and horizontal work .

There are many galleries in London - there are galleries large and small. I like Tate Modern and Tate Britain, which are now linked to each other by a fast river bus - I don't know how much this costs, however . The river is a good way to get around the main sites. If you go to the London Eye, you could take the river bus from the embankment on the opposite side of the Thames (over Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben and all that stuff) and go to the Tower of London by river bus. Some of the new Catamarans are fast and smooth...some of the gronchy old river boats are tossed around so much that it seems a miracle when you arrive the right way up.

There is a lot more to do and see that I can ever include in this post...there are sightseeing buses, but these tend to be expensive, whereas an all zones ticket for the tube includes travel on the good old London Buses...no tour guide, but you can see as much from the top of a London bus as a sightseeing bus, for nothing.

The British Museum is wonderful for anyone who likes history, architecture, anthropology. I'm afraid we nicked a lot of this stuff from the rest of the world, but we have looked after it . If you like museums, there is enough there for a whole week....

There are also several large museums in South Kensington - the Natural History, Science and Victoria and Albert Museums are all clustered here.

Not knowing what your interests are...that's about all I can think of for the moment, but if you have a particular sorts of things you enjoy, post them and I will do my best to come up with ideas.
best wishes
Cali

Great ideas, Cali! Thank you so much, everyone, for the help! I'm getting excited about the trip, though I have a while to go before I can leave! ACK!

Moved to Off-Topic.