# So what should I see in London? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2012, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699 "2012-11-21T07:43:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/21 "2012-11-22T17:20:37Z")
Go to the British Library (free!). They have a display room of their treasures which include DaVinci notebooks, Beatles songs scribbled on the back of envelopes, Jane Austen manuscripts and until December 27th [the Jack Kerouac On the Road scroll](http://www.bl.uk/whatson/exhibitions/kerouac/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/22 "2012-11-22T18:37:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The Horniman Museum is quite good, comprising a large number of … natural history specimens Quite a few of which were provided by my great great grandfather 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/23 "2012-11-23T04:15:52Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Tate Modern, the V&A, and St. Peter’s all sound like great ideas. Unfortunately, London is the first week of a month-long trip, and I can’t haul lots of souvenirs all over England, Ireland, and France. Tell me more about the _Belfast_– that sounds like a fun idea! ETA: you said The Belfast, not actual Belfast. :smack: But for future searchers: The Belfast mural tour is amazing imho but then I’m an Irish history buff so I dug it loads. Belfast is a nice city with some nice bars and the Ulster Museum is a gem. However what’s best about Belfast is it’s a good starting point to do a tour of the antrim coast, the glens of Antrim, Giant’s Causeway, Bushmills Distillery, Dunluce Castle, Carrick-a-rede rope bridge are all in short succesion along the Antrim coast north of Belfast. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/24 "2012-11-23T14:32:37Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > ETA: you said The Belfast, not actual Belfast. :smack: I confess that I did have an eh? Moment there. But no matter, you were correct that Belfast is a cracking little city and the surrounding coast is beautiful. As for HMS Belfast, it is pretty substantial WWII destroyer (I think) moored right by the tower of London. You get to clamber all around it, great fun. Big guns, death and destruction, what’s not to like? It is good walk to go from the tower, over tower bridge and up the river on the south bank. It takes you past HMS Belfast, the globe, golden hinde replica, borough market, the shard, Tate modern, Southwark cathedral and either back over to st. Paul’s or on to county hall and the London eye and Westminster. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/25 "2012-11-23T22:48:47Z")
][Nitpick] HMS Belfast is actually a cruiser [/nitpick]. She is now one of the divisions of the Imperial War Museum . I’ve been aboard her myself, many years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/26 "2012-11-24T12:59:39Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > ][Nitpick] HMS Belfast is actually a cruiser [/nitpick]. She is now one of the divisions of the Imperial War Museum . I’ve been aboard her myself, many years ago. You are correct, and it is a nitpick worth picking as we are talking warships here, these things matter. I used to be be pretty sharp on navy warship designations but I’m afraid my powers have weakened over the years. [cheesoid]Hate self, Hate self[/cheesoid] ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/27 "2012-11-24T21:37:31Z")
I’m a ship fancier myself. By your detailed description of the walk along the river it seems you are still going strong.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699/28 "2012-11-25T14:44:01Z")
> [@Beelzebubba](#): > > I was there in 2004 for 10 days, 2007 for a week and I’ve spent a few weekends there since then on my way to/from other destinations. Perhaps a more accurate (but far less dramatic) statement would be that casual (quick, inexpensive) food is atrocious! Thankfully, I found an awesome Vegetarian Chinese restaurant where I ate at least one meal a day and sometimes twice! > > I suppose I just remember the bins from the first trip and didn’t notice their absence in subsequent visits? Where do people put their rubbish now? > > Actually, the people saying “poof” and “slag” were at a gay bar (Brompton’s), so perhaps they were meant as terms of endearment? :eek: Well, yes a lot of the cheaper fast food places only serve up hot (if you’re lucky) stuff masquerading as food and cups of hot brown which they optimistically call ‘coffee’. If you’re really stuck a visit to a shopping mall/main train station with food court will give you a wide variety of generally palatable (but not entirely nutritious) cuisine. There might be some (public) areas where bins are again provided by the local council but, if not, I carry trash around with me until I find one. The big fast food and coffee chains are depressingly ubiquitous and have suitable facilities. Those two are like the ‘n’ word; some people are able to use those words ironically and without intending insult, some aren’t. The least risky option is sticking to ‘gay man/woman’ and describing a woman as having ‘multiple partners’ or ‘a colourful lifestyle’. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-should-i-see-in-london/641699.md?page=1)