London recommendations

[davids]

My wife & I are going to London for a week, leaving next Friday.

Tell me your favorite sights, strolls, and eats.

[maunahaole]

Ping vertical Doug.

[corko]

London Bike sHow......11th 14th Feb. lOndon Excel Arena...pretty central.....worth a look if you can swing it.

More info...The London Bike Show

I'm hoping to go but it's right in the middle of a house move....

[savine]

the lovely walk from Seven Sisters tube down Tottenham High Rd to White Hart Lane.......highly recomend and you can enjoy a local kebab or deep freid chicken at one of the many establishments on the walk down.

in all seriousness walk everywhere up town, no need to go on the tube cos its all pretty close. Covent Garden, Soho during the day n at night, nice walk down the mall, stroll around many of the parks.....it´s all good. If you want museums then a tube to the V&A and then a bowl about Kensington. Jump on a tube and go to somewhere like Kilburn (Jubilie line) to have afry up in a greasy cafe.....this something no tourist does but it´s where the real people are or as i jokingly suggest Tottenham or maybe not. Notting Hill combine that with Kensington. Church Rd market just off the Edgware Rd on a saturday, nothing fancy but the locals or Wembly Market on a sunday and you can say you´ve been to the stadium. Advided all them hipster places like Spitelfeilds etc.......

[stlhenrys]

I live nearby (Cambridge), so I head into London a lot. Here are some brief thoughts:

- There is a Napolitan restaurant called Santore in Exmouth market that has fantastic pizza and the best antipasti I've ever had. My girlfriend is Italian and she makes me go here every time we are in London.
- Kew Gardens (or, "The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew") are beautiful and enormous. The town of Kew, which can be accessed by the Tube, feels quaint and nicely secluded from the city's bustle--a day trip definitely feels like a rest from the often-draining pace of central London. And there is a very nice pub right next to the train tracks.
- Visit the V&A, but also skip across the street to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Hyde Park is also nearby.
- I enjoy walking along the south bank of the Thames, which will lead you from Parliament to the Tate Modern (and Millenium Bridge/St Paul) in less than an hour. Or so I recall.

I don't have eyes for London as a tourist any longer, so these may not be particularly thrilling options. But I never tire of them.

I will also say that if you have the energy for a day trip, a 45 minute train ride to either Oxford or Cambridge (from Paddington or King's Cross, respectively) can be enormously fun. Both are beautiful towns with many great restaurants, stunning buildings, gardens, book- and whiskey-shops, and museums of their own. And I have many recs for both (having lived in Oxford before and living in Cam now). Get in touch if a question comes to mind.

[Scott G.]

The two fun places, Condor Cycles and the British Museum.
The Rosetta Stone and a Paris Gablier.

[vertical_doug]

Temple Church - Round Church (be a Dan Brown fan) William Marshal is buried here and he started the code of chivalry.
Wallace Museum - Grand old house with superb armor collection + paintings. Again William Marshall connection
Brompton Oratory - it is an interesting place to attend a old latin Mass. (They tried but did not kill all the catholics)
Churchhill's bunker from the London Air Raids
Tate Britain - to see the sculptures and watercolors by Henry Moore from the air raid tunnels in London (go after visit the bunker)
get a #2 head shave at Pall Mall Barbers
if you and your wife are runners, run along the canals starting in Paddington, across Little Venice, Regent Park ending in Camden. You can run up Pimrose Hill too..
Walk across Richmond Park and then down to the bridge and Thames .... row a boat.

Macellaio RC 84 old brompton road for italian steak... rawesome

[maunahaole]

Doug took me to the Wallace, just to try on the armor helmet and chain mail, which was a fun little diversion. There looks to be a bunch of other accumulated treasure in that place as well.

If you are on the south side of the river, perhaps check out the Mayflower pub. A pal of mine from undergrad who lives near there took us there. Definite local feel, nice beer selection and decent pub fare.

He also took us to Maltby Street market, also south of the river. Smaller and funkier than Borough market. Stop in for a gin drink at little bird. You'll need to walk to get there, but you can handle that.

[vertical_doug]

The area around St Pancras is interesting too.

St Pancras Old Church is one of the oldest christian sites in England. It also has an interesting place in literature. It is the scene of the grave robbers in Charles Dicken's Tale of Two Cities, Thomas Hardy worked here moving gravestones to make way for the railroad. He stacked the tombstones, and it gave way to the Hardy Tree. You need to see it at night with a flash light to really get creeped out. Mary Shelley also planned her alopement her, so the creepy just doesn't stop.

Since you will have a little jet lag and sundown is 5 pm, you have plenty of time for creepy.

[dogrange]

If you like beer, the Old Cheshire Cheese is one of (maybe the only) pubs in London serving Samuel Smith beers (from Yorkshire). It's on Fleet Street right in Central London. They do a great job and all the pours I've had there in my last 2 trips have been vibrant and memorable. Maybe the best beer in London? OK, I've been to maybe 25 pubs in London, but this stuff is top notch. The place itself is a really cool rabbit warren and is very historic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Cheshire_Cheese

[davids]

the lovely walk from Seven Sisters tube down Tottenham High Rd to White Hart Lane.......highly recomend and you can enjoy a local kebab or deep freid chicken at one of the many establishments on the walk down.

in all seriousness walk everywhere up town, no need to go on the tube cos its all pretty close. Covent Garden, Soho during the day n at night, nice walk down the mall, stroll around many of the parks.....it´s all good. If you want museums then a tube to the V&A and then a bowl about Kensington. Jump on a tube and go to somewhere like Kilburn (Jubilie line) to have afry up in a greasy cafe.....this something no tourist does but it´s where the real people are or as i jokingly suggest Tottenham or maybe not. Notting Hill combine that with Kensington. Church Rd market just off the Edgware Rd on a saturday, nothing fancy but the locals or Wembly Market on a sunday and you can say you´ve been to the stadium. Advided all them hipster places like Spitelfeilds etc.......

This is too "inside baseball" for me to interpret. I can't tell what's serious, what's where...

Doug took me to the Wallace, just to try on the armor helmet and chain mail, which was a fun little diversion. There looks to be a bunch of other accumulated treasure in that place as well.

If you are on the south side of the river, perhaps check out the Mayflower pub. A pal of mine from undergrad who lives near there took us there. Definite local feel, nice beer selection and decent pub fare.

He also took us to Maltby Street market, also south of the river. Smaller and funkier than Borough market. Stop in for a gin drink at little bird. You'll need to walk to get there, but you can handle that.

Mayflower sounds cool. The first place my wife wants to go is Borough, so maybe we'll hit Maltby St. too.

I live nearby (Cambridge), so I head into London a lot. Here are some brief thoughts:

- There is a Napolitan restaurant called Santore in Exmouth market that has fantastic pizza and the best antipasti I've ever had. My girlfriend is Italian and she makes me go here every time we are in London.
- Kew Gardens (or, "The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew") are beautiful and enormous. The town of Kew, which can be accessed by the Tube, feels quaint and nicely secluded from the city's bustle--a day trip definitely feels like a rest from the often-draining pace of central London. And there is a very nice pub right next to the train tracks.
- Visit the V&A, but also skip across the street to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Hyde Park is also nearby.
- I enjoy walking along the south bank of the Thames, which will lead you from Parliament to the Tate Modern (and Millenium Bridge/St Paul) in less than an hour. Or so I recall.

I don't have eyes for London as a tourist any longer, so these may not be particularly thrilling options. But I never tire of them.

I will also say that if you have the energy for a day trip, a 45 minute train ride to either Oxford or Cambridge (from Paddington or King's Cross, respectively) can be enormously fun. Both are beautiful towns with many great restaurants, stunning buildings, gardens, book- and whiskey-shops, and museums of their own. And I have many recs for both (having lived in Oxford before and living in Cam now). Get in touch if a question comes to mind.

Thanks - Santore in Exmouth? Check. We're taking the ferry to Greenwich, but I don't know how much further afield we'll go. 8 days seems like barely enough time to get a feel for the city.

If you like beer, the Old Cheshire Cheese is one of (maybe the only) pubs in London serving Samuel Smith beers (from Yorkshire). It's on Fleet Street right in Central London. They do a great job and all the pours I've had there in my last 2 trips have been vibrant and memorable. Maybe the best beer in London? OK, I've been to maybe 25 pubs in London, but this stuff is top notch. The place itself is a really cool rabbit warren and is very historic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_Olde_Cheshire_Cheese

Why yes, I do like beer! And if you asked me my favorite brewery I'd probably say Samuel Smith. This pub is about a mile from our flat. So thank you very, very much!

[davids]

Temple Church - Round Church (be a Dan Brown fan) William Marshal is buried here and he started the code of chivalry.
Wallace Museum - Grand old house with superb armor collection + paintings. Again William Marshall connection
Brompton Oratory - it is an interesting place to attend a old latin Mass. (They tried but did not kill all the catholics)
Churchhill's bunker from the London Air Raids
Tate Britain - to see the sculptures and watercolors by Henry Moore from the air raid tunnels in London (go after visit the bunker)
get a #2 head shave at Pall Mall Barbers
if you and your wife are runners, run along the canals starting in Paddington, across Little Venice, Regent Park ending in Camden. You can run up Pimrose Hill too..
Walk across Richmond Park and then down to the bridge and Thames .... row a boat.

Macellaio RC 84 old brompton road for italian steak... rawesome

The area around St Pancras is interesting too.

St Pancras Old Church is one of the oldest christian sites in England. It also has an interesting place in literature. It is the scene of the grave robbers in Charles Dicken's Tale of Two Cities, Thomas Hardy worked here moving gravestones to make way for the railroad. He stacked the tombstones, and it gave way to the Hardy Tree. You need to see it at night with a flash light to really get creeped out. Mary Shelley also planned her alopement her, so the creepy just doesn't stop.

Since you will have a little jet lag and sundown is 5 pm, you have plenty of time for creepy.

Excellent recs. Everyone says the War room is a must-see. Thanks for the other recs - Macellaio RC and the St. Pancras area both sound particularly great. I hear the British Library is an amazing spot - any thoughts on it?

[maunahaole]

Go hungry to bourough. There's a spot there that does this duck confit sandwich and grilled cheese....

Check on Maltby being open. It's more like open storefronts as opposed to bourough being under the a big roof.

Maltby and the mayflower are a little tricky to find without local bearings set, so make sure to map your routes.

[dogrange]

Why yes, I do like beer! And if you asked me my favorite brewery I'd probably say Samuel Smith. This pub is about a mile from our flat. So thank you very, very much!

Wow, rarely do I get the chance to be so helpful! If you like Sam Smith (and I love it), this will be a great experience for you.

[vertical_doug]

Excellent recs. Everyone says the War room is a must-see. Thanks for the other recs - Macellaio RC and the St. Pancras area both sound particularly great. I hear the British Library is an amazing spot - any thoughts on it?

The great round reading room was in the British Museum Library and is closed. (Not 100% certain) The British Museum is worth a 1/2 day of wandering. Even only to see the rosetta stone (I was epecting some great monolith like from 2001 space odyssey, sadly.....) and then go through the Assyrian rooms to see what ISIS has destroyed.

I am not sure how they have the magna carta on display at the British Library, but I rather go over to the Lambath Palace Library which was the residence of the Bishop of Canterbury.

[jmgorman]

The Wellcome Collection, about a 20 minute walk from the BM, is my new favorite spot in the world. Go there for an afternoon in their reading room, you'll not regret it.

[72gmc]

I've been to London all of 3.5 days. On business. Decided to sleep little and walk 2-3 hrs starting at oh dark thirty every morning. Coffee shops didn't open as early as they did in Seattle so check that if you need. The bank of the Thames, St. Paul's, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, SoHo, the Tube were all highlights. So much to do on foot. Excellent dim sum too. Travel well. I can't wait to go back.

[caleb]

- Kew Gardens (or, "The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew") are beautiful and enormous. The town of Kew, which can be accessed by the Tube, feels quaint and nicely secluded from the city's bustle--a day trip definitely feels like a rest from the often-draining pace of central London. And there is a very nice pub right next to the train tracks.

If you make it out to Kew, there's a little cafe attached to the rail station that had fantastic lamb shanks and Doom Bar on tap last time I was there.




Also, the national archives are an easy walk from Kew station, and their cafeteria has an excellent daily food special at a reasonable price.

The regular chapel choir at Westminster is fantastic, too.

[pdmtong]

I stood in the Abbey Road crosswalk and had my picture taken.
Yea, I was a tourist.

[bontie]

The design museum has a bike design exhibition at the moment

https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/cycle-revolution