Going to London! Any suggestions?

[elrohwen]

In a few short weeks I will be heading off to England for a week for work. I''ll spend a four days in Peterborough (so if you know anything I should check out there, let me know!) and then spending two nights in London before flying home. So what things should I absolutely see during my one full day in London? I won''t have a car, but I assume most things can be accessed by train. Some good dinner suggestions would be great too, because I love to eat

I have always wanted to visit England and I am so excited to go!

 

[girlie-girl]

How exciting for you!

When I was there I was staying in Bexleyheath, Kent, so was about an hour south of London. I was there for a couple of weeks each on two different occasions so had the opportunity to visit a few different places.

I quite enjoyed The London Eye, the Tower of London, and Dover Castle. The views from the London Eye are amazing. It only lasts about 30 minutes, but it's enough time to get some great shots overlooking London. The Tower of London was really cool for the fact that it is so old. I was in awe to be standing in a building that was 400 years older than my country. LOL Dover Castle has ties to WWII, so if you're interested in any wartime stuff you will definitely enjoy that as well. For a different thrill, we drove up to Alton Towers. It was interesting to see a theme park built around a castle. I love castles.

We also drove down to Bristol. It was the first time I ever visited a beach without sand, so that was pretty neat as well.

There were many other things I wanted to do, but since I was there visiting some locals, they scoffed at doing too many "touristy" things.

LOL I definitely want to go back. My husband has never been and I think it'd be great to go together.

Have fun!

 

[elrohwen]

Great ideas Girlie-girl! Thanks! I think the Tower of London will definitely be on my list of things to see.

 

[dragonfly411]

The Tower of London, I''d ride the Eye if you have the chance, The Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, as many churches as possible they are amazing, Gosh I wish you had more time.

 

[D2B]

Well, definately the tower of london to see the crown jewels, Big Ben, Trafalgar square, London eye, Harrods, Buckingham palace, Hyde park etc etc
There is heaps to see. If you only have a day, i would get a pass to one of the big red buses (tourist buses), you can do a full tour once and hear all the commentaray (takes about 2 hours from memory) and then decide where you want to spend some time, hopping on and off at your leisure.

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

http://www.sightseeingtourslondon.com/london-tour-p-176.html

all the obvious tourist sights are worth seeing once if you have never been to london before.

I would also recommend you pop into one or two original english pubs, they have great character, and try some local ale (not to my taste, but worth trying

)

enjoy


d2b

 

[krispi]

In addition to everything already mentioned, Westminster Abbey was amazing! I loved all the history there. If you like museums and history, the British Museum is great - they have a large mummy display. Also, London can be a great place to catch a show if you have a chance. I saw Phantom when I was there. The original Hard Rock is also in London - it had pretty much the same food as all the others, but it''s neat to be able to say that I''ve been to the original! It''s been a while since I was there (in 2000), but it was definitely one of my favorite cities of all time!

 

[AmberGretchen]

Definitely the Tower of London is worth seeing. I also second the suggestion to try to get to the theater - you can get tickets in advance or just take your chances at the half-price ticket booth once you''re there.

Any of the museums are worth seeing - the British is great if you''re into history, the Victoria and Albert has decorative arts (probably my personal favorite) from all over the world and every point in history.

 

[elrohwen]

Date: 10/8/2008 5:02:26 PM
Author: D2B
Well, definately the tower of london to see the crown jewels, Big Ben, Trafalgar square, London eye, Harrods, Buckingham palace, Hyde park etc etc
There is heaps to see. If you only have a day, i would get a pass to one of the big red buses (tourist buses), you can do a full tour once and hear all the commentaray (takes about 2 hours from memory) and then decide where you want to spend some time, hopping on and off at your leisure.

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

http://www.sightseeingtourslondon.com/london-tour-p-176.html

all the obvious tourist sights are worth seeing once if you have never been to london before.

I would also recommend you pop into one or two original english pubs, they have great character, and try some local ale (not to my taste, but worth trying

)

enjoy


d2b

Trying local beer will be at the top of my list

Hopefully Peterborough has some nice pubs because that''s where I''ll most likely be spending my evenings after work.

 

[elrohwen]

I love the idea of a tour bus, thanks D2B. People rave about those in NYC and I imagine they''re similar in London. Great way to see a lot of things in a short amount of time (especially without having a car). Tower of London and Hyde Park are definitely on my list, as are Big Ben and Parliment (at least from the outside, if I don''t have time to get closer). I''ll probably skip out on any shows as I live near NYC and get plenty of chances to do that at home. And now the museums sound great! So many wonderful suggestions. I also wish I had more time ... unfortunately (and fortunately) I''m going on a 1 1/2 week vacation the week after London, so I really don''t have the money to be spending on hotels and things while I''m there. I''ll just have to make the most of the time my company is willing to pay for.

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful suggestions!

 

[Lorelei]

Natural History Museum, Madam Tussauds, both great places to visit.

 

[gwendolyn]

Peterborough is quite close to Cambridge, which is fairly nice as tourist destinations go--and the university is celebrating its 800th anniversary this school year (technically not until 2009 but they''re starting the celebrations at the start of this school year), so there might be some extra fun stuff to see maybe? And Ely isn''t far either--they''ve got a lovely cathedral and some nice tea shops.

Everyone else covered the London stuff well enough. Definitely see the royal jewels at the Tower of London. They were fantastic!