Need recommendations for London sightseeing

BTW, you will fall in love with London and the people. It's easily my favorite city of the 3 continents I've visited.

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also larry be careful crossing streets, the cars closest come from the right, not the left.

And don't forget to brush your teeth and wash behind your ears too Larry! Nah, just sour grapes and jealousy from me. Have fun. Let us know if the toilet water runs down the opposite way as in the U.S. Important stuff..
 
Is the plan you asked about a few weeks ago still the go-ahead option, Larry? Just wondering. No big deal either way but it does change things logistically slightly.

In terms of what to do. Wander. Take it in. Picadilly Circus is like our equivalent of Time Square - at least the advertising boards are. Not a huge amount to do there unless you like steak, theatre or are a Freemason. Trafalgar Square has the National Portrait Gallery.

Thing is though, the centre of London is very compact. You can walk between all of these places in under an hour and the Underground is often even quicker. London is a big city but the majority of what tourists go to look at is within half a mile to a mile. To give you an idea of the suburban size, I live some twenty-seven miles from the centre of London but London actually officially starts about ten miles from me - but the 'middle' is Charing Cross (where Trafalgar Square is, near enough) and that's close to just about everything.
 
I think Grea and Daisy are in. We still need to know who else wants to hang on Monday and and Tuesday. Henri? Duncan? I do have an inquiring mind and I like museums. Natural History Museums, Art Museums, especially are right up my alley, thanks Andy.

Larry if you like museums,you have to visit the British War Museum.Facinating stuff.There's a simulated bomb shelter,and bombing.There's also a trench warfare exibit that's pretty realistic.Lots of equipment,vehicles and one of the only surviving Tiger tanks in existance. Down the block,there was a pub that served great fish and chips,and cold beer.

If you get a chance,visit the original Hard Rock Cafe.I hope Bonzo's snare drum is still mounted on the wall downstairs.

If you go to Buckingham Palace,do it at the changing of the guard.Very cool stuff.

And remember.......when taking the underground....mind the gap.:)

Steve B
 
And don't forget to brush your teeth and wash behind your ears too Larry! Nah, just sour grapes and jealousy from me. Have fun. Let us know if the toilet water runs down the opposite way as in the U.S. Important stuff..

Just for the record, you're envious. Jealousy involves 3 people. Hey Larry is that Island Beach State Park in your avi by any chance?

Is the plan you asked about a few weeks ago still the go-ahead option, Larry? Just wondering. No big deal either way but it does change things logistically slightly.

Yea Dunc, I think I'm getting my own room, you know, in case I get lucky lol. I will have Grea and Daisy to contend with lol. But as a parting gift, you'll be receiving a life size cardboard facismile of yours truly. Unclothed in all my glory, and fully extended lol.

Larry if you like museums,you have to visit the British War Museum.Facinating stuff.There's a simulated bomb shelter,and bombing.There's also a trench warfare exibit that's pretty realistic.Lots of equipment,vehicles and one of the only surviving Tiger tanks in existance. Down the block,there was a pub that served great fish and chips,and cold beer.

If you get a chance,visit the original Hard Rock Cafe.I hope Bonzo's snare drum is still mounted on the wall downstairs.

If you go to Buckingham Palace,do it at the changing of the guard.Very cool stuff.

And remember.......when taking the underground....mind the gap.:)

Steve B


They sound like good suggestions, thanks Steve. Maybe I'll try and steal Bonzos drum as a souvenir. Kidding! Sheesh! I will at least try and make the Buckingham guards crack a smile.
 
Piccadilly Circus
Leicester Square
Covent Garden
Trafalgar Square
Buckingham Palace
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
National Art Gallery (free)
St Paul's Cathedral
The Tower of London
Tower Bridge
HMS Belfast
The London Dungeon
Madame Tussaud
Hyde Park (and Hyde Park Corner if you fancy doing some speech, lol)
Oxford Street (nice for shopping)

Great list, Henri. Assuming that's too many for young Larry to cram in in a couple of days, which would you consider the "must sees"?
 
The best chippies are on the coast: if you're confined to London try to find a good pie and mash shop. That's about as "London" as you can get.

What's a pie and mash shop? They sell pies? What's mash?

Among all these great suggestions, of which I will be taking as much as I can, I want to see the real London. Real Londoners doing London-ish stuff. Pie and mash sounds London-ish, but wtf do I know?
 
What's a pie and mash shop? They sell pies? What's mash?

Among all these great suggestions, of which I will be taking as much as I can, I want to see the real London. Real Londoners doing London-ish stuff. Pie and mash sounds London-ish, but wtf do I know?

Pie and mash shops are essentially cafes which serve, amongst other things, minced beef pies and mashed potato. This typically comes with liquor, which is a sort of sauce or gravy made principally from stewed eels (the water in which they are stewed) which such shops also serve. The traditional pie and mash shops are in the East End of London and date back to the 19th century, I believe.
 
Agree with the above, although I think Pro Perc just closed. :(
Wow. I didn't know it was that famous.
Sadly, it closed down a couple of years ago (I live close by) :(

That's sad news, Pro Perc is were I bought my first Zildjian cymbal back in 1980, they had a smaller shop, also in Kentish Town, then they opened a much larger store down the road.

Larry, I'm going to do my best to stay on for a day after the show (if you're not sick of me by then). It's logistically difficult to do, but how often am I going to get such a great hang opportunity?
I think Grea and Daisy are in. We still need to know who else wants to hang on Monday and and Tuesday. Henri? Duncan?

Larry, Andy, yes I agree, such an opportunity to all hang around together in London is not going to happen that often, lol, it would be a great event if we could all be together for at least one day after the LDS, with Grea, Daisy, Duncan and whoever from the forum who could attend, you can count me in, I don't know what job I'll be doing in the UK and where I'll live, but I won't missed such an opportunity, that's for sure :)

Great list, Henri. Assuming that's too many for young Larry to cram in in a couple of days, which would you consider the "must sees"?

Funnily enough, during the summer holiday in 1980, I visited most of these sites in an hour stucked in my wife sister's Mini by night, lol, she would say "here's Trafalgar Square" or "thats Bugkingham Palace", the quickest ever tour of London sight seeing :)

I've been every summer after that on holiday in London until I moved to the UK in 89, I've seen all these sites many, many times, it all depends what makes you tick obviously, but as Duncan mentioned, many of these sites are just walking distances from each other, within a couple of hours you'll have seen a large amount of central London.

Covent Garden is a nice place to hang out, with many little market stands and street performing artists.

Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus have huge Music mega store, like HMV, Virgin and Tower Records, they're gold mines, I use to spend days in them, they're so big :)
 
Larry, Andy, yes I agree, such an opportunity to all hang around together in London is not going to happen that often, lol, it would be a great event if we could all be together for at least one day after the LDS, with Grea, Daisy, Duncan and whoever from the forum who could attend, you can count me in,
David too :) I'm so looking forward to this. The first "official" multi national DW forum meet up! (hosted by Guru Drums, ahem) UK, USA, Germany, France, Australia - already confirmed. What about Switzerland eh Bernhard? Come on, you know you want to. It's near the coast! :)
 
Thanks Henri. I might have to chat with a travel agent to organise stuff because I'm a travel noob and organisating isn't my strong suit (in the same way as diplomacy isn't Charlie Sheens's forte). I suppose at the travel agency will ll see me coming and rub their hands ...
 
Thanks Henri. I might have to chat with a travel agent to organise stuff because I'm a travel noob and organisating isn't my strong suit (in the same way as diplomacy isn't Charlie Sheens's forte). I suppose at the travel agency will ll see me coming and rub their hands ...

Just one quick point on the issue of hotels.

Try to get a hotel that isn't too close to the centre of London. Hotels in the centre will be very expensive. Finding one even just a few miles out will reduce the price significantly and London's transport system (for all of the complaints us natives make) is actually very, very good. The Underground is superb and the busses are regular. As a result, it's simple getting from one part of London to another. The only caveat is that the Olympia (where the LDS is held) is on a branch line and more problematic - the trains are less regular.

I know that in the past, exhibitors stay at the Hilton which is around the corner from the Olympia so that is also a very real option.
 
If you get a chance,visit the original Hard Rock Cafe.I hope Bonzo's snare drum is still mounted on the wall downstairs.

Yes it is. I was there a couple of weeks ago and it's there along with one of his Ludwig kits (it's set up a bit like the Tom Angles thread LOL, but there it is!).

Here are some ideas from my point of view:

Getting Around: You can get around easily by using the London Underground trains (‘tube’ trains), which go everywhere. Buy a ‘travelcard’ and you can go anywhere on the underground trains and the buses for a day – this costs about 7-8 pounds). I would also suggest you buy an ‘A to Z’ map book which is a useful pocket-sized reference map book showing the streets with an index in the back – you can find these in almost any shop at the side of the street it will help you find your way around the streets when you come out of the tube station. (This is better than downloading maps from Google in my opinion!)

The two things I would most recommend (if you are visiting London for the first time) are:
1. London Eye –the big wheel just across the river from the houses of Parliament (and Big Ben the clock tower). You can ride it (you go round once which lasts about 30 minutes)and you can see great sights of London from high up –you can see Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace. Nearest tube stop: I would suggest you go to Westminster (for Houses of Parliament) and walk across the bridge.
2. London Bus Tour is very good and a great way to see lots of the sights and learn a bit of the history of the city. Buses leave from one of the streets between Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus (Haymarket might be the right street) . It’s an open-top bus so choose a nice day and sit upstairs!

Music stuff:
As everyone has said, good drum shops are a bit of a dying breed in UK. Pro Perc is gone, Footes has moved to 41 Store Street WC1E. But Denmark Street is not bad for music shops (not specifically drums though) and the North end of Charing Cross Road also.
Hard Rock Café is on Piccadilly (near to Hyde Park Corner tube stop) and does a great burger.

Nice places to walk around, see the people and take in the atmosphere of London:
Leicester Square (Leicester Square tube stop) – a big open square with some restaurants, and large cinemas where they have the premieres. Lots of activity going on here. A couple of streets north of Leicester Square (Gerrard Street) is Chinatown: lots of great Chinese food (we were there for Chinese New Year and it was pretty lively)
Piccadilly Circus –the Times Square of London with the big advertising screens and some nice shops (Piccadilly Circus tube stop)
Covent Garden – nice arty piazza area with small shops, cafés and some street theatre. (Covent Garden tube stop)
You can easily walk between these three areas – they are quite close and they are all together on the blue (Piccadilly) tube line.
From Leicester Square you can also walk to Trafalgar Square which is quite nice – it’s the place everybody goes on New Year’s Eve, and to celebrate. Nelson’s column (a big column with a statue of the famous general Nelson from history) and the National Galleries (art) are there.

Art and Culture:
Museums: British Museum has lots of ancient artefacts of Egypt, Greece, China etc (Great Russell Street, Holborn tube stop).
South Kensington tube stop has several museums all on Exhibition Road (South Kensington tube stop) such as:
Natural History Museum has dinosaur bones, interesting evolution themed stuff.
The Science Museum also which my kids loved, with lots of stuff about technology, space, travel etc, plus experiments and fun games and shows for kids.
Victoria & Albert Museum is all about design, arts and crafts.
All the museums are FREE (but you are expected to make a donation of 5 pounds)
Art Galleries: National Gallery at Trafalgar Square (Charing Cross tube stop) is very good. I also like the National Portrait Gallery which is next door (I like portraits of people). There is a very good modern art museum called the Tate Gallery but it’s a bit further away from the central areas.

Shopping:
Harrods is the most impressive of all the big stores and has a touch of class about it. On Brompton Road (Knightsbridge tube stop).
Hamleys is a great big toy store (if you have kids with you or want to get something for them). Halfway along Regent Street (nearest tube stop is Oxford Circus)
There’s lots of other shopping on Oxford Street too (Oxford Circus tube stop).

For restaurants my favourites are:
Café Pacifico: Tex-mex food, margaritas etc – I have no idea how authentic it is, but I do like it! Langley Street, just off Long Acre (between Leicester Square and Covent Garden).
Wagamama – A chain of large Japanese noodle restaurants. They are all over London. Reasonably priced, fresh, healthy and delicious!

There are many, many other things you can do in London, but these are my favourites.

There is some more information on most of these items here:
http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/sightseeing/tourist-attraction/top-ten-attractions

Hope you have a great time!
Cheers
Mike
 
Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus have huge Music mega store, like HMV, Virgin and Tower Records, they're gold mines, I use to spend days in them, they're so big :)

Yeah... HMV has gone into administration... so there is not much left really :)

A couple of things more. Obviously what you want to see depends on who you are... personal interests, etc. so, things I like and things I liked and visited when I first moved to London a few years ago:

- tate modern, the café at the top is lovely
- as said, bricklane/etc is a cool mix of people, interesting things
- primrose hill, you'll get an amazing view of london from the park, nice pubs around, it's just behind camden town if you visit there
- consider going on top of the shard, it's pretty cool. Been there last month
- borough market, the promenade around london bridge
- area around the BFI (Waterloo)
- camden market is not that interesting (mostly crappy stuff and FULL of tourists to the point it is impossible to walk) but the market structure is interesting, still worth a visit. Hint: get out at the Chalk Farm road station.
- national portrait gallery - check for temporary exhibitions.

If you ask for directions, it's pronounced "LESSER" square. They drop some letters from Leicester. :-D
 
If you like Indian food, as I mentioned there are a ton of great restaurants in London. My personal fave is Durbar's, 24 Hereford Rd, a short walk from either the Bayswater or Notting Hill Gate tube stops.

You're really going to love the city, and you'll kick yourself if you don't stay an extra 2 or 3 days, because you'll definitely want to go back and see & do more.

Bermuda
 
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