# A minor help with London trip



## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

*A little help with London trip*

So, next week I'll go in a trip to London for the 1st time. Yes, awesomely excited!! 

I do have the itinerary all done, I checked the major stuff to visit, but I was wondering, if London people here are willing to share, what non-major stuff can I see/visit there?

So you go to the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, 221 Baker Street, so on and so forth... everybody's going there. But something that only someone from London would know about?

Cheers! ^^


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> A minor help with London trip


Sorry, I can offer you only E flat major help.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAA GOOD ONE


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

Don't know what you're talking about )


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

I'm not from London, but have vacationed there ... check out the huge cathedrals (St. Pauls, Westmister Abbey) which feature tours daily (for a nominal fee) as well as featuring "Evensong" in the later afternoons - great music along with organ accompaniment. 

To get around, get yourself a daily pass for the "Tube", London's underground transportation system. That pass works for above ground as well on the double deckers. We found that this was the easiest way to get around town as there are few and far places around to park a car. The London taxis are also another excellent method of transportation. When we arrived at Heathrow, we took the underground to Russell Square to where our bed & breakfast hotel was located. 

Another way to get around is to rent a bicycle ... they have the rental racks all around, or did when we were there 4 years back. 

Kh ♫


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## Svelte Silhouette (Nov 7, 2013)

Krummhorn said:


> When we arrived at Heathrow, we took the underground to Russell Square to where our bed & breakfast hotel was located.


Did you stay at one of the Imperial Hotels London group ones as that's where I usually stay with the Imperial and President being my favoured two and at less than £100 a night as well as being only a welcome couple of minutes walk from the tube station after coming in from Heathrow.

In answer to the OP's question though there is a small museum called The museum of the home which shows English living rooms through the ages and also Pollocks toy museum if you've got small children.

Covent Garden tube station is worth a visit as it has the most steps of any and is the next stop along the line towards Piccadilly Circus. There are great eateries in Covent Garden too with street entertainers aplenty and a transport museum. If that isn't enough there is a big 4-storey Apple shop and it's only 5 minutes walk to Leicester Square and theatreland with half-price ticket shops en route.

When a man is tired of London he's tired of life.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Krummhorn said:


> The London taxis are also another excellent method of transportation... Kh ♫


...if you don't mind spending a lot of money.

I'm not a Londoner but I am a frequent visitor (I'll be there next weekend). I usually get a bus now that my daughter has encouraged me to look beyond the Tube (you get a tour of London as you travel, unlike the Underground). Get a visitor's *Oyster card*. You top it up by credit / debit card at e.g. Rail and Tube stations, and you can use it on all of London's excellent public transport, much of which runs 24 hours a day. I rarely need to use a taxi in London.

http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/

My favourite places to visit are the Tate Modern, Tate Britain, National Portrait Gallery, National Science Museum, Kew Gardens, Whitechapel Gallery and the Freud Museum...but there's lots to suit all tastes.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

PoisonIV said:


> Did you stay at one of the Imperial Hotels London group ones as that's where I usually stay with the Imperial and President being my favoured two and at less than £100 a night as well as being only a welcome couple of minutes walk from the tube station after coming in from Heathrow.


It was near Russel Square tube terminal and was The Thanet Hotel. We found it during our armchair searches for places to stay and this was the most acceptable one. We were not disappointed with our stay - the hosts were quite gracious and friendly.
As I recall the cost was about £110 per night, and that included a full English breakfast each morning or a meal cooked to order.

From London we traveled by auto up to Liverpool and back down to Salisbury - Each night we enjoyed the traditional Fish n' Chips dinner.

kh ♫


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

Wow, thank you all for your recommendations  I will make a list and hope to see all these places you named here. 

Any national foods I should try? Any good beers?


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

Wicked_one said:


> Any national foods I should try? Any good beers?


*Try these London based craft breweries...

http://www.londonbrewers.org/

Fullers is a very well established one and their beer is widely available in pubs. A recent discovery for me has been Camden Town Brewery's excellent beer.
Look for CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) recommended pubs if you like good beer. Many English pubs will do good food as well ('gastropubs') nowadays.

http://whatpub.com/

*Sorry, the link works now


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## clara s (Jan 6, 2014)

St Katharine Dock near the Tower of London

one of my most favourite, a nice walk

there is this old pub there, Dicken's Inn, it is worth a visit and a lager

Also Covent Garden is a must to visit 

An interesting place is St Martin in the Fields, in Trafalgar Square, 
you can hear beautiful music in there and regarding organ music you talked above,
there is a very old Schreider organ

Kew gardens... I had forgotten them... beautiful


you can have good and cheap dinners in one of the Chinese restaurants in Soho
I remember Lido has good food

national food? except fish and chips, which you can find everywhere,
steak and kidney pie, pork and baked potatoes, stew lamb, apple pie with custard sauce

Mayfair is a nice area, you can walk, and you can find a few good pubs

well, London is THE city for a tourist


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## omega (Mar 13, 2014)

I have very nice memories of my last trip to London...
I liked Sir John Soane's Museum very much, as well as the Science Museum.
I've also attended a hilarious performance of the _Thirty Nine Steps_ at the Criterion Theatre.
But in my very humble opinion, most of the national food was forgettable


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

omega said:


> I have very nice memories of my last trip to London...
> 
> But in my very humble opinion, most of the national food was forgettable


No need to be coy, Monsieur ou Madame, food has had a bad name in the UK for a long time. But things have improved a lot over my lifetime, partly as a result of the influence of your countrymen, and the British are learning to cook again.

It is not France, but if you were to come to Lancashire I could show you a surprising number of good places to eat.


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## omega (Mar 13, 2014)

I did not mind being rude ! 
I am sure there are some nice places, but my best meals were not 100%-British-cuisine. And for sure, there are plenty of excellent foreigner restaurants.
Anyway, I have a trip to Scotland this summer. Maybe I'll change my mind there...
:tiphat:


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

omega said:


> I did not mind being rude !
> I am sure there are some nice places, but my best meals were not 100%-British-cuisine. And for sure, there are plenty of excellent foreigner restaurants.
> Anyway, I have a trip to Scotland this summer. Maybe I'll change my mind there...
> :tiphat:


The cuisine in Scotland varies from the deep fried to Haggis with such delights as cullen skink, cranachan and smoked salmon along the way. I'm sure you'll find something edible there.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Smoked salmon is a universal favorite, especially Nova Scotia smoked salmon here in the USA. On a good bagel there is nothing like it. Heaven!

PS: Try smoked salmon mixed in with your scrambled eggs mixture. More heaven!

My mom used to make it for me Sunday mornings. True bliss!!


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

Wicked_one said:


> Wow, thank you all for your recommendations  I will make a list and hope to see all these places you named here.
> 
> Any national foods I should try? Any good beers?


Bangers and mash, spotted dick, black pudding, toad in the hole, fish and chips, vegetables boiling for as long as meat is roasting. What's not to love about English food?


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

senza sordino said:


> Bangers and mash, spotted dick, black pudding, toad in the hole, fish and chips, *vegetables boiling for as long as meat is roasting*. What's not to love about English food?


This we have stopped doing, I promise! (I once had a job in a place where we did just that).

Toad in the hole is inedible, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Black Pudding is a delicacy, think of Spanish Morcilla

The best of British food, it seems to me, involves excellent local ingredients, very fresh and (often) treated quite simply - that is the change I see in UK cooking over the last 30 years.


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## Wicked_one (Aug 18, 2010)

Added quite a few more places to visit and some dishes that I will surely try.

Thank you, people!  It was very kind of you.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Wicked_one said:


> Wow, thank you all for your recommendations  I will make a list and hope to see all these places you named here.
> 
> Any national foods I should try? Any good beers?


Ha! Ha! This forum should be renamed Talk Classical & Drink!!!


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