Okay, everyone, I am getting some wonderful suggestions in email for what to see and do in London in August, so I have decided to start a thread where you all can suggest things for a person who lives (and travels) on a shoestring. I already have gotten some suggestions from birders (they are such a great group of people) that I will share with you to start things off;
David Lindo at The Urban Birder is one source I'll be contacting for more information
and I'll be purchasing Where to Watch Birds in the London Area by Dominic Mitchell.
Besides birding, I plan to see as much of London as possible -- I've always wanted to go there, and have repeatedly tried to get a job there after I earned my PhD, but to no avail.
All I know at this time is that I'll be in London on 30 August for the science blog writers' conference. After that, I have no idea how long I'll be there, when I will arrive, nor when I will depart, although I am hoping to stay at least one week, and maybe as long as ten days, if I can somehow manage that. Ideally, I would like to arrive a couple days before the conference, so I familiarize myself with London a little bit, and stay as long as possible after the conference, so I can hang around with the science blog writers I will meet there, and so I can follow their inevitable suggestions as to what to see and do with my remaining time in London.
Since I am trying to stay as long as possible, I want to keep my lodging expenses down. Besides that, I want the "real London experience", so I am very interested to crash at someone's place whenever possible; on the couch or the floor or, heck, in their bathtub! I am also very pleased about the suggestion for staying in college dorm rooms. All I need is a small space to sleep and a shower in the morning. So if there's anyone out there who wishes to show your fine city to me, I would be forever grateful and indebted to you (and I can certainly exchange the favor when you visit NYC, and can provide suggestions for desirable locations to visit in Seattle -- my other home -- as well).
- Log in to post comments
I hope this will still be open at the time.
(full disclosure: I'm English, but not a Londoner, currently living in the States)
Here's some quickies:
For pure density of sights per square metre it's difficult to beat the area around St Pauls - The Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
The Natural History and Science Museum is great.
My parents and parents-in-law loved the London Eye but I've not been on it.
I really don't recommend Mme Tussauds, the Planeterium, the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221b Baker Street or Heathrow Terminal 5.
Finally, if time and budget allow, please try to get out of the city. Going to London and saying you've seen England is like going to NYC and saying you've seen America. Stonhenge, Oxford, Stratford and Dover are all good day-trips.
My personal choices would be The Tower of London in the city and Blenheim Palace (near Oxford) as a day trip.
The boating Lake in Regent's Park always seems to have a good selection of exotic geese, ducks, and other water birds on it. And it's handy for London Zoo.
You have to check out the British Museum (Elgin Marbles, the original tomb of Mausolus, what seems to be half of Egypt, just to start--and it's all free). Hampton Court Palace is an easy day trip by train, and both the palace and grounds are beautiful. I haven't been to Kew Gardens, but it's on my list for the next time I go to England. And there's a half-price ticket office (in Leicester Square), just like in Manhattan, so you can go to the theater and not spend a lot.
Ditto Sarah -- Hampton Court Palace, especially the Tudor Kitchens.
Also, Sir John Soane's Museum in Bloomsbury -- a prefectly preserved early 19th century home filled with collections of books, sculpture and art that the original owner gathered from around the world.
www.soane.org
I recommend platform 9¾ at the Kings Cross train station. And, I agree the Tower of London is fascinating along with the ravens.
Richard beat me to it: Sir John Soane's Museum. Sir John was a packrat of the first order - he wandered around all these digs and if he liked it, he picked it up and brought it home, where it rubs shoulders with antiquities and replicas - Apollo Belverdere gazing at a bust of Sir John done a la Roman senator; bits and pieces of marble, like feet and torsos and pediments; painting series like "The Rake's Progress" and "The Election"; and the actual sarcophagous of Seti I. The place is simply jaw-dropping.
Leeds castle. It's a real castle with a moat just like in the movies.
Foyles bookstore. Lots of titles you never see in the USA.
Imperial War Museum. It's great, it has lots of tanks and planes and Lawrence of Arabia's uniform and a James Bond 007 spy section with a real Enigma decoding machine.
Westminster Abbey, which has a very cool memorial to Darwin. Take that creationists!
Hamley's toy store! Great British toys you don't see over here.
Harrods food hall. You can make yourself a nice sandwich there. Beware, you can't go in if you have a backpack.
I've never been a big fan of Hampton Court, it's not a particularly pretty residence, but it does have a real big maze.
Leicester square is a good place to look at people but it's full of pigeon poop and Euro tourists ( as is Piccadilly Circus) who get really nasty when they get drunk.
Stay away from Soho, it may have clubs and stuff but it's nasty.
Science Musuem.
There are (or were) three great displays (2 good for kids):
- the 'animatronic' dinosaurs
- Apollo capsule
and my personal favorite
- recreation of Babbage's analytic engine - a 32 bit cpu (and printer) in brass. Scary, scary stuff.
Science Musuem.
There are (or were) three great displays (2 good for kids):
- the 'animatronic' dinosaurs
- Apollo capsule
and my personal favorite
- recreation of Babbage's analytic engine - a 32 bit cpu (and printer) in brass. Scary, scary stuff.
On a good day you could snap a good variety of Wealden birds - typical of Upland Sussex - by getting on to a Loder Valley walk. Free if you take yourself. Small payment if you go with a small guided group on the weekend. Bird hides plus badger hides are dotted around.
http://vegmad.org/places/wakehurst/zone_lodervalley.html
The value of this part of Kew Garden's greater activities is that habitat conservation is paramount, not the specimen display.
The place is very varied and just beautiful in spring and summer.
My favorite art museum is the Victoria & Albert. The London Tate (Modern) is in an interesting building - an old power plant. I didn't care for the museum itself.
I have been to Hampton Court but it is not on my "must see" list. I have heard that Blenheim Palace is much more beautiful. I would also recommend Waddeson Manor, home of the english branch of the Rothschild (banking) family. The grounds are lovely.
Have high tea at Brown's, visit Churchill's War Rooms (if you are interested in history otherwise skip this), see the changing of the guard at the palace (go early to get a good spot) and Portobello Road and Brick Lane have Saturday markets. I've also been to Spitalfields which was interesting.
(http://www.londontourist.org/markets.html).
Enjoy London!
I was just in London for the first time in October 2007. I refused to stay in a hotel, and found this in a travel guide:
http://www.athomeinlondon.co.uk/
Very affordable bed and breakfasts (some are not so affordable) and all are within tube rides of downtown.
Places I really enjoyed while site-seeing:
-Day trip to Oxford (take the bus, very affordable)
-St. Paul's Cathedral (worth the money to climb to the top. Wonderful view!)
-Westminster Abbey (may be worth it to pay for a guided tour. I wish I had)
-Tower of London/London Bridge. It's costs to go into London Bridge, but you can see a lot of it from the outside
-Tate Modern Museum. Awesome exhibit while I was there: Shibboleth
-Kensington Gardens (and Hyde Park and the Serpentine)
-Walk downtown (Regent and Oxford Streets)
-Walk part of the Thames by the London Eye (if you climb St. Cathedrals, no need to ride the Eye)
-British Museum and Natural History Museum
I spent a lot of time walking with a travel guide and really enjoyed myself. I hope this helps!
If you are lucky, you could get into the House of Commons (they let overseas visitors in during the summer, although you do have to pay), the Lords is actually much more glitzy than the Commons, which is really very small. Its mostly Pugin Gothic, which is cool but not very old, although Westminster hall is actually the real deal.
The museums are all good, and are free, although particular exhibtions do charge. Stonehenge is the sort of thing you go to (having spent hours on a bus), and then think, is that it? I had to try to guide a load of US exchange students around the place one drizzly November afternoon - even as an archaeologist, it was difficlt to see the awe in the place, but that might be due to the rubbish facilities and the fact its next to two main roads! Avebury, Silbury Hill and the Uffington White Horse are very good. Bath is a tourist trap, but not bad, and Winchester is OK for a day-trip.
Kew is nice, as is the South bank of the Thames, with the Globe, Tate Modern and the Royal Festival Hall (which has been refurbished and is great for just sitting with a beer and watching the river go by). On the other hand, avoid the Anchor Pub near there, which is a tourist trap, which is shame considering the location and the building.
For any pubs, look at beerintheevening.com first. It gives the thumbs up for my London favourites, which are The Jerusalem Tavern, Clerkenwell, The Old Mitre, Holborn, The Princess Louise, Holborn and The Lamb, Bloomsbury.
You could also try a London Walk http://www.walks.com - you can also just get a guidebook and wander (the City at a weekend is pretty good, although most of the pubs are shut), but I did once go on one of these, organised by a friends work. I think it was 'Ghosts of the Old City', with Shaughan (I think) dressed as a medieval monk - good stuff and reasonably priced.
Places to avoid - Leicester Square - a truely horrible tourist trap; those Angus Beef House's - my wife once convinced me we should eat there - like a horrible timewarp back to 1975; Soho - tacky, pricey and grotty; Notting Hill - overhyped; Camden market - overpriced.
Greenwich Observatory.
Picadilly Circus & environs.
Other churches in addition to St. Paul's, such as: St. Dunstan-in-the-East, St. Clement's, St. Giles Cripplegate, St. Mary-le-Bow.
Covent Garden.
The British Library.
Also check out the Inspire London library program, where you can gain access to certain academic and specialist libraries. Sometimes (depending on the whose library it is) you can also get tours of the rest of the premises, which can be very cool.
If you like folk music and dance, check out the English Folk Dance and Song Society, headquartered at Cecil Sharpe House in London. Apparently they haven't scheduled their late summer events yet, but check their website in a couple of months and see what appeals to you.
English country-dancing is fun and easy to learn, so if there's a beginner's night scheduled that could be a lot of fun.
Standing (groundling) tickets at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The V&A Cast Courts. The Science Museum really knows how to do its job. St Paul's climb for the peek into the bones of the architecture. Concerts at St Martin-in-the-Fields. The fountains in the courtyard at Somerset House on a hot day and the Courtauld Gallery. Harrods Food Halls to compose a picnic lunch, and the Dodi and Diana memorial in the basement for creep factor. And their faux-ver-the-top Egyptian escalators are not to be missed!