London!

[brigdh]

So, hey, I'm going to be in London next week! I've never been before. You people who have: what are the cool places to go visit? I'm only going to be there for three days, so I can't go anywhere too far away, but let me know what things you liked, or what you think I would like.

Comments

[bcassie.livejournal.com]

I really liked the Natural History Museum. I'm a big ancient world fangirl. :)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Various people have been telling me to go there. It must be pretty cool.

[weirdquark]

The British Museum has lots of cool stuff. When I was in London we spent most of the day there and didn't get to see it all. Possibly because we got stuck in the exhibit mimicking an 18th century collector's display room, looking not just at all of the nifty things the collector had collected, but ogling the books around them too. We also went to the British Library and looked at their rare book display, which was awesome, if you get excited about seeing things like restored religious texts and the original score of Rudigore. The other touristy thing we did was to go see the Tower of London, which was pretty cool.

We went to a bunch of theater, including seeing Othello at the Globe. Because I am a Shakespeare fangirl, this caused me to bounce around saying, "Shakespeare! In the Globe!" and sqeeing a lot. If you want to sit, it's kind of expensive (because it's London, and one pound is the same as two dollars and a bit) but you also have the option of paying 5 pounds, and being one of the first people there when they open the doors. Then you can stand and lean your elbows on the stage. I don't know how fast those tickets sell out -- we were there for Othello in the afternoon and bought standing tickets for an evening show. And both of those were totally worth seeing -- the plays were excellent and the Globe actors do not-particularly-period dances when they take their bows. (Iago did not dance. At all. It was great.) The other theater we did was to go see the Lion King and Billy Elliot. If you haven't seen the Lion King, you must go see it. In the front section. But not in London, because it's even more crazy mad expensive than usual, and you live in New York.

Also of interest, if you like Doctor Who, is a Doctor Who toy store, which sells things to make a nerdy soul very happy. I didn't go, because the friend who I met in London got to England ahead of me and had already gone -- if we had gone back, she would have spent more money. ::g:: But she says it was awesome. It's somewhere between the British Museum and the West End. If you'd be interested, I can probably get more specific directions from her.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I keep hearing good things about all of the museums.

The Globe! I totally want to go to the Globe. I don't know if I'll make it- looking at their website, there's only one showing during the time I'll be there, and it's already sold out of the cheap tickets (at least the ones offered online). But I want to! I'll have to go to a tour or something, at least.

I've never seen Doctor Who. I probably know people who would want souvenirs from there, but I'll only there for a few days, so they'll have to get it themselves. *laughs*

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Definitely do the whole Charing Cross bookstores wander, along with wandering into the Waterstone's in Piccadilly, apparently somewhere near the largest bookstore in Europe.

I also enjoyed the Tower of London. Also, the Sherlock Holmes museum, if you like him. :)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ooo, thank you. I do love bookstores, and I think I'll be near there.

The Tower of London! I totally want to go there. And Sherlock Holmes would be very cool, as well.

[trifles.livejournal.com]

Wandered here from rm: I really liked the Sherlock Holmes museum (just a block from Madame Tussauds, if you're interested in going there -- though the best part of that experience was not the wax people, but rather the single room you see of all the discarded heads and hands of celebrities no longer famous enough), and I could have spent all week at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Picadilly Circus had a ton of fantastic energy, particularly in the evening after a show. And if you get the chance, take a day trip out to Oxford -- it is Diagon Alley and Hogwarts and a library of mysteries and a Dorothy Sayer's novel all in one. I wandered there and didn't get nearly lost enough.

[b-hallward.livejournal.com]

Others have already mentioned the Globe I know, but that was definitely the highpoint of London for me -- I've been in both expensive seats and a groundling, and they're both fun, though if you're okay with standing for several hours, being a groundling thrilled me to my geekish core. But if you can't make a show, the tour was nice. I liked Westminster Abbey (all the famous dead people you'd ever want) and the Tower of London and, strangely, taking a boat ride on the Thames. Madame Tussauds was a disappointment (maybe it's funner if you go with someone else for mocking and picture taking purposes, also the lines were long) and I didn't like Tate Modern or the National Portrait Gallery much, but all the other museums I went to were between very good and great; my favorites were Victoria & Albert, The National Gallery, Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery (a small collection but fascinating) and Tate Britain (very fine collections of Blake and Turner). British Museum is huge and confusing but has some things (the Elgin marbles, the rosetta stone) that I would have really hated to miss.

I've always regretted not going to St. Paul's but it was under restoration at the time, though I think it's done now.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Theatre! Theatre! Theatre! Nosebleed seats are pretty cheap, and if you go to the half-proce ticket booth in Leicester Square, they sell same-day tickets at half price plus some sort of small fee - they have a board up with the shows they've got tickets for that day.

Sir John Soanes was a collector par extraordinaire, and you can see all his stuff in the Sir John Soanes Museum (http://www.soane.org/).

If you're into classical music, check to see what's on at St Martin's-in-the-Fields. (it's on Trafalger Square, across from the National Portrait Gallery.) If all else fails, eat lunch there in the crypt - they've got a cafe set up there. XD

Any hotel/tourist info place is going to ahve a million brochures - pick up one on walks. They're just that - guided walks around a certain area, and there are all sorts of ones from politics to history to literary to ghostly.

What Mom and I tend to do in a new place is to grab a bus tour first off and use that to plan things we'd like to see more of, as the bus goes by. :)