Recommendations for a Two Week Trip to the UK

In My Humble Opinion
61

Yes, Ox and Finch is excellent.

In Edinburgh, Valvona and Crolla is something of an institution: a wine merchant/italian delicatessen where you can get anything from coffee and cake to a full meal. A high end option I always recommend is the tasting menu at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society rooms - 5 courses with either matched whiskies or matched wines, depending on your preference.

And at the other end of the scale, while deep-fried Mars Bars are something of a tourist cliché, a late night haggis supper (i.e. haggis and chips [fries]) can be a thing of beauty.

62

I don’t see any discussion of where in London you plan to stay. You will find cheaper hotels on the outskirts but that means more time spent travelling to the places you want to go. Getting back after a show for example.

On cruise forums, the Park Plaza in Westminster is seen as a good compromise between cost and convenience. The water taxi from the pier opposite to The Tower of London is a good way to travel and get a different view. Tourist hot spots like The Eye and the Tower get very busy, so early moning (well at opening time anyway) or evening can help to avoid the queues.

The tube (assuming they are not on strike) is usually the fastest way to get from A to B, but you see a lot more from the top deck of a bus. Whichever you use, public transport (once the commuters have got to where they are going) is excellent and cheap. You pay by tapping your credit/debit card.

63

We’ve been to London a few times, and are pretty comfortable with the Tube (and buses). We’re staying in a smallish hotel a block from the Earl’s Court station, where we’ve stayed before. It’s a tiny bit pricey, but since it’s on the Piccadilly line, it’s easy to get around, especially when we head out to Heathrow.

64

@SanVito and @Stanislaus, we’ll take your joint recommendation for Ox and Finch to heart. Definitely looks like a place we’d enjoy. Thanks for the other recommendations as well. Our list grows ever longer and our trip seems ever shorter!

65

Keep your eye on the strike situation …

66

I noticed those were happening this week. Will definitely keep an eye while we’re there. We only have 2 long(ish) rides planned–Edinburgh to York, and York to London. With luck, we won’t be traveling on strike days.

Last time we were rerouted by a train strike was 1988 in Italy. The direct Milan to Venice (we were staying in Padova) route was on strike, so we had to go via Bologna. It was a little inconvenient, but we were much younger and more adaptable.

67

So @RickG , how was (is?) the trip?

68

Literally on the plane waiting to head home. Full report in the next day or two. Summary: fabulous.

69

We are back from our epic, but too brief visit to the UK. Thanks everyone once again for all the tips. Here is but a summary of our fun.

NB: I had a gout attack about 4 days before we left on the trip. It still hasn’t completely subsided. Nevertheless, I wasn’t about to let a little (or a lot) of foot pain stop the proceedings. I wore comfortable sandals, and we managed to average 6.7 miles (10.8 km) per day of walking. I’m an animal.

Edinburgh (days 1 and 2)

  • Museum on the Mound - a small but interesting museum on the history of money, banking and insurance, especially in Scotland. In the gift shop, we were looking at a sweet little children’s book called Museum Assistant and Super Squirrel when a woman walking by said, sotto voce, “I wrote that”. She is the eponymous Museum Assistant, and Super Squirrel is a plush toy that serves as an unofficial mascot to the museum. She wrote the book while in lockdown and in possession of the squirrel. She may have had a bit of cabin fever. She was delightful and we of course bought the book and got her to sign it.
  • Edinburgh Castle. Of course.
  • Much walking and shopping. Especially books and yarn (my wife is an Indy bookstore fan and a knitter).
  • Evening pub chat with some new friends.

Glasgow (days 3-5)

  • Kelvin Grove Museum
  • Botanic Gardens (we were staying in the west end about 5 minutes walk away)
  • More yarn shopping
  • Day trip to Balloch, including the sightseeing cruise just into the Highlands. They were having their Highland Games. Mostly we saw the set up and hearts the bagpipe and drum groups practicing. Didn’t stick around to watch.
  • Day trip to the New Lanark World Heritage Site. This was an interesting look at a fairly early “enlightened” Industrial Revolution company town. More yarn acquired here.
  • We had 4 dinners in Glasgow, all excellent. I especially want to thank @SanVito and @Stanislaus for the recommending Ox & Finch. What a delightful experience. Great service, spectacular food, and, given the current strength of the dollar against the pound, quite reasonably priced compared to similar things where we live. Twelve stars. We also liked Ubiquitous Fish quite a lot.

Edinburgh redux (days 6 and, SURPRISE, 7)

We were only intending to be in Edinburgh for one more day, but the intense heat further south cancelled our train to York, and, though we could’ve taken a later train, LNER was recommending against any southbound travel on Tuesday the 19th. It was in the upper 80s F (30C) in Edinburgh that day, but 104F (40C) in York. So we squeezed in a few very nice things into the extra day (after we sorted accomodations for the extra night).

  • Scottish National Museum
  • Whiskey tasting at Kaleidoscope (the Scottish Malt Whiskey Society tasting room, as recommended by @Stanislaus). Did not go for a meal, just an afternoon break. Three drams (25ml) of three wildly different bottles set us back £25 (plus 10% discretionary service). We tried the cheap ones. I will absolutely go back there next time we’re there (may it be soon).
  • Walk along the Water of Leith path to the harbor. Thanks, @Meurglys, for that recommendation.
  • Evening stroll to the top of Calton Hill to enjoy the view and the breeze. Good call, everyone.

York (days 8 and 9)
Shorter stay than we expected, but we quite enjoyed York, which had cooled off considerably by the time we got there.

  • Jorvik Center. When I heard the audio on the “ride” here, I suddenly realized that Jorvik=York, since “J” is pronounced like “Y” in many languages, including Scandinavian ones. Duh.
  • Society of Merchant Adventurers Hall. This was cooler for being such a weird and unexpected thing. Sounds like the title of a fantasy novel.
  • The Shambles, natch. No yarn this time, but buttons (new and vintage).
  • Walked about 1/2 the city wall. As our cabbie to the station pointed out the next morning, it should be giving health and safety inspectors nightmares, since there are significant chunks with no rails on the inner side above the everything. Maybe people are careful here.
  • River cruise (45 min). Nice break to sit and listen to some very bad Dad jokes and a little less bad history.
  • The Minster. Seen a lot of historic churches. This one is top 5, easy.
  • A drink In the Golden Fleece pub, which has five, count’em, five, ghosts. Seems all pubs in York are haunted, but this one is really haunted. Pleasant and quiet at the off-peak hour we were there.

London (briefly, day 10)
From York we traveled to stay with friends in Hertfordshire, but since one of them was working (the other is retired), we took a few hours of layover in London to see an Afro-futurist art exhibit at the South Bank Center, after which we walked back to St. Pancras.

Hertfordshire (day 11 and 12)
We let our friends take the sightseeing reins here. First day, we went to Hatfield House, current home of the Marquess of Salisbury, as well as a museum, movie location, concert venue, and posh mini-mall. Henry VIII’s children lived on the estate while they were growing up, in a building that is only partially still there. The Cecil family is still quite wealthy, and a lot of their wealth is in the contents of this house. The guides were friendly and knowledgeable. Occasionally, my blindness gets me perks. This time, one of the guides let me touch a 23-foot long, 15th century dining table that was part of the household when the estate was still owned by the Crown, and Henry VII and Anne Boleyn came regularly to visit the children (including the future Elizabeth I), so they probably sat at it. That was very cool.

Second day, we went to Bletchley Park. Not that well-organized a museum, actually, but still a nerd pilgrimage site of high order. Glad we went.

London (day 13)
Well, we didn’t really intend to go to museums, but there were special exhibitions at the V&A and British Museums that my wife wanted to see, so we did both of those. Went to Liberty department store, where more yarn. Also went to Spitalfields in the East End (a part of town we’d never been). Finished the day going to a comedy show in Camden Town, with Edinburgh Fringe works-in-progress from Laura Davis and Alice Fraser. Great bit of entertainment to end the trip.

We had no trouble with trains, except for the one weather-induced cancellation. Strikes start back up a few days from now as I write this on the plane from LHR to DEN. Overall, this was a fantastic trip. Saw a lot of things new to us. Ate a lot of good food. Saw old friends and met new ones. Chatted with a few interesting cabbies. We now have a list of things for the next trip, both new and returning (I am totally going back to Kaleidoscope in Edinburgh to try more whiskeys).

You all were great helps on this journey. If you’re ever coming to Boulder, give a shout and we’ll grab a beer or some nice food. Cheers!

70

That sounds like a fantastic trip. I’m slightly in awe of how much you managed to squeeze in. Glad the recommendations came good.

The nice thing about Kaleidoscope is that no matter how many times you go, there will always be whisky you haven’t tried.

71

We are not lay-on-the-beach holiday goers. Always come back more tired and having lost a little weight from all the walking. Slowing down as we approach retirement, though.

Indeed. My wife was most amused by the tasting notes in the brochure. She asked our server if she could take one home to use as a prompt in the creative writing class she teaches. He readily agreed and said the folks who write them are often not entirely sober. I guess whisky tasters do not spit out the sip to avoid intoxication.

72

That should be “Ubiquitous Chip”. (I strive for accuracy.)

73

Sounds amazing and I’ll refer back to this thread for ideas for my next U.K. trip.

74

Glad you ate well elsewhere, as the meal we ended up with wasn’t that great - I’ve not been out much since the pandemic arrived and my suggested choice being mobbed was comletely unexpected…

75

The company and conversation were so interesting that I hardly noticed the food. Thanks again for the lovely evening.

When we came back to Edinburgh, we ended up having a meal at Chez Jules. No bullshit French bistro food. Delicious, with portions that made us really wish we’d had a kitchen to take the leftovers. Also surprisingly inexpensive–around £30 for both of us (with non-alcoholic beverages). Definitely on our list for a return when we come back to Scotland (may it be soon; such a beautiful country).