You could spend months touristing around London and still not see everything amazing … one odd personal favorite of mine, for those who have already seen the big sites and museums and are looking for something a trifle out of the ordinary, or who live in London, is the Hunterian Collection held by the College of Physicians and Surgeons - 18th century medical oddities collected by Dr. Hunter in the late 18th century. Really odd stuff, not for the squeamish to be sure, but fascinating.
Dr. Hunter is perhaps the very prototype of a mad scientist - a veritable Dr. Moreau. He pioneered the use of “resurrection men” to collect dead bodies for research (and, according to rumour, not yet dead bodies …) and set his gang to “collect” particular people that struck his fancy - such as the so-called “Irish Giant”, who tried hard, and unsuccessfully, to avoid becomming a part of Dr. Hunter’s collection. His skeleton has pride of place in the collection today!
He also was a pioneer of creating bizzare inter-species transplants, which apparently terrified his neighbours as he had them running around the grounds of his house. In the collection, you can see some of his odd crossovers - like the preserved head of a rooster with a comb made of living human teeth.
Meh, perhaps it is a toss-up but I think the “pay once and forget about it” ease of the oyster card is a benefit.
(I got one in April when I was there and the only ones they had were “Kate and Wills” commemorative royal wedding editions…how much of a tit did I look?)
Take a bus, sit on the top deck and take in the sights. Don’t bother with the tour buses, just a normal London bus will do. Get one that goes over Waterloo bridge and you can see St Pauls in one direction and the Houses of Parliament in the other. Jump off at Waterloo and take a walk along the Thames down the South Bank. Mooch around the second-hand book stalls on you way. Stop when you get to the Tate Modern and have a look around there. Then carry on down river, and on a Friday or Saturday you can explore Borough Market and try all the wonderful cuisines at the different food stalls. Then head back the way you came a bit and take in a show at the Globe, if there’s anything on when you’re here.
That, as far as I’m concerned is the perfect way to spend a day in my city.
If you want to try some real English cuisine the below would be worth trying. It’s the oldest resturant in London (open since 1798). A little pricy though.
Forgot to say: touristy boat trip down the Thames - about an hour all-in. I did one with an American guest that came bundled with an open-top jump-on-jump-off bus tour, and another one which came bundled with an Eye ticket. Both were excellent and give a really different perspective on the city from the landlocked one.
Since a weekend is a relatively small amount of time for such a big city, I’d say it really depends on your interests. For instance, if I only had a weekend, I wouldn’t go near the theater district. And Pret a Manger was the most boring food I had there. Not inedible, but about as good as Panera. I’ll admit though that my interests don’t seem to line up with most of the people in travel threads. I’ll throw my own preferences out here in case they may be of use:
The Tottenham Court Road Paperchase: three floors of cards, stationery supplies, art supplies, a section of art books, a huge clearance section - I can’t do it justice. I bought a couple of cards that have vintage tube posters from the 60s and framed them as souvenirs.
The Tate Modern: I haven’t even seen the permanent collection because I spent over three hours at one of the exhibitions. It was excellent! Next time I’ll go back for the permanent collection, as well as check out the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Clothes or misc shopping: Oxford Street has UK specific clothes shops and department stores, as well as stuff like Urban Outfitters. Camden Town used to cater to, I guess, the punk-type crowd? but now a little bit everyone hangs out there. There’s big markets (the Stable markets are the best) with funky clothes, antiques, books, a neat tiny game shop, and all kinds of food. My research tells me Shoreditch is the place for artsy fartsy hipster shopping and restaurants, but I haven’t been there yet.
I haven’t done the Eye yet either. It’s really the one tourist attraction I really want to do.
I was in London this past spring and discovered that, unlike the old paper tickets, if something goes wrong with your Oyster card, the workers in the underground stations can’t or won’t even try to fix it for you, you just have to pay more money. Both my card and my partner’s got fucked up in less than a week (on different occasions). Maybe we were just unlucky, but it felt like a scam.
The British Library sometimes has interesting exhibits, and the regular display is worth a wander in and look around.
If something goes wrong with the Oyster Card you are either
Out of funds
The card is spoiled
I have had mine for 3 years. I got it when I still lived in London; and I have used it on my half a zdozen or so visits back in the last 2 years most lately the first fortnight of this month and even after a gap of months it works perfectly.
Oh God no, unless you’re a fan of ultimate kitsch. And don’t buy anything there unless you’re determined to have the Harrods logo on something.
If you want a supremely good afternoon or cream tea, go to the Wolseley. It’s on Piccadilly next to the Ritz. If you don’t have a reservation you may have to wait, but it’s worth it. Note that the serving hours for tea are limited (they’re on the menu in the link) although you can get other food and drink, and you can’t take pictures in there.
Conversely, don’t have tea at The Ritz or Fortnum & Mason - tourist gouging ahoy.
If this thread proves anything, it’s that tastes and experiences wildly vary. You’ll just have to figure out what works for you.
Ok who said eat at Harrod’s? Because it is expensive as hell. I once paid something like 27 pounds in the tea room for tea and a pastry; that could be a good meal in a nice resturant elsehwere. If you have to buy something; go to the Waterstones in Harrods. That is about the onlyplace you can purchase thing normal people can afford there anyway.
[Hijack]
About last May me and a fellow Lawyer from our Chambers were in London for an Arbitration, which we were under instructions to settle somehow. One night we got an email from the Chamber accounts people chiding us for some food expenses, I mean these were meals at the Pizzia Express or Nando’s, not much.
Obviously we could not just let it slide. As it was we had ben told to “entertain” the other side and our own clients as much as possible so suddenly we were entertaining them with tea and dinner at the Ritz or at Resturant Gordon Ramsey oftenusually preceeded by an evening at the Royal Opera House (cheapest ticket 150 pounds) or the Royal Albert Hall or a West End Play.
When I was there, I spent a whole lot of time just wandering around, whether it was morning, day, or night, and didn’t regret a second of it. I really liked walking along the Thames (from Tower of London to the Putney Bridge). I also took the tube to different areas and then just wandered around those areas (I picked several football stadiums as a point of reference, and just set about from their nearest stops). I’d recommend going to a football match if sports are of any interest, or going to a pub during a match. Also, the Tate Modern was great.
