Calling London!

[Delster]

Woohoo my lovely lovely BF has surprised me with a long weekend away in London this weekend!

Does it get any better than this?!?

So... we'll be there Thurs night through Sat night. We are thinking about going shopping on Friday and doing sight-seeing on Saturday.

Anyone care to help me plan a wonderful weekend? Pandora? Lorelei? Maisie? Anyone else in the UK? We'll be very very grateful!

Sight-seeing-wise, we've both been to London before but somehow neither of us has been to the Tower so that's the one big must-see (can anyone say 'Crown jewels'?

). We're thinking of another museum for Saturday afternoon - any good suggestions? Would we have time to do the Tower in the morning (we'll buy our tickets in advance to avoid some of the queue) and another museum or maybe Madame Tussaud's in the afternoon?

We're also going to do dinner and a show one of the nights. Maybe Fiddler... Any recommendations?

Shopping-wise, my long-suffering BF has VOLUNTEERED (

) to do Tiffany, Cartier, and one yarn shop of my choosing. Any suggestions for how I can repay him? Somewhere fun to take him? He loooves Hamleys so obviously we'll go there. Interests-wise he's an aeronautical engineer with a passion for all things flight related, engines (in an ideal world his other GF would be an Audi R8!), and carpentry.

I'm so excited!!! Yippee!!!

 

[Po10472]

You mentioned you''ve been before so apologies if you''ve already done some of these things:

London Eye, Westminster Cathedral, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Camden market, Covent Garden, Tate Modern, Buckingham Palace.

Try here http://www.timeout.com/london/ for new events and upcoming shows etc.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Wow that''s so exciting! How fun

I''d definitely do a museum - they are so amazing and are free. I think our favorites were the Victoria and Albert, the British Museum, and the National Gallery. V&A is decorative arts - so many beautiful things, including some fun jewelry from all over the world as well as lots of other stunning and unique items. The museum cafe there is also yummy and relatively cheap - a good place to get sandwiches for lunch or an afternoon tea and scones snack. The British Museum has the Rosetta Stone and an unreal collection of antiquities - it just goes on and on, everything from Roman coins to ancient Egyptian stone sculptures to pottery from ancient Mediterranean civilizations...you name it, they''ve got it. It goes on and on and on, and its pretty spectacular. The National Gallery had an amazing collection of portraits of members of the British Royal family - I spent several very happy hours wandering those galleries and even spent some time sketching some of my favorites.

Old and New Bond St (continuous) had the best retail bling-watching in our experience. I think at least some of the major jewelers are there, but not sure which ones exactly. It was just spectacular - the windows had rows upon rows of amazing pieces to ogle, and the jewelry stores were interspersed with other luxury brands, which was fun to look at too (Tod''s, Hermes, etc...). I''d also try to hit Liberty if you can - stunning leather goods, AMAZING handbags, and absolutely fabulous and unique ties, scarves, and other similar items.

Anyway, those would be my suggestions - we went there on our honeymoon last October and had a fantastic time - we can''t wait to go back. I can''t wait to hear about your trip

 

[Delster]

Thank you Po and AmberGretchen!

So we've arranged to meet some friends Friday night and Saturday we've booked dinner and a musical -- gotta love lastminute.co.uk!

BF has a work thing Friday morning but Friday afternoon is bling browsing for me and Hamleys for BF...

I might go to Liberty on my own Friday morning, or there's a famous yarn shop out on the Tube, I might toddle on out to there... hmmmm, yarn...

Saturday morning we're going to the Tower first thing (tickets pre-booked to save queuing) and if we have time before dinner in the afternoon we'll go to the V&A. That was my first preference and your glowing recommendation has sealed it!

Now, to make the most of bling-browsing, should we make an appointment or just cosy on up to the counter and ask them to bring on the bling? We've never gone trying on rings before so we're clueless!

 

[Pandora II]

Head to New Bond Street for bling - just go in, no appointment needed.

Your bf might enjoy the Science Museum. I was at the private view for the Terracotta Army at the British Museum last night, it''s a small exhibition (30 mins kind of thing) but beautifully done and v. impressive.

Not a big fan of Madam Tussauds personally. V&A is fab though.

Try toptable.co.uk for eating out - they have some amazing 50% off deals on great places. i don''t think I''ve paid full price in a restaurant for over a year now, and have tried loads of places I''d never have thought of. If you like seafood - the Lobster Pot in Kennington is run by a mad frenchman and is great.

Buy all tickets in advance.

Check out Harrods and Selfridges for man-shopping. My FI spends forever in the cookshop.

For wools etc - John Lewis in Oxford Street is good for basics, and you MUST visit Liberty. I will see what I can come up with for weird and wonderful yarn shops.


I''m spending Saturday in Hatton garden and New Bond Street educating my baby brother on diamonds - buying online but he wants to feel the bling and get an idea of size, colours etc. You never know we might bump into each other!

If you see two very tall people wandering around - one of whom appears to be the living reincarnation of Bertie Wooster, that will be us!

 

[Skippy123]

I don't have any advice but Oooooh, the Crown Jewels; they are quite amazing. I made two trips through the people mover to see the jewels. That was my favorite and your man will like it too with all the amour and cannons! I love Harrod's; I could get lost looking at their antiques. I loved looking at all the wool rugs; that place is huge!!! I also had fun looking at all the food and bought some chocolates. Sounds like you are going to have a wonderful time!

 

[Delster]

Thank you Skippy and Pandora!

Date: 10/17/2007 1:17:31 PM
Author: Pandora II

If you see two very tall people wandering around - one of whom appears to be the living reincarnation of Bertie Wooster, that will be us!

Bertie Wooster, ha ha!!! Hey just bring Mr Sticklebrick and Lego with you Pandora, we''d have no trouble spotting you then