# What Would You Do As A Tourist in London? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411 "2017-08-22T22:20:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/81 "2017-12-10T04:43:14Z")
This is quite new and you’re likely to be in the area anyway - an interesting hour or two: [Handel and Hendrix](https://handelhendrix.org/plan-your-visit/). They were next door neighbours, a couple of hundred years apart. Both homes now open to the public. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/82 "2017-12-10T04:53:08Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Never saw the point of the London Eye It’s a circle, it doesn’t have a point. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/83 "2017-12-10T05:00:55Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I went up to St. Pancreas station just to see St. Pancras station. And what a marvelous Victorian Gothic heap it is! Well worth the trip, even if you’re not catching a train. > > [https://www.google.com/search?q=st+pancras&rlz=1C9BKJA\_enUS620US620&hl=en-US&prmd=mniv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwv\_iZ\_\_rXAhXiSd8KHc9GBrcQ\_AUIEygD&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=7bq0sxYDUk0cRM:](https://www.google.com/search?q=st+pancras&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS620US620&hl=en-US&prmd=mniv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjwv_iZ__rXAhXiSd8KHc9GBrcQ_AUIEygD&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=7bq0sxYDUk0cRM:) The old church behind the station is worth finding if you go back - not to be confused with the new old St. Pancras church. Got some proper history; for example the now underground River Fleet used to run right by it on the way down to the Thames, and iirc Boudica got here or hereabouts before the Romans beat her back. I remember thinking it was all worth a gander: [St Pancras Old Church - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_Old_Church) It makes a nice contrast to all the 21-century transportation doings at and between Kings Cross and St Pancras, while the old wharehouses at the back are now super campuses for universities and Google. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/84 "2017-12-10T05:20:24Z")
I love London. Most of the high points have already been mentioned, but one wasn’t that I found utterly fascinating. If you’ve any interest at all in your system of law, a visit to the Old Bailey is essential. It’s been a few years, but when when I did it, we were permitted to sit in the gallery and observe a trial underway. Very proper, wigs and points of order, spectators expected to sit very quietly with their hands in their laps and no leaning over the balcony. We weren’t there long, maybe half an hour. We happened to hit a pretty juicy case. I appreciated the opportunity immensely and learned a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Donegal\_Dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Donegal\_Dragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donegal_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/85 "2017-12-10T05:23:39Z")
Take a Cuban cigar and a Sunday Times to Hampstead Heath and watch the children flying kites. Then stop at Camden Locks on the way home to eat amazing food at the Sunday Market. ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/86 "2017-12-10T07:36:19Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I went in early September. Odd that I didn’t see this thread - it would have been most helpful. > > My visit included the following, sorted into Tiers 1-4 in order of personal preference. > > **TIER 1** > > The Tower of London, including a Yeoman Warder tour > [ul] > [li]Absolutely amazing - I would go once a year if I lived in London. Special side note: I stayed at a hotel two blocks away, which made finding my way home after a night out easy. The Tower Hill Underground station is situated right next to a large section of the London Wall, first built by the Romans, then added to through the Middle Ages. Today, the Wall serves as the boundary between the Station and a kids’ playground. It’s a poetic blend of history and function. [/li][/ul] > > Westminster Abbey > [ul] > [li]Overwhelming sense of history. Discussing[the interments therein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burials_and_memorials_in_Westminster_Abbey)would be folly. The one that most affected me, though, was Charles Darwin’s simple stone in a side corridor. I would not have expected a man so thoroughly (and unfairly) vilified by so many religious people to rest in a Gothic church. I stood there in wonder for about ten minutes, both in the incongruity and in sheer awe of the changes in our understanding of life wrought by the brain entombed before me. The magnitude of the place is such, though, that others may not even rank Darwin’s interment as one of the top ten here. Beautiful church, too. Absolutely essential. The only downside is that pictures are not allowed.[/li][/ul] > > The British Museum > The National Gallery > [ul] > [li]Both of these collections beggar description. A day’s visit simply isn’t enough for either of them. If I lived in London, I’d visit one or the other about once a week to slowly absorb their offerings. They are both open late on Friday - the crowds are probably thinnest then.[/li][/ul] > > **TIER 2** > > Houses of Parliament > [ul] > [li]Not quite as awe-inspiring as the Tier 1 attractions above, but close. Obviously an essential visit. Like Westminster, pictures are not allowed inside - though the statues in the park outside (including Anglophone heroes like Gandhi, Mandela, and Lincoln) affords some nice shots.[/li][/ul] > > **Jack the Ripper Walking Tour > [ul] > [li]Had a great time. My most significant realization was that a man covered in blood would have attracted very little attention given the number of working slaughterhouses in the area. The most significant surprise was that Mitre Square, the site of Catherine Eddowes’ murder, is also now a kids’ playground. There’s something awfully poignant about that.[/li][/ul]** > > Shakespeare’s Globe > [ul] > [li]I didn’t see a play since the production that week was not one of the Bard’s - still worthwhile. May have been Tier 1 if I’d been there a week earlier to see _King Lear_.[/li][/ul] > > Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens > [ul] > [li]The last place I visited. A beautiful park and a great place to decompress. Both the Princess Diana Fountain and the Peter Pan Statue are worth a look. I didn’t boat the Serpentine, but that may be a very fun thing to do.[/li][/ul] > > Handel and Hendrix in London > [ul] > [li]A sentimental favorite since I love Hendrix and have sung in the Messiah choir. Strangely underdeveloped on the Handel side, but more often than not you’ll catch an impromptu recital there featuring one of the period harpsichords. If you’re not a fan of either musician, though, it’s a very meager attraction. My guide on the Hendrix side was a remarkably intelligent fellow, by the way.[/li][/ul] > > The Tate Modern > [ul] > [li]As Abraham Lincoln said, it’s the sort of thing that people who like that sort of thing would like. I’d see it if I were you, especially considering its remarkable repurposing from a power station to a museum.[/li][/ul] > > **TIER 3** > > Tate Britain > [ul] > [li]Primarily English portraiture; it seems to focus on Pre-Raphaelite work and similar styles. I probably should rank this higher - it suffers from being so near the other museums above. Many of my friends rated my pictures of the works here as the best shots of my trip.[/li][/ul] > > Buckingham Palace > [ul] > [li]Strangely underwhelming. I realize this is a “must-do” on most people’s lists, but I didn’t get much out of it. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t nearly as impressive as the Tower, Westminster Abbey, The British Museum, or The National Gallery. The Gardens out back are even less satisfying - much less attractive than Hyde Park. And for the love of all that’s sacred, I couldn’t get away from the Changing of the Guard ceremony fast enough. It’s a mob scene for…not much. Again, not bad, but not near the top tier of attractions unless you are enchanted by the Royals.[/li][/ul] > > Highgate Cemetery > [ul] > [li]Had it not been raining, and had I gotten to see the side that was available by tour only, I may have ranked this higher. It was moving to see Douglas Adams’ and Eric Hobsbawm’s resting places, anyway, though you may prefer Karl Marx or George Eliot. Interesting how many of my friends expressed a desire to micturate on the remains of Herbert Spencer and Malcolm McLaren. Thankfully, they weren’t along.[/li][/ul] > > **TIER 4** > > The London Eye > [ul] > [li]It didn’t add to my visit. You might like it, though.[/li][/ul] Isn’t it the former Berner Street, site of the Stride murder that’s now a playground? The two murders took place on the same night. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/87 "2017-12-10T08:24:57Z")
No monument to Judas Priest yet a Ripper walk-along tour? For SHAME, England! ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/88 "2017-12-11T03:38:53Z")
**What Would You Do As A Tourist in London?** Take the train to Paris. It was awfully tempting anyway last time I was there. Otherwise I’d like to see more museums (went to the British Museum and Tower of London) and find some areas to take a walk. I’d like to see St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Royal Observatory in Greenwich, some old churches. A colleague and I took a train out to Windsor Castle. That was pretty neat. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/89 "2017-12-12T14:47:32Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > Isn’t it the former Berner Street, site of the Stride murder that’s now a playground? The two murders took place on the same night. Not sure about Berner Street. Mitre Square is definitely a play area for a daycare, though. It was only a couple blocks from my hotel. On my walking tour, our guide had the good taste to wait until the kids were inside before approaching the Square and giving her exposition. The spot where Eddowes was found is now marked by a tree - within the gated play area. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/90 "2018-07-26T20:42:06Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Yes but but… it doesn’t take ten minutes. It’s in St John’s Wood which is just a suburb, so you’ve got to go way out of your way to get there, taking up a morning in the process. If you’re passing through I could understand, like visiting Platform 9 3/4 if you’re taking a train from Kings Cross to somewhere else. But Abbey Road isn’t on the way to anywhere! Jonesing for London today, which brought me back to this thread. **SanVito** , I know people who would make Platform 9 3/4 their top priority if they visited the city. They’d miss the Tower, they’d miss the British Museum, they’d miss Parliament, they’d miss Westminster Abbey, but no way would they miss that platform. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/91 "2018-07-26T22:13:01Z")
I’ve lived in London my whole life and my work just moved to a new area half way up Gray’s Inn Road. We decided to do a walking tour to learn about the area and it was astounding. There’s so much history in London it’s insane. Every street seems to have a fascinating story. So take a walking tour (use London Walks as all their guides are properly qualified), and pick an area. You will not be disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/92 "2018-07-27T02:00:30Z")
Go to a pub with a beer engine, real ale, and pour a whole buncha pints down my neck. I brew my own beer, have made a few hundred gallons of real ale, and never experienced a pub somewhere in the UK. I have in Hong Kong and the US, but so far not with a real beer engine pulling the pints. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/93 "2018-07-27T02:24:57Z")
Wait in line with rest of party at Hard Rock Cafe. Remember that we maybe had a coupon for the place back at the hotel and the line was so long I probably had time to get it. Get on the subway, go back to the hotel, find out the coupon was to Planet Hollywood, then get back on the subway and arrive after the party had already been seated. And visit the Tower of London. That’s what I remember. I’m sure there’s more to do, but we were only there for the day and it was the day after flying in. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/94 "2018-07-27T12:35:45Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Jonesing for London today, which brought me back to this thread. > > **SanVito** , I know people who would make Platform 9 3/4 their top priority if they visited the city. They’d miss the Tower, they’d miss the British Museum, they’d miss Parliament, they’d miss Westminster Abbey, but no way would they miss that platform. People are weird ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/95 "2018-07-27T16:37:29Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > People are weird Indeed they are. Handel & Hendrix was a joy for me, but no one from my high school graduating class in rural Nebraska would cross the street to see it. **Fiendish Astronaut** is dead on. I browsed London on Atlas Obscura the other night. It featured hundreds of sites (mostly just neighborhood curiousities, albeit intriguing ones) that would be Top 10 attractions in arugably any major city in the US, at least to the eclectically minded. The British Museum alone is this in microcosm. I vaguely remember walking past Lindow Man, which would be a highlight for most macabre folks like myself; I basically ignored the bloke in favor of the Queen of the Night and what’s left of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. I’ve been a vampire enthusiast most of my life, but Bram Stoker’s Lyceum Theatre and John Williams’ staked burial at crossroads (the latter just a short walk from my hotel) didn’t even register on my radar. Neither did the Methodist museum and John Wesley’s grave, also just up the road from where I stayed. (I’m quite the atheist now, but I was raised Methodist and my mother is very taken with the history of the faith.) I don’t really regret missing these attractions (what of my list above would I have displaced to take them in?), but they do underscore the astounding concentration of history and culture in the city. Ergo, I’m jonesing hard right now. Samuel Johnson was right. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/96 "2018-07-27T19:15:01Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > **SanVito** , I know people who would make Platform 9 3/4 their top priority if they visited the city. They’d miss the Tower, they’d miss the British Museum, they’d miss Parliament, they’d miss Westminster Abbey, but no way would they miss that platform. I’m not that surprised, given that Platform 9 3/4 (which is just a brick wall with a sign saying “PLATFORM 9 3/4” at the top of it, and a cart with a suitcase and a birdcage on it all embedded into the wall so they look like they’re going through it) is right next to what I am pretty sure is the definitive Harry Potter gift shop. There’s usually a line to get your picture taken standing in front of it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/97 "2018-07-27T19:40:29Z")
Nice thread. We’ll be going to London for the first time in late October. So, the British Museum, huh? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/98 "2018-07-27T20:35:42Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Nice thread. We’ll be going to London for the first time in late October. So, the British Museum, huh? Yep, if you like that sort of thing. I was prepared for a lot, but I didn’t get out of bed that morning thinking I’d see a chunk of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Try to hit it on a Friday night when they’re open late. During normal hours, the Rosetta Stone is mobbed like the Beatles in 1964. On Friday night the crowd is thinner, so you can get a better look at things. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/99 "2018-07-27T23:39:43Z")
Also: don’t go to London with the intention of eating British food. Sure, look up a good fish and chip restaurant (I like Poppies) or a nice roast meal but London is arguably the best food city in the world because of its range of food from all over the world. You’ll find almost every cuisine you can think of at all price ranges. Use the Internet or an app to find the good ones, try to avoid the chain restaurants or anything on a major road in a touristy location. The food is one of the joys of London, but it’ll be Korean, Indian, Japanese, Brazilian etc etc fare that’ll fill you with joy. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411/100 "2018-07-27T23:46:16Z")
Sad that only one of you mentioned the site I most anticipate of our upcoming London visit: HMS Belfast. But then, you’re not the naval history geek I am. This is a great thread. Will have to see some of these sights. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-as-a-tourist-in-london/794411.md?page=6)