going to London in April-advice needed(edit: nevermind)

jammergirl

hey everyone, so I'm finally doing it, I'm going to europe for the first time! I'm meeting my sister in London at the end of april and I'll be there for 9 days. I want to make the most of my time there, so to anyone who lives or has visited over there, any advice you have would be most appreciated. what can I absolutely not miss? what really isn't worth the hassle? any funny stories, anecdotes, great restaurants you've tried, etc. would be welcome. we're going to be in london for a few days, then we're trying to decide whether to spend a few days in ireland, scotland, or paris.
thanks for the help! I'm soo excited/nervous!!


EDIT 4/17: of all the things to screw up my plans, a g.d. volcano!? I'm taking this as a sign that it just wasn't meant to be. Oh well, stiff upper lip, as they say. I just hope the airline fully refunds my ticket without any hassles. Any bay area jammers want to find a British pub and have a few pints?

Kel Varnsen

I went to London last summer for my Honeymoon and it was soo awesome. If you want to go to any tourist attractions (london eye, Tower of london, Buckingham Palace) book online in advance. Not only will you save a few bucks (or pounds as it were) but quite often there will be a huge line of people waiting to buy tickets, and you will get to walk right past all of those people.

If you like drinking, there are tons of amazing pubs in London. Do a search for Ye Olde Mitre (kind of near the British Museum). It is something like 400 years old and really cool.

While we were there we also went to Dublin for the day. We flew with Ryanair and it ended up being like $40 Canadian dollars for 2 round trip plane tickets (although be advised that you totally get what you pay for but for an hour long flight as long as the plane had wings, I didn't really care).

theserialthrilla

set i date in your diary for a night you dont have alot on....invite all london pearl jam fans in here to join you for a ale or two...nothing like putting faces to avatar's.... i might buy you a beer if i can make it up

jammergirl

wow, great advice, kel! I just looked at the ryanair website, i think dublin might be one of our stops. I will definitely buy my tickets in advance for the touristy stuff too.

serialthrilla: what a kickass idea, i'd love to arrange a meetup of some sort!

dimitrispearljam

one tip..stay away from theserialthrilla

theserialthrilla

dimitrispearljam wrote:

one tip..stay away from theserialthrilla

lmfao...i love you too you big greek god ...that you and me not talking in hyde park

dimitrispearljam

theserialthrilla wrote:

dimitrispearljam wrote:

one tip..stay away from theserialthrilla

lmfao...i love you too you big greek god ...that you and me not talking in hyde park

our relationship is only sex..no string attached.!!dont have to talk .

theserialthrilla

dimitrispearljam wrote:

theserialthrilla wrote:

dimitrispearljam wrote:

one tip..stay away from theserialthrilla

lmfao...i love you too you big greek god ...that you and me not talking in hyde park

our relationship is only sex..no string attached.!!dont have to talk .

cant with gimp mask on

jammergirl

dimitrispearljam wrote:

one tip..stay away from theserialthrilla

AnarionKing

I can reccommend taking a walk in Kensington Gardens, love that area

Brisk.

go 2 months later :P

JOEJOEJOE

Advice:

Stay relatively close to a tube station; get a nice hotel room if at all possible (many London rooms are icky!); go to a football match; visit the Borough Market; visit Holland Park, they have a great coy pond!; buy an Oyster Card for the tube; avoid Oxford Circus on the weekend; when checking for concert tickets, keep in mind that there are several primary sources besides ticketmaster; avoid Leceister Square at night; Don't buy theatre tickets in advance, since there are many last-minute bargains;take the Heathrow Connect, as opposed to the Heathrow Express or the Piccadlily Line to/from Heathrow

Get_Right

Great city
Im no local, so I did all the touristy stuff during my two visits passing through London. And although kinda cheesy, I really enjoyed all of it. Not sure what you are into, but I thought westminster abbey was amazing-notwithstanding the hoardes. Same with the tower of london. Royal jewels are on display there. Not sure if its still open, but Churchills WWII room was also very cool. I also got stoned and did the jack the ripper walk. Good fun. Totally touristy, but I ate it up.

I was passing through London on my way out to the cotswolds, where I stay at a beautiful place called Calcot manor. The little towns out there are really interesting. Tetbury, Chipping Campden, Bibury towns like that-Avon and Bath are also cool.

The food in England is a lot better than it used to be, but it can still be hit or miss at the pubs. Whatever you do, do not skip getting a vegetarian Indian meal in London. I cant suggest a place because I have always been taken by a local (who no longer lives there).

Please bring me back some branston pickle. Thanks.

EDIT: Bring very comfortable WATERPROOF shoes to walk around London

Beck..

Londons a shithole, i worked there for six months and i couldnt wait to leave,full of southern fairys, do yourself a favor and go get on a train and see the rest of the Uk, you wont regret it

Digital Twilight

Get_Right wrote:

Please bring me back some branston pickle. Thanks.

EDIT: Bring very comfortable WATERPROOF shoes to walk around London

You don't have branston pickle over there :shock:

Missing out...

Get_Right

Digital Twilight wrote:

Get_Right wrote:

Please bring me back some branston pickle. Thanks.

EDIT: Bring very comfortable WATERPROOF shoes to walk around London

You don't have branston pickle over there :shock:

Missing out...

once in awhile I see it in a gourmet store
otherwise its mailorder at $6 a jar plus shipping-which I still do once in a awhile.
Thinking about trying to make it from scratch.

tell me about it
I miss a proper cheese and pickle sandwich plus a stilton ploughmans lunch!

Digital Twilight

Cheese and pickle sandwhiches are one of my favs.

Did you try Piccallili when you were over? Thats good with cheese too

MysteryTrain

I recommend going to Westminster Abbey. Everything inside there looks amazing and eerie. Also, head down to the O2 arena. There's some British music exhibit over there.

jammergirl

Brisk. wrote:

go 2 months later :P

argh, I know, I know!! unfortunately my sister's conference is in april, which is the only reason I'm going there at that time. Thank you everyone on your advice so far! my head is swimming with ideas now on how to see everything I want to in such a short amount of time.
I've never heard of a branston pickle before, but I'd be glad to pick some up for anyone!

I think we pretty much decided that dublin will be one of our major stops too, so any advice on what to see there would be most appreciated as well.

Byrnzie

Portobello Road Market's really nice. Get off at Notting Hill Gate Tube station and follow the crowds. Go there on a Saturday or Sunday - lot's of nice looking, colourful buildings, a few decent pubs, a couple of independent vinyl record shops, antiques, great food, e.t.c. It's a great place to spend an afternoon just mooching about. (It's where the movie 'Notting Hill' was shot).
Also, for drinkin' you may wanna check out Upper Street, Islington, which runs between Highbury Islington tube Station and Angel Tube station. It's a good place for pubs, bars, and live music.

Edit: And the British Museum's a great place to spend a day. It's a short walk from Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, or from Holborn Station. There's some really nice, old fashioned pubs near the museum too, and some cool bookshops.

dimitrispearljam

edit : if u are ..intresting in lesbian bars,shoot me a pm..

chime

If you are interested in art you could go to the Tate Modern and then walk over the Millenium Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral (if you go at the right time when there is no service on you can walk up the stairs to the top) ... if you are around St Paul's at a weekend it will be quiet and a lot of the restaurants etc shut as it is surrounded by office buildings and the area kind of shuts down at weekends. But it is not too far from Spitalfields and the area Byrnzie was talking about for bars.

Camden can be fun if a little strange.

If the weather is nice may be buy lunch and go and eat it in one of the many parks ... Hyde Park, Green Park, St James' Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park.

If you want to see a show I'd recommend The National Theatre. It contains three theatres and for some shows if you book far enough in advance you can get tickets for £10. It is right on the river so a nice place to sit outside for a drink even if you don't go to a show http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/

dunkman

I did the Houses of Parliament tour and it was really really fascinating... it's not free, but it was pretty amazing to be in the House of Commons and the House of Lords...

Also, British Museum is vast. easily spend a whole day there.

Tate Modern is utter shite. National Gallery is better cos they have paintings in there that look like stuff, the Tate Modern has things like a cabbage with two electrodes in it and a sign above saying "Invalid" ... and other such crap.

:thumbup:

chime

If you decide to go to the National Gallery I would suggest the National Portrait Gallery aswell which is just around the corner ... I actually prefer it.

redrock

dunkman wrote:

Tate Modern is utter shite.

:shock: :shock:

Get_Right

Digital Twilight wrote:

Cheese and pickle sandwhiches are one of my favs.

Did you try Piccallili when you were over? Thats good with cheese too

I did not but now must have some!
And I happen to agree with Dunk about the parliament tour and the Tate modern, I enjoyed the national much more

Sian-of-the-dead

redrock wrote:

dunkman wrote:

Tate Modern is utter shite.

:shock: :shock:

It's OK Rita, he's just trying to get a reaction

Tate Modern is a great place to visit :thumbup:

dunkman

redrock wrote:

dunkman wrote:

Tate Modern is utter shite.

:shock: :shock:

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/explore/w ... 5&action=1

http://www.tate.org.uk/collection/X/X06/X06204_9.jpg
Volkswagen bus with twenty-four wooden sleds, each with felt, belts?, flashlight, fat and stamped with Braunkreuz (brown
object: 2000 x 4000 x 10000 mm
installation


basically, it's a fucking VW camper van with the leftover sleds of 24 morons who decided to sled their way to see an exhibition. :thumbup:

utter pretentious drivel.

dunkman

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

redrock wrote:

dunkman wrote:

Tate Modern is utter shite.

:shock: :shock:

It's OK Rita, he's just trying to get a reaction

Tate Modern is a great place to visit :thumbup:

trying to get a reaction? if i was I wouldn't post my thoughts about the Tate Modern on a music forum... i'd be more inclined to glue 20 bits of cord to a papermache pelmet and hang it up and shout "oh, look at my art"

oh wait... some clown has already done that!

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/explore/w ... 9&action=1

Kel Varnsen

dunkman wrote:

Also, British Museum is vast. easily spend a whole day there.

I thought the British Museum was just ok. They had some amazing things in there collection but I also found it very dry and not very engaging, (they basically just showed off all the stuff they had). The science museum and the natural history museum were both awesome though (and both free also).

Also if you are into beer you can take the tube to Chiswick and go on the Fuller's brewery tour. It was really fun and had some very historic areas. Plus they basically give you all the free samples you can drink in the time allotted once the tour ends.

justam

Go to the art museums.