Things to do in London on holiday

[IndiraLightfoot]

As another Londoner, I'd strongly advise avoiding Piccadilly Circus. If you've been there before, this'll be old news to you, but it's literally just a traffic junction. Westminster Bridge is a nightmare, you'd be better advised to approach the Houses from the south, and then walk back south and find another bridge to cross.

 

 

Yeah. For any Aussie, for instance, the British Isles feel just like, well, islands. I have driven Brisbane-Sydney, Sydney-Adelaide, Adelaide-Alice Springs, Alice Springs-Darwin, etc., quite a few times, so London-Hadrian's Wall, seems more like a high school excursion. There is a reason why I have more mileage on Qantas than on Australian highways, that's for sure.

 

 

It's the traffic, more than anything else. If it were a straight tank up a clear road it wouldn't be nearly so bad. Unfortunately the roads around London are a car park and the M1's always got roadworks. You could try going the other way and sit on the M6 car park for a while, I suppose. It takes more twice the time to get North of Birmingham than it does to get from there to Scotland.

That's so very true! I forgot to mention that the British Isles aren't just any old islands - there are heaps and heaps of people living there too, and they tend to go around in motorized vehicles.

[Walsingham]

Also, haggle with everyone and everything. If they seem disinterested, just walk away.

 

Be advised that since the removal of the iconic red ones, all British phone boxes are now apathetic ****s. Don't even try to haggle with them.

[Nonek]

Monte took the words right out of my mouth, might be worth a trip to the theatre if that is to your taste, though booking can be somewhat problematic for the more popular shows. Not sure what's on in the west end at the moment.

[BruceVC]

Monte took the words right out of my mouth, might be worth a trip to the theatre if that is to your taste, though booking can be somewhat problematic for the more popular shows. Not sure what's on in the west end at the moment.

 

I do enjoy the theatre so that's also a good suggestion if we can get the right booking

[Meshugger]

I've been to London three (or is it four? i can't remember) times and i have seen almost all the basic tourist attractions, atleast once. But one thing has always stuck in my mind:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ojomTUt0X4

Edited July 29, 2014 by Meshugger

[Barothmuk]

Being on holiday is no excuse to stop fighting the good fight. You should spend every moment informing locals about social justice issues.

Monarchies are reactionary. Try and abolish that.

[Monte Carlo]

The other thing I really should have pimped is a RIB ride up the Thames. A bunch of ex-marines have bought a couple of rigid inflatable raiding craft and bomb up and down the Thames to the James Bond theme, past all the landmarks.

 

Obviously, you can go on a slow tourist boat with a bar (pro-tip... head towards Greenwich, a much more interesting river-scape than the leafier downriver) but the RIB ride is a blast too.

 

In short, you seriously need to go on a boat up the Thames.

[BruceVC]

I'm not working today so I'll be doing my packing and last bits of shopping.

 

Tonight I'm flying out at 19:00 and I'll be arriving in London at 5 am tomorrow, something also cool. Our family flat is above the Sydney Arms pub, so I won't have far to walk if I want to go for a drink

 

Check the photos

 

http://www.sydneyarmschelsea.com/gallery.html

[Kroney]

Chelsea, very nice. In which case you'll be within spitting distance of Hyde Park Corner and Knightsbridge. Lots of touristy things to see around there. The museums are all along Cromwell St just to the north of you, around South Ken station and Buck House is just up from there. Good place for a base.

[SqueakyCat]

Have a great time, Bruce, and enjoy your holiday!   

[Blarghagh]

Have fun Bruce.

[Pidesco]

London is good for museums and little else. You can also check out Hyde Park for the place where the aliens landed in Rick Dangerous 2.

[BruceVC]

Have a great time, Bruce, and enjoy your holiday! 

 

 

Have fun Bruce.

 

Thanks guys

 

I'm at the airport now, I have checked in. I'm early, 3 hours, but I prefer to be punctual when it comes to international flights.

 

So now I can relax and have a late lunch

[BruceVC]

So my trip has been awesome so far, some points

 

• I had a good flight on Friday but I didn't sleep a wink. A very sweet but very overweight lady ended up sleeping and snoring on top of me the whole way...so I really couldn't snooze one minute. I arrived at Heathrow feeling fatigued but obviously very excited. I also met a very attractive lawyer on the plane who I ended up chatting to and it turns out our work is very similar. The software I am involved in is what she also does from a legal perspective, so she came with me on the tube and we swopped numbers as once I'm back in JHB we will be meeting to discuss some prospective  business opportunities
• Now Chelsea and the flat. It really is strategically located, my dad and stepmom took me on quick tour to show we the area. We ended up at a amazing food market off Kings Road (the name alludes me) where we bought cheese and cakes. We also went to the famous Antelope pub ( Montes suggestion) and I tried some ****ney Pride beer, very nice. I'll definitely have that again.
• I didn't have a late night as I hadn't slept the night before but today I am feeling very rested and excited and we have  a full day of outings and historical tours planned

[Monte Carlo]

You mean London Pride I suspect.

 

And the sun is out today too.

[BruceVC]

You mean London Pride I suspect.

 

And the sun is out today too.

 

Yeah its a stunning day, can't ask for better weather actually.

 

We have decided to go for a walk to Battersea park and have lunch out there. Tomorrow we are going to do all the Museums and more historical sites

[Monte Carlo]

Oooh. Do the V&A. I think it's immensely underrated, but for my money one of the best museums in London. They always have unusual stuff you never expected to see.

[BruceVC]

Battersea Park was awesome, its weird to think about this huge cosmopolitan city like London with millions of people but then you still have these relaxing and important areas of nature like Battersea. I was surprised but pleased to see the number of people exercising, there were literally hundreds of people jogging and cycling. We walked the entire park and went a good distance up the Thames. I also enjoy reading the various plaques around statues and in gardens, London obviously has so much history that you'll walk past a statue and not realize how significant it was, so you need to take your time and check out everything, We then had a very tasty and traditional English roast for lunch at a pub near Battersea, its is truly hard to beat Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding with loads of gravy

 

Today is a very important day, its the beginning of several commemorations around WW1 and there are going to be several events in London. We are gong to the Imperial War Museum to partake of what is happening there. So now my trip is going to focus on historical events. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new War Museum

[Kroney]

London is good for museums and little else.

 

Nonsense. 

 

 

Battersea Park was awesome, its weird to think about this huge cosmopolitan city like London with millions of people but then you still have these relaxing and important areas of nature like Battersea. 

 

 

One of the fringe benefits of a city that grew organically. There are woods in London, fields, parks and classic village greens. All because it's 25 miles-odd square of small villages that got eaten up by development hundreds of years ago. Hard to imagine that kind of growth in a city today.

 

I read somewhere that if you go by the number of trees per square mile, London can be classified as a forest.

 

Try here for beer http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/george-inn/, just down the road from London Bridge tube.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Kroney

[Nepenthe]

'Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.' (Samuel Johnson, I believe)

 

Seriously, though, I visit London on a yearly basis and my to-do list just gets longer. I no longer stress about what I should do, I just go wherever the mood strikes me, whether it's horse racing (I love Sandown park), Duck tours, theatre or Jermyn street.

[BruceVC]

Okay guys, I have just returned from the Imperial War Museum and the new WW1 exhibition and all I can say is that it is the best tour in a museum I have ever been on in my life . It was evocative, interesting and very well designed. You obviously start at 1914 and progress through a  series of rooms till the end at 1918. I have NEVER been so entertained on a historical tour. For people who live in London you have to go, they also had a whole lot of vintage cars outside the museum that you can take pictures of and ask questions about

 

I am in absolute awe of the Imperial War Museum and the effort they put in, my own country can learn so much about how you can display your countries contribution towards important historical events like WW1. Well done London, you have done your veterans of the Great War proud as this is really a remembrance  and tribute to them

 

I was talking to one of the staff at the museum and he said a small number of people complained that there "was too much information in the WW1 tour for them to understand " ......WTF.....too much information !!!! You can never have too much information around these types of events. Especially where everything you read is optional

 

Anyway as I said, those that can go...you must go

Edited August 4, 2014 by BruceVC

[Nonek]

Yes one has to feel for the young men of the conflcit, giving everything they had up to and including their lives in service to their country, one cannot feel anything but admiration for such selfless and brave young men, no matter the stupidity of the war in question. Certainly they were not privileged or lucky to be fighting in that conflict, we forget too easily the enormous debt we owe to those whom have given everything so that we their ancestors might enjoy the benefits of their sacrifice.

[BruceVC]

Yes one has to feel for the young men of the conflcit, giving everything they had up to and including their lives in service to their country, one cannot feel anything but admiration for such selfless and brave young men, no matter the stupidity of the war in question. Certainly they were not privileged or lucky to be fighting in that conflict, we forget too easily the enormous debt we owe to those whom have given everything so that we their ancestors might enjoy the benefits of their sacrifice.

 

Well said, those are very wise words. An interesting statistic that the last part of the tour mentions. In almost all the books about WW1 I have read they talk about WW1 having a devastating impact to the generation of young men who went to fight, in fact it is regularly mentioned that the Great War lead to a "lost generation"

 

But 88% of the men who went to fight came back, the tour specifically mentions from a UK perspective this concept of a " lost generation" is exaggerated. It doesn't diminish the horrors of the war and social changes that the world went through. Just the fact that a whole generation of men were not wiped out, I didn't know that

[Nonek]

It depends the "Pals Brigades" of Lord Kitchener did lead to villages being stripped of young men, because the response to Kitchener's call up was massive, and they were all from the same areas. Also conflicts where the English took massive losses such as Gallipoli did lead to a drop in population in those regiments recruiting grounds, and then Europe was hit by the Spanish Flu in 1918 that killed around fifty million it's been estimated. Grim years.

 

Passchendaele was probably the worst example of senseless loss of life, many men drowned before they could even get into battle.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Nonek

[BruceVC]

It depends the "Pals Brigades" of Lord Kitchener did lead to villages being stripped of young men, because the response to Kitchener's call up was massive, and they were all from the same areas. Also conflicts where the English took massive losses such as Gallipoli did lead to a drop in population in those regiments recruiting grounds, and then Europe was hit by the Spanish Flu in 1918 that killed around fifty million it's been estimated. Grim years.

 

Passchendaele was probably the worst example of senseless loss of life, many men drowned before they could even get into battle.

 

Yeah those are true facts, there is a whole section on the tour around Kitcheners pal brigades. The 88 % is an overall statistic