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London

NoleATL

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Jul 11, 2007
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Going there in May for Friday to Monday on way to Croatia... Staying in the "Shard" (?) area. Shangri La hotel...

What do you recommend for 3 days in London?
 
If you are into WW2, the Churchill War Museum/Bunker is a must....its where Winston governed from and lived for a great part of WW2 and almost exclusively during The Blitz. A great way to spend 3-4 hours.....after your tour make sure you stop at the concession stand and buy a Coke.....and ask for ice.......tell me if you get 2 or 3 cubes in your glass!
Buy a "London Pass"......it gets you into a lot of venues...the "pass" might seem pricey, but it is a value! (London is one helluva expensive city!)
London Pass gets you into the Churchill War Museum/Bunker.
 
I'm going over on Saturday for 4 days. London and Belgium. It's more of a buddies trip though. We're mainly seeing soccer matches and doing beer tours. Mixing in a little culture, but not a ton. So I don't know how helpful I'll be other than the guide suggestion.
 
Agree with Churchill bunker. Imperial war museum was awesome 20 years ago.

Went last summer- Did kennsington gardens with high tea.

Windsor castle is amazing and you can see the changing of the guard there instead of waiting at Buckingham palace. Art and history on display there is crazy.

Harry Potter studios was cool and I'm not really a fan. They have all the sets and costumes on display. It's not an amusement park like Universals Harry Potter World.

The London Eye is ok. Good views, but I'm not really into that.

Tower of London is cool if you like old castles/arms and armor. The royal jewels are there as well. Beefeater there has always been entertaining.

Westminster Abby is amazing architecture. You can walk the floors and see a hole bunch of famous people buried there.

They have a whole bunch of national museums-science, engineering, etc. They are similar to going to the Smithsonians.
 
Hire a private guide on your first day. Tell them what you like in advance and let them work their magic.
I think this.

The other option is the hop on/ hop off buses that'll take you around to see everything. Hop off when it's something you want to check out, stay on when it's not and just listen to the guide talking about the sites along the way.
 
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I did London with my wife not with some dudebros so I can’t really recommend a lot that they would probably enjoy. I will say that 1) The West End beats even Broadway when it comes to the quality of the plays and musicals so we did three over there that were fantastic and 2) of the various museums and historical sites in London the two I enjoyed the best were the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. The British Museum isn’t as nice as the Louvre, Vatican Museum or the NYC Met, it’s more on par with the Smithsonian (so nice but not amazing). Meanwhile seeing the British Crown Jewels, the armory of the Crown and the resting place of a lot of historical figures in the Tower or London was great.

A couple of other notes from my most recent trip:
1) DON’T stay at the Tavistock Hotel. It’s got a lot of history especially of the spy nature, is in a great central location and is cheap relatively speaking, but it’s a giant POS. Literally the worst hotel I’ve been to abroad other than a flophouse in downtown Paris we stayed at once.

2) DO eat at Herman Ze German a small chain of German sausage restaurants in London. We ate there late one night after a show out of desperation as everything else was closed but it’s actually really good. Especially the currywurst.

3) DON’T eat at M. Manze the famous jellied eel and beef pie shop from 1891. Yes it’s as traditional of English food as English food gets and as an amateur historian and foodie I had to stop here. But it’s absolutely disgusting. And that’s coming from someone who has eaten a yellowtail’s head including eyeball in Maine, absolutely loved real haggis everywhere I got it in Scotland, actively seeks out blood stew at Filipino joints, loves raw seafood of almost every type (except crab, shrimp and lobster as it’s a textural thing, I don’t like sea jelly), have enjoyed eating fried calf, sheep, and goat testicles, absolutely loves eating lightly fried and sautéed calf thymus glands (just bought a bunch from a local grass forage only rancher), and plenty of other unusual items. But these aren’t seldom used offal, these are actually awful dishes. The warm and still sassfras drink was maybe my least favorite drink anywhere and the beef pie with parsley liquor was absolutely dreadful, nowwhere near as good as the savory pies you can get in Australia, New Zealand, Wales, Cornwall, it Scotland.

4) Actually DON’T expect good food in London in general. I ate at a lot of famous places and the best one other than Herman Ze German was mediocre at best. Honestly it’s not just places like Paris or Rome that blows away London food, I never had a bad or mediocre food item in Edinburgh, Sydney, Auckland, Queenstown, etc...and even all the smaller towns and cities like Cardiff on down in Wales and England were better than what I experienced in London.
 
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Going there in May for Friday to Monday on way to Croatia... Staying in the "Shard" (?) area. Shangri La hotel...

What do you recommend for 3 days in London?

I'm going over on Saturday for 4 days. London and Belgium. It's more of a buddies trip though. We're mainly seeing soccer matches and doing beer tours. Mixing in a little culture, but not a ton. So I don't know how helpful I'll be other than the guide suggestion.

A game at Craven Cottage and one of the many great rock n’ roll history tours.
 
1) DON’T stay at the Tavistock Hotel.
We're staying at the Shangdi-La Shard... tallest bldg in western europe and amazing floor to ceiling windows. hoping for clear weather
2) DO eat at Herman Ze German a small chain of German sausage restaurants in London.
This, I can do.
3) DON’T eat at M. Manze the famous jellied eel
Wouldn't happen anyway. Jellied eel? Ummmm, no.
4) Actually DON’T expect good food in London in general.
Yeah, this I expect.
 
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What about Big Ben and Parliament?




Maybe go and try to make the Queens Guard smile. Tell them the Hawkeyes are going to win it all this year.
 
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Second the Imperial War Museum if you like military history.

The British Museum is really cool, especially if you like ancient Egyptian/Middle Eastern relics, and you can see the Rosetta Stone there as well.

The National Gallery is fantastic if you like paintings. Some of the biggies are here.

Portobello Road Market is really cool way to spend a leisurely Saturday morning.

Hyde Park you like parks - and just want to chill.

Also, when the sun is at the right angle on the Westminster Bridge, the railings create hundreds of penis shadows on the pavement.


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I really enjoyed the British Museum and Tower of London. The British Museum has a lot of classic archeological/historical finds so if you're interested in that kind of stuff it's really cool. I went to a performance at the reconstructed globe theatre and really enjoyed it. It's probably not as good a performance as the West End shows but it's more about the history and setting and it wasn't that expensive. If I went again I'd definitely plan on attending a soccer match. I might lean towards going to a lower level match not in the premier league. I think the smaller leagues might be a little more fun with more regular guy fans.
 
There is a taxi stand on the north side of Victoria Station. Across the street from that taxi stand is a small chip shop. Go there and get the fish & chips. Go back the next day and get the doner kebab.
 
We're staying at the Shangdi-La Shard... tallest bldg in western europe and amazing floor to ceiling windows. hoping for clear weather
After the private guide comment I wasn't sure I wanted to chime in...don't do that. London is an easy city to do and you can easily see all the landmarks in 3 days. Most things will be across the bridge from where you're staying, but you're in a good location.

You're staying near the Anchor bankside pub, that's a good place to get the pub experience (remember you order drinks and food from the bar and pay up front), albeit a place where you'll find other tourists.

Borough Market is also nearby, which Londoners are quite proud of. To you and I, it's a farmers Market with some extras.

Here's a full day:
If you like bike rides, Fat Tire bike tour is fun (or Mike's Bike tour, it's one of those), and you'll see many of the key attractions (Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace/changing of the guard, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and end at a pub). All of those are in the same general part of town. After the bike tour you can walk over to piccadilly circus, which is an intersection with a bunch of lit up boards and tourist traps (if you've been to times square you won't be impressed). Instead I would recommend heading across the bridge to the London Eye. After the eye you can take a walk up the Thames back to your hotel to change before the evening

In the evening, hit Covent Garden either before or after a show in the West End. When I lived there we often would just head over there on a Saturday afternoon and see what show was on sale that night, and then proceed accordingly.

You'll need some rest after all that.

Other things to consider:

Soccer Games at Chelsea or Fulham. Note scalping is not legal, but not impossible either. Rugby at Twickenham or the Twickenham Stoop may also be an option (Harlequins home games are at the Stoop, and large matches are played at the larger stadium there).

Greenwich Maritime museum. I found it interesting to learn about how Greenwich Mean Time came about, and the importance of determining longitude in navigation.

Tower of London - This is actually probably a must see if you're in London, make time for it. You can walk there from your hotel by crossing tower bridge.

British Museum - others have mentioned it. It's an option. After a couple of hours it started all looking the same to my wife and I.

One evening if you're not feeling like a show in the west end, I'd recommend a dinner cruise on the Thames. I did it twice and enjoyed both.

Your hotel is pretty close to Shakespeare's globe theater too. I didn't visit it but should have, it may be worth a look to see if something is showing there.

Finally the Tate Modern - Modern art isn't my thing, and my visit to the Tate Modern reinforced that, but you're gay so you probably would enjoy it ;-). My gay co-worker in London loved it.

One other trick I learned is using the hop on hop off bus tour as a quick way to see everything, and then go back to the things you want to see more of. Even if you don't buy the bus ticket, they will have a map showing the route. Get a map from them, as it shows all the key tourist attractions and makes it easier to find where you're walking.

Good luck finding this thread again in May. Have fun!
 
If you’re into pomp and circumstances, the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace is pretty cool.
 
If you're in the Hyde Park area, Harrod's is worth a visit.

Big Ben was being renovated in early September and was hidden by scaffolding. The Parliament Building is still worth seeing.

We saw Book of Mormon at The Prince of Wales theater. The show is hilarious and well done but don't see it if you're easily offended. There's many small restaurants in the area. We picked Da Mario Covent Garden and enjoyed it very much.

Get an Oyster card for Underground and bus transportation. The card also gets you on the river taxis.
 
Interesting OP, I will be there in May as well. Arriving on the 10th for 4 days before we go to Amsterdam for 4 days. Working on our itinerary currently as well. The only thing we have so far is the London Tower key ceremony.
 
After the private guide comment I wasn't sure I wanted to chime in...don't do that. London is an easy city to do and you can easily see all the landmarks in 3 days. Most things will be across the bridge from where you're staying, but you're in a good location.

You're staying near the Anchor bankside pub, that's a good place to get the pub experience (remember you order drinks and food from the bar and pay up front), albeit a place where you'll find other tourists.

Borough Market is also nearby, which Londoners are quite proud of. To you and I, it's a farmers Market with some extras.

Here's a full day:
If you like bike rides, Fat Tire bike tour is fun (or Mike's Bike tour, it's one of those), and you'll see many of the key attractions (Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace/changing of the guard, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and end at a pub). All of those are in the same general part of town. After the bike tour you can walk over to piccadilly circus, which is an intersection with a bunch of lit up boards and tourist traps (if you've been to times square you won't be impressed). Instead I would recommend heading across the bridge to the London Eye. After the eye you can take a walk up the Thames back to your hotel to change before the evening

In the evening, hit Covent Garden either before or after a show in the West End. When I lived there we often would just head over there on a Saturday afternoon and see what show was on sale that night, and then proceed accordingly.

You'll need some rest after all that.

Other things to consider:

Soccer Games at Chelsea or Fulham. Note scalping is not legal, but not impossible either. Rugby at Twickenham or the Twickenham Stoop may also be an option (Harlequins home games are at the Stoop, and large matches are played at the larger stadium there).

Greenwich Maritime museum. I found it interesting to learn about how Greenwich Mean Time came about, and the importance of determining longitude in navigation.

Tower of London - This is actually probably a must see if you're in London, make time for it. You can walk there from your hotel by crossing tower bridge.

British Museum - others have mentioned it. It's an option. After a couple of hours it started all looking the same to my wife and I.

One evening if you're not feeling like a show in the west end, I'd recommend a dinner cruise on the Thames. I did it twice and enjoyed both.

Your hotel is pretty close to Shakespeare's globe theater too. I didn't visit it but should have, it may be worth a look to see if something is showing there.

Finally the Tate Modern - Modern art isn't my thing, and my visit to the Tate Modern reinforced that, but you're gay so you probably would enjoy it ;-). My gay co-worker in London loved it.

One other trick I learned is using the hop on hop off bus tour as a quick way to see everything, and then go back to the things you want to see more of. Even if you don't buy the bus ticket, they will have a map showing the route. Get a map from them, as it shows all the key tourist attractions and makes it easier to find where you're walking.

Good luck finding this thread again in May. Have fun!

We did a Fat Tire bike tour in Paris and it was great. Might consider it for our London trip. Definitely recommend it for anyone going to Paris.
 
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Back in 2007 my bride and I did London in late March. It was our first trip across the pond. We did the Harrod’s thing of course. The most memorable part of the trip for me was a Harrod’s, in a small streetside display window they featured a pair of ruby and diamond slippers with a price tag of £225k....at the time, the exchange rate was 1£=$2! Also, what really made the slipper display memorable, the slippers were being “guarded” by a 6’ king cobra!
Go ahead shoplifters...have at it!
 
Going there in May for Friday to Monday on way to Croatia... Staying in the "Shard" (?) area. Shangri La hotel...

What do you recommend for 3 days in London?

The Imperial War Museum is a terrific museum. Better than the War Rooms IMHO.

The Tate Modern is an amazing space and gallery. Odds are that or the National Portrait Gallery will be open one night until 9. Find that night. You can walk around with a beer while live music plays and tour the galleries. Amazing.

If you are there on a Saturday, hit the Brick Lane Markets. Blocks and blocks of food markets and hipster stalls.
 
If you are into WW2, the Churchill War Museum/Bunker is a must....its where Winston governed from and lived for a great part of WW2 and almost exclusively during The Blitz. A great way to spend 3-4 hours.....after your tour make sure you stop at the concession stand and buy a Coke.....and ask for ice.......tell me if you get 2 or 3 cubes in your glass!
Buy a "London Pass"......it gets you into a lot of venues...the "pass" might seem pricey, but it is a value! (London is one helluva expensive city!)
London Pass gets you into the Churchill War Museum/Bunker.

The best place to buy all of these city passes is Costco FYI. 4 day London pass is 140 and I guarantee that is a steal. We have purchased for several European trips and all have been more than worth it. New York City pass as well was a good deal.
 
Going there in May for Friday to Monday on way to Croatia... Staying in the "Shard" (?) area. Shangri La hotel...

What do you recommend for 3 days in London?

Chatted with my wife about the London trip we took a couple of years ago and she confirmed, other than the plays at West End, the Tower of London, Westminster and the Herman Ze German currywurst, there was nothing about London she liked. Now I will preface this by saying that we flew in and out of London on a two week trip that had us spend multiple days in Edinburgh and Paris both of which are substantially better than London and spent a week driving around Wales and parts of Scotland other than Edinburgh.

But there were a couple of places we didn’t get to because of a unexpected train and “tube” strike making it difficult to get around while there. We flew in to Gatwick but because of the strike instead of a quick 1-1.5 hour train ride in from the airport, it took us 4 hours. So we missed our reservations at St John’s which IS supposed to be one of the few excellent restaurants for British food in London (it was one of Anthony Bourdain’s favorite restaurants and my wife and I do make their Bone Marrow and Parsley salad 5-8x a year at home) and rather than seeing the Brit on arrival in London and THEN the Louvre, we did the Louvre first on and then a week or so later did the Brit which taints my opinion of the Brit. Once you’ve been to the best museum in the world (the Louvre), going to the one that’s at best 4th is underwhelming. Napoleon really did steal the best of the remaining Greek and Egyptian artifacts while England got the beat up leftovers. And the French kings spent more on art from the Medieval through 1800s European master artisans than did the cheap English kings who wasted all of their money fighting the French, Scots, Irish, Spanish and tons of civil wars.
 
Going there in May for Friday to Monday on way to Croatia... Staying in the "Shard" (?) area. Shangri La hotel...

What do you recommend for 3 days in London?
You will love Croatia, one of my favorite countries. If you can, try to do a day trip to Mostar, Bosnia
 
We did Vienna with Munich last year.
How did you like Munich? I liked it ok but I was a little underwhelmed on the whole. Spent 3 days there w/one of those being a day trip to Neuschwanstein & Oberammergau. That was my favorite part by far...but not exactly Munich proper.
 
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