First time to London this week. We are doing the Wines From Spain Trade Fair on the 10th. We’ll have the 8th to the 13th available for tourism. Any must do’s, must see’s, must eat’s while we are there? We are staying close to London Bridge and I’ve been researching the tube & trains. Juan will be with me for the first couple of days then he departs on the 11th for the States. So Nolita and I will be hitting the town with a good girlfriend from the States meeting us there!!!
In London our focus was on the sites so we did not have any memorable meals, except for the Japanese restaurant that had the dishes on a conveyor belt that snaked past every table. Unfortunately, the teenagers (all boys) were next to the belt and ate a ton of food.
Our favorite sites:
British Museum (actually went there twice in a week)
Visited the House of Commons in session
St Paul’s and Westminster Abbey
The theater (we bought discounted same day tickets)
A cruise on the Thames to Greenwich to see the sites there including the International Date Line
The Tube and the taxis.
We were in London a week and had a marvelous time.
Naturally it depends on what you guys want to see – personally I liked the “old stuff” like the Tower of London, the reconstructed Globe Theater on the south bank, and Westminster Abbey where people like Darwin and Newton are buried. Nolita likes fossils, so include the Natural History museum. The British Museum has things like the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. And there is art, art, art, several museums if Nolita will put up with it.
I was checking my memory that London Bridge is in Arizona (it is, but they build a new one over the Thames) and learned a lot here:
(what passes through Greenwich is the Prime Meridian – the Date Line is in the Pacific).
The Prime Meridian is right, of course.
Nola:
Here is a recent thread with some good ideas.
I always recommend taking the London Walks tours. Very inexpensive, great learning experience and great way to see London.
Great for all ages.
If you’re into art, the Tate Modern is one of the finest modern art museums in the world. Great stuff. Close to the Globe Theatre and St. Pauls’s Cathedral if you want to hit a few places at once.
The food hall at Harrod’s is also a great spectacle, and one that might be right up your alley.
Enjoy you stay in London, fantastic city and one of my favs in the world. I’m sure you will have a guide book handy to figure out all the tourist attractions that interest you. I would however recommend that spend some time just walking central London since most landmarks are relatively close. I have throughly enjoyed my time just walking around Piccadilly, Park Lane, Westminster, etc. Also, I highly recommend that you try ethnic cuisines in London since, imo, they some of the best restaurants in the world. Tamarind for Indian, locanda locatelli for Italian, Cambio de Tercio for Spanish tapas, Ledbury for continental.
London is a great city. I loved the British museum. Archaeology really started in a big way in the 19th century, and the British, French and Germans “stole” all they could find from Egypt, Iraq, Greece, etc. The British take is in the British museum.
The Tower of London is neat also. Also, go outside the city and see Windsor castle. We went on a Greyline tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath. Great day.
The Tate Modern is a great art gallery.
We went shopping one day at Harrods and around Seville Row. A lot of fun. You might get around one day on one of the double decker buses that you can hop on and off of. Otherwise, the tube is great.
We loved London Theatre. Had reservations to see Rock and Roll. Liked it so much we went to another play a second night.
We had a great time one night doing an offline at St. John’s (a great restaurant) with wine board members like Charles Morgan, Dan Bailey, Rainer Gunterman, Nicos Neocleous and Rani Osnat. As a female, you might want to be careful of Nicos ![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
(Alex, you have my permission to show this to Nicos), but they are all a lot of fun.
Just arrived this afternoon. We are staying at a new hotel (apartment style) 2 bedroom 2 bath full kitchen and living room in London Bridge. Great start so far. Will post more…
Definitely recommend 28-50, Ledbury and Tate Britain as noted in the thread highlighted above. Couple of other additions could include Enoteca Turi by Putney Bridge, great Italian wine list and Tapas Brindisa next to Borough Market (London Bridge tube). The latter market famous for fresh food too and a decent pub, the Market Porter right there too.
Cheers
Dave
Nola,
I said it in the other London thread but it bears repeating:
Our favorite lunch: Tate Britain Museum, Rex Whistler Restaurant
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/eatanddrink/restaurant.htm
Great wine list: http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/eatanddrink/winelist.htm
Unbelievable food for an institutional setting (and top-notch for any setting), remarkably reasonable wine prices.
We took Nolita on a tour of West Minster Abbey today. They had a nice booklet of trivia with answers she had to come up with. At the end of the tour she was given a nice sized chocolate coin when she turned in her booklet. She and I both learned a lot including in the Poet’s Corner, what was Shakespeare leaning on in his painting? That and many other interesting trivia and points of interest.
Dinner tonight was a Moro. Great wine list! Bed…
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.
Indian food.
That is the plan for tonight… Wine Trade show today. More sights to see tomorrow!
How old is Nolita ?
If between 6 an 12ish the Natural History Museum near South Kensington tube station is a great place for children. As boring as it sounds,
they have great science labs, experiments and all sorts of games the children can play and learn more about nature and physics. Every time
I went there with my children they did not want to leave.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/parents-survival-guide/index.html
Cheers
Christian
Don’t miss Borough market on Saturday! I flipped at the stuff that was there and if you have an apartment with a kitchen you can have a blast.
Ken
Hope it’s okay to hijack Nola’s post as I believe she’s left London. My S.O. will be in London for 3 days at the end of June, then on to the Lake District for 10 days. Any must-see must-do items for her to check out in the middle of summer? Or places to avoid because of tourist throngs?
TIA
Okay by me!!! We had a blast! We took Nolita to the Natural History Museum…fantastic! Wear comfortable shoes because you will walk a lot. Went to the Tower and saw all the Crowned Jewels! I was more impressed with the tower and the fortress than the jewels. Although there was a huge gold punch bowl / wine vessel (I don’t remember what they called it - they don’t allow photos either). But it would have held easily a half a barrel of wine. Great trip, recommend it to anyone!
If she likes theatre, then the open air season in Regent’s Park will have started. What’s on | Open Air Theatre It’s really magical there as dusk falls and you hear the animals in the zoo settling. For under-cover theatre, War Horse is fabulous and if there are walk in tickets available Frankenstein at the National is excellent. (It’s sold out otherwise)
Concerts in Somerset House start on 7th July - but may be too late for her visit.
Camden is always full of people, but entertaining all the same. Gilamesh is worth a visit.