London Stuff

[daveon]

Interesting article here.  Basically thoughts on doing London on the cheap.  I'd only disagree with the idea of the 7 day travel card.  Get an Oyster card with the same amount of credit, it's easier to use, you won't accidentally demagnetize the strip, it won't crumple up in your pocket and get stuck in the machines by day 3, and you can use it without taking it out of your pocket/wallet/bag pocket.

Other things I recommend are the hop-on/hop-off bus tours.  Usually good fun, you get to see a lot and then you can decide to get off where you like.

If it is a first trip to London my personal must sees would be Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey.  Trafalgar Square, and walk/drive down the Mall to Buckingham Palace.  Horseguards parade.  Then over the city for St Pauls, the Tower and Tower Bridge.

General stuff: Science Museum, Natural History Museum, British Museum (where you can see the world's treasures thoughtfully taken and 'looked' after by a range of batshit crazy Victorians), National Gallery, Tate Modern.

Of interest to SF fans: HMS Belfast (next door to Tower Bridge) WW2 ship decked out as a museum, excellent one too.  Cutty Sark - now pretty much rebuilt and near Greenwich.  Imperial War Museum. Churchill's War Room (part of the IWM but in a different place), RAF Museum at Hendon,

For eating on the cheap - Weatherspoon's Pubs are cheap and cheerful and serve decent portions for little money and usually have beer and wine specials.

On the whole, Americans who live in large cities will be pleasantly surprised by the price of a pint of beer in the UK, even London.  Pints are Imperial 20oz pints and based on my last trip, you'd expect to pay $6/$6.50 a pint...  which is better than what I find myself paying in Seattle for a non-Happy Hour 16oz pint in Seattle.   In SF I'm seeing $8/$9+ for a Guiness and similar.  In Vegas at the weekend, a 12oz bottle of beer was $7...  And there's no expected tip on the price, so it's cheaper than you think.  Likewise, wine is MUCH cheaper in bars and restaurants than any city I've spent time in in the US.  You should have no trouble finding a decent bottle of wine for $25 or less, and in many places, two 250ml glasses will get the rest of the bottle for free.

One cautionary note.  Spirits.  They have to be served in exact measures of 25ml, and believe me, 25ml of spirits in the bottom of a glass is a very very sorry looking pour indeed :(

Generally speaking, as has been the case for decades, the best deal for a sit down meal with alcoholic beverages will always be a curry where for $40 a head, you'll have multiple courses with side dishes and drinks... probably lots of drinks... and if you pick the right restaurant a complementary after dinner drink.

I'll think more about tips for travel and what I'd do if I was seeing London for the first time.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Sound advice. I'd also suggest the best walk in London is along the Thames from Tower Bridge to Westminster Bridge, on the south side as there's less traffic and most of the famous buildings are on the north bank. I'd say a hop-on-off riverboat might be better than a bus, as you can get from Westminster to Greenwich on it.

I'd not bother with the Science Museum though, as its been outclassed by its rivals. The Natural History Museum and Maritime Museum are still world-class, and the British Museum is just the best of its type anywhere.

Note that St Pauls and Westminster Abbey charge a lot unless you go for a service or organ concert, the rest are mostly free, except The Tower of London which is expensive, but you could spend all day there. I'd not bother with HMS Belfast if you've seen US preserved ships.

London is chock full of industrial archeology, you can go inside Tower Bridge, the Kew Steam Engines are amazing when in stream. Combine the latter with Kew Gardens on a sunny day.

Lots of medical museums, the Hunterian Museum is full of bizarre medical things in jars, and the Old Operating Theatre is great.

Things to avoid: Madam Tuassauds, the Shard, London Transport Museum, as they are expensive for what you get.

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

I'll concur with Madam Tussauds being overpriced and, somewhat, also with the Shard -- though it's a view you won't get anywhere else, and if you like views, that may be enough. The LTMuseum is really good if you are a transport nerd, but less good otherwise.

Horniman Museum is fun if you happen to be in the area although perhaps not worth making a special trip for.

Carnaby St/Camden are fun if you are that way inclined. Some things there are horribly overpriced (the usual tourist tat) but in Camden in particular there is nice stuff to be had.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

With you on Tussauds, it was a steaming pile of shit when I was a kid so I can't imagine the last 30-35 years have improved matters. Ended up there once because the Planetarium was closed. Words fail to describe how miserable that day was...

Carnaby Street and areas around the West End are excellent if that's what you like. I might write a separate bit on that.

We're thinking a LOT about this because we're travelling with USian friends who've never been to the UK, let alone London and one of them has a serious back problem and, worse, a life threatening allergy to onions, all which is making planning the trip interesting.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

If I had mobility problems, then deffo the riverboat over the bus

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

If the friend with the onion allergy is okay with Indian food, your key word there is "Jain". They do not use onions or garlic in their food, and we're planning to take my MIL (allergic to onion, although not as badly as your friend) and step-FIL (dislikes garlic) to a restaurant with that type of menu available when next they visit.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

She loves Indian food and was loving Mexican up until the moment she realized she needed Epineferin.

I have more of an issue with Jain options, she normally seeks them out here but her partner is a rabid carnivore so I'm sure you can see the problem.

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes.

In that case I might suggest going for (decent) steak places, maybe? They won't be up to the standard of US steak places (by and large -- I like Gaucho just fine, but Ruth's Chris kicks its arse), but they might be better at keeping things apart.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I has the problem of being a gourmand which makes life interesting, she'd kill me for Ruth's Chris, she even hates the Seattle one. But there's plenty of bistro options around London.

I'll just have to sneak off for me curry fix or do it all during the con,