What to do in London: cold outside, female university student, no travelling companion

In My Humble Opinion
1

About two weeks ago I arrived in London as part of a semester of study abroad. So far, I’ve done things like go to various markets (Greenwich, Petticoat Lane, Old Spitalfields), been on a boat cruise, gone to the National Gallery and the Maritime Museum, visited the Tower of London, rode the London eye, and tried to recreate the album cover of “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars”, which failed because the street has gotten gentrified and the K. WEST sign is gone, but that is irrelevant.

As you can see, a lot of the stuff on my list is fairly touristy (and you may wonder when I have found time to attend class). So, beginning with this upcoming weekend I want to try and find some of the more obscure, unusual, and interesting bits of London. To aid me in this goal, I turn to the Dope for recommendations.

Guiding information:

I am a university student and therefore cannot do super-expensive things. Don’t be fooled by the Tower and the Eye, I went on the Eye’s free anniversary flight, and due to where I live here I got into the Tower of London for one pound.

This weekend the friend I have been going places with is going to Bath as part of another study abroad program, so I am looking for things that would be socially acceptable to do alone.

The kinds of things I am interested in include: Medieval history, literature from any era, space aliens, music, art, fashion, and the absurd.

So what should I do this or any other future weekend?

2

Many museums in London are free. I’d recommend the British Museum, Sir John Soane’s Museum, both Tate galleries, and the Victoria and Albert. And I’m sure that others will come here to recommend others. It’s also worth visiting the British Library, next to Saint Pancras Station.

3

Go the the V&A! I can’t drag myself out of that place; my grandparents were antique dealers. The workmanship of the stuff in there is absolutely mind-blowing.

4

Take a walk in a park - one of the big ones. I’m very fond of Regent’s Park, or try one of the guided London walks: http://www.walks.com/

Museums and art galleries - take your pick. Some are famous, some terribly obscure, lots are free. As a student, you also get concessions: List of museums in London - Wikipedia

From your link, I suspect you live in Tower Hamlets (am I right? am I? am I?). Columbia Road flower market is an interesting way to spend a Sunday morning. I’ve also enjoyed pottering around Hackney City Farm. A bit twee, but fun nonetheless. Victoria Park is also pleasant, but not nearly as grand as Regent’s Park.

Go see a play at the Globe - standing in the pit.

Brick Lane and Portobello Road markets are also fun, for the sheer quantity of crazy junk that you can buy.

Go to Charing Cross Road and poke about in old bookshops.

If all else fails, you can meet me for a beer. That’s also free. (Kidding!)

5

Unfortunately, that’s not available at this time of the year. You can visit the Globe (which does charge for admission) and see inside the theatre and the attached museum, but it doesn’t run plays in winter.

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Ah, I should have checked the schedules! I was just listing things I’ve done and enjoyed myself.

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In line with your interest in space aliens & the absurd, see what the London Forteans are up to. One example:

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Oooh, the V&A looks like a good destination for tomorrow–a bit of a walk, but how am I supposed to experience serendipity if I go underground? (I try to walk to places and then take the underground back.)

And Dervorin, you were right, I do live in Tower Hamlets. So Brick Lane is very close…I don’t seem to have seen the market there in full swing yet, though I have walked there a few times already. -Sigh- I can’t seem to make myself like vintage clothing. I know people buy that stuff and look fabulous, but I just can’t figure out how to put it together. My joy in Brick Lane has been mainly gustatory, as I love the 20p “Beigels” and it was there that I tried Cobra beer and learned how to breathe fire thanks to ordering at random from the menu at a Bengali/Indian restaurant.

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Bridget Burke, that LSD talk and the Forteans is just the kind of odd thing I am looking for!

Hmm, if I go, that means that it will be the second random lecture about LSD that I have been to this year. I wonder if it will turn into a trend.

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There are a lot of small (and free) museums that are interesting to visit and easy for you to get to.

The Ragged School Museum in Mile End is fabulous, free, and does demonstration Victorian lessons some Sundays.

As is John Wesley’s House and chapel on City Road. I know nothing at all about Methodism and just happened to wander in there when walking home from the city one time; there was nobody else there, so an old man took me round and gave me a completely idiosyncractic personal tour.

You can also visit the Royal Courts of Justice even if you have no business there, and you can arrange a tour if you call in advance.

The Ceremony of the Keys at the tower is well worth doing even though you’ve already been to the tower itself; you have to book ahead and wait a fair while, but it’s free.

The Bank of England has its own museum which people tend to forget about.

The Women’s Library is in Aldgate and they have great exhibitions and courses.

There are loads of others: Pollocks Toy Museum, the British Optical Museum,

Of course, you could also try some sporty things like swimming, bowling, the climbing wall at Mile End, etc. I’m not a fan of any of the pools in Tower Hamlets, but London Fields Lido is warm even now, and it’s fun to swim outdoors in Winter.

I sometimes go to these small museums with people on another website similar to the Straight Dope. I’ll give you a link if you’re interested.

Another more interesting way to visit the big museums is to go to their adults-only evenings, where they usually sell booze and have music and special exhibitions and stuff. Most of the big museums do them once a month now.

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Before I even opened the thread I was going to recommend the British Museum.

Since you mentioned literature, I would also recommend The Charles Dickens Museum.

Along with the walking tours, those are the two that stood out for me from a summer in London.

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If you like the look of the V&A then you might want to try its sister museum, the Museum of Childhood - that’s in Bethnal Green so would be much easier to walk to.

Brick Lane market’s on a Sunday morning.

I’m another Tower Hamlets resident, in case you hadn’t guessed.

13

Definitely check out both the British Museum and British Library.

Highgate Cemetery is a neat place to walk around. For that matter, any of the old cemeteries can be a nice, interesting place to walk through - quiet, peaceful, and ultimate home of any number of interesting people.

I never actually got there myself, but I heard that Greenwich Observatory is worth a visit.

If, by some insane miracle, you run out of “destinations” within London - when I was there, I would sometimes kill a Saturday by hopping on a bus and seeing where it took me. Sounds weird, but it’s a good way to see the city. Definitely be sure to have a London A-Z with you, but chance are you’ll stumble across something vaguely interesting.

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Get on a train and go to Paris?

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Another vote for the British Museum. It’s free and has tons of really cool stuff like the Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, and the largest collection of Ancient Egyptian stuff outside of Egypt itself.

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I’m not sure the British Museum or the V&A count as ‘obscure and unusual.’ :smiley:

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No, but I imagine there are numerous less well-known exhibits within that you rarely hear about, but are well worth the trouble of seeing. Anyhow, I know of one such, the Gilbert Collection, a remarkable accumulation of micromosaics and other decorative arts items which I used to enjoy when it was in L.A.

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True, but you’re the first to recommend a lesser-visited collection within the hugely famous museum rather than just the museum itself. I don’t know, it’s just funny seeing such big places suggested on this thread - it’d be like suggesting the Empire State Building as somewhere obscure to visit in New York. :smiley:

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The V&A proper would definitely be quite a hike from Tower Hamlets; I remember walking home from Westminster once, and that took the best part of 45 minutes. I expect that South Kensington would be at least an hour and a half away. perhaps you could arrive at a reasonable compromise of walking from somewhere in central London, and then taking the Tube home.

If you like Indian food, might I make an 'umble suggestion? Brick Lane is all very well, but it’s not really anything very special, and the constant touting gets on my nerves. The next time you have a hankering for a fire-breathing experience, let me suggest that you go to Tayyab’s, which is on Fieldgate Street, near Whitechapel:
http://www.tayyabs.co.uk/ Google Maps link. The food is excellent (and I feel qualified to comment, being Indian myself) and amazingly inexpensive for the quality. You can easily have an excellent dinner for £12-15 each, and it’s bring your own, so you can grab a bottle of Cobra from the local off-license. And while we’re on that note, have you tried Kingfisher? I much prefer it to Cobra - much smoother, light and easy.

20

Take the bus to the V&A. It’s pissing it down, you don’t want to go round looking at micromosaics with all drippy hair in your eyes. Off the top of my head, take a 25 to Oxford Circus and then a… 9? I may be wrong. It’s not often I stray West. But it lets you see the world, keeps you dry, and leaves you with the energy to take a stroll around the area, instead of just squelching round the museum and then going home again when you’ve gone to all the effort of getting there.