posted Tuesday, December 02, 2003 - 09:17 PM (#11169)
I'd have posted about the ATA regarding London sooner, except I was in London. So, in the unlikely event that time hasn't rendered this irrelevant:
This is pretty much a list of the major places we hit on our trip. It was an excellent trip, so I recommend most of the stuff we saw:
1) If you intend to do any holiday shopping there, Harrod's is good. It is very big and sells many things. Keep in mind that the USD-to-pound exchange rate sucks right now, so even if you take the extra steps to get a VAT refund, you'll likely spend more than you'd think. In other words, if you buy stuff, buy stuff you couldn't just get here.
2) The V&A Museum has a special exhibit on Gothic times. It's pretty cool.
3) Although it screams Tourist Trap, the view from the Eye of London really is pretty good.
4) The British Museum has the Rosetta Stone and a lot of other cool stuff. However, it's friggin' huge. Guided tour == good for a first visit at least (see below).
5) The Cutty Sark, the prime maridian, and a museum abuot astronomy and naval navigation. Greenwich.
6) Those guided tours I mentioned: there's a company called London Walks. They do a number of tours I'm told are good; we did two of them, which were indeed enjoyable.
One went along the Thames, talked about local bridges and buildings of interest, history of the area, etc. Starts at one pub, passes through two others along the way, and ends at a fourth (with time to drink at each if you're so inclined).
The other was the British Museum walk, which focuses on Egypt and the Middle East.
7) Tower of London: crown jewels, armoury, if you're into that kind of thing...
Mildly amusing story there: I carry a device called a monocular to help me read at a distance. (It's basically like binoculars, but with one lense, and much smaller.) Given my vision, it's proven invaluable at airports and museums. So I was using it while looking at the crown jewels (there are a lot of signs describing what's what) and apparently drew the attention of the guards (who wouldn't want me to be recording anything). I didn't notice, and apparently (from what my friends tell me) they figured out what was going on...
8) There's quite a bit of live theater in London (like most big cities, I suppose). The Reduced Shakespear Company performs a few shows at the Criterion; judging from the one we saw (The Complete Works of William Shakespear, Abridged), I would suspect that they're all pretty funny. (The other two are condensed histories of America and England.)
Oh, and the one non-recommendation I have: there's a place on palace grounds that's supposed to be really good for afternoon tea. Called the Orangery or something like that. Total tourist trap. I do recommend tea and scones, but I'd suggest finding somewhere else to get them.
For us, that (plus meeting some friends for Thanksgiving dinner, plus a lot of walking / riding the underground, and eating) was five days' activity. It could have easily been more.
This is pretty much a list of the major places we hit on our trip. It was an excellent trip, so I recommend most of the stuff we saw:
1) If you intend to do any holiday shopping there, Harrod's is good. It is very big and sells many things. Keep in mind that the USD-to-pound exchange rate sucks right now, so even if you take the extra steps to get a VAT refund, you'll likely spend more than you'd think. In other words, if you buy stuff, buy stuff you couldn't just get here.
2) The V&A Museum has a special exhibit on Gothic times. It's pretty cool.
3) Although it screams Tourist Trap, the view from the Eye of London really is pretty good.
4) The British Museum has the Rosetta Stone and a lot of other cool stuff. However, it's friggin' huge. Guided tour == good for a first visit at least (see below).
5) The Cutty Sark, the prime maridian, and a museum abuot astronomy and naval navigation. Greenwich.
6) Those guided tours I mentioned: there's a company called London Walks. They do a number of tours I'm told are good; we did two of them, which were indeed enjoyable.
One went along the Thames, talked about local bridges and buildings of interest, history of the area, etc. Starts at one pub, passes through two others along the way, and ends at a fourth (with time to drink at each if you're so inclined).
The other was the British Museum walk, which focuses on Egypt and the Middle East.
7) Tower of London: crown jewels, armoury, if you're into that kind of thing...
Mildly amusing story there: I carry a device called a monocular to help me read at a distance. (It's basically like binoculars, but with one lense, and much smaller.) Given my vision, it's proven invaluable at airports and museums. So I was using it while looking at the crown jewels (there are a lot of signs describing what's what) and apparently drew the attention of the guards (who wouldn't want me to be recording anything). I didn't notice, and apparently (from what my friends tell me) they figured out what was going on...
8) There's quite a bit of live theater in London (like most big cities, I suppose). The Reduced Shakespear Company performs a few shows at the Criterion; judging from the one we saw (The Complete Works of William Shakespear, Abridged), I would suspect that they're all pretty funny. (The other two are condensed histories of America and England.)
Oh, and the one non-recommendation I have: there's a place on palace grounds that's supposed to be really good for afternoon tea. Called the Orangery or something like that. Total tourist trap. I do recommend tea and scones, but I'd suggest finding somewhere else to get them.
For us, that (plus meeting some friends for Thanksgiving dinner, plus a lot of walking / riding the underground, and eating) was five days' activity. It could have easily been more.
--
Constants might be the only universal irony
Constants might be the only universal irony
