London Sightseeing Guide Needed

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:05 am

Originally posted by C Elegans

I am surprised I am the only person who had even mentioned London's excellent club scene, perhaps SYMers don't like clubbing?

Too Expensive!!

@Kam: IIRC, British Museum is close to Tottemham court road tube station. And give the Elgin marbles back to Greece! The belong to Parthenon, not to a museum in London!

Tottenham Court Road (Northern & Central lines)/Holborn (Central & Piccadilly lines)/Goodge Street (Northern line)/Russell Square (Picaddilly line) are all within walking distance.

Kew Garden is another place I recommend, though you'll need zone 4 travel card (still well within tube travelling area).

Just north of China town, mainly around Old Compton Road in Soho, there are lots of Italian restaurants and cafes.

Pubs are great place to have "English" food. It's not just for drink, you know.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:09 am

Originally posted by Minerva
Too Expensive!!

But everything in London is expensive - did you know London has made it into the top 10 most expensive cities in the world?

With the exception of Moscow, it is the only European city on the list, and it is 30% more expensive than any other city in the EU.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:17 am

Originally posted by C Elegans

But everything in London is expensive - did you know London has made it into the top 10 most expensive cities in the world? With the exception of Moscow, it is the only European city on the list, and it is 30% more expensive than any other city in the EU.

Oh, yes. Still, entry fee for clubs is something I can cut, while other things ie. stupid, stupid tube fare, I cannot.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:17 am

Ow no...
Everybody suggested intelligent places to go, and I told you to go to Sega world.

Mysteria · Post by **Mysteria** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:21 am

lol, I'll never find time to do it all. Well, it'll be a good excuse to go back.

Somebody asked where we will be staying, it's in Bloomsbury. Also, just to give you an idea of what kind of person we are, well, we're four friends, two boys, two girls, 17, 18 and twice 21 years old. We like (always at least one of us): rock, heavy metal and punk, computers, roleplaying, PnP, sciences: especially biology and informatics, art, Star Wars, good food, going to interesting places, sightseeing, shopping ... A bit of everything, I think. Also, it's not no drinks, but just few drinks for us, well, actually none for me. It's just something we don't really go looking for.

Also, I'll definitely drag them into the British Museum, I will suggest the Tate Galery, especially the one liking art should be interested, though I'm not sure that we'll want to do two museums, or we'll split the group ... Our Star Wars fan will want to visit a fan shop,(edit: well, Rob-hin, is that a 'not-intelligent' enough place for you

) and we'll have to get at least look of the Big Ben or my boyfriend will be unhappy.

As for being expensive ... *sigh* ... there goes the money from my vacation/holiday job.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Wed Aug 14, 2002 11:31 am

@Mysteria: If you are staying Bloomsbury, it should be close to British Museum. Also, there are some good restaurants/cafes with reasonable price around, because it's university area (lots of students

).

Make sure you buy travelcard, so that you can travel on tube, bus and some local trains within the zone. You cannot use it before 9.30am, though (I think there's new travelcard which allows you to use before that, but I'm not sure).

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 12:13 pm

Aha! Hope this is not too late.

Travel: Buy travelcards for as long as you are there. Its £4.10 per day and they only work after 9:30am. You can buy a carnet of 10 zone 1 tickets (central London only) for about £10 if you need to start earlier. Being in Bloomsbury, you may be able to spend a day or two walking and save the money. On the weekend, buy a weekend pass for both days for only £6. The following are all accessible by tube.

Shopping and stuff:

Computers - Tottenham Court Road
Clothes - Oxford Street
Expensive stuff - Knightsbridge, Kengsington
Markets - Camden Town, Spitalfields, Brick Lane, Greenwich
Touristy places - Leicester Square, Covent Garden
Sightseeing - St Pauls, Westminster, Embankment, Southwark
Parks - Hyde Park Corner, St James Park, Marble Arch, Regents Park

If youlike going out at night, there are dozens of clubs off Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Tottenham Court Road.

Biology and Informatics? LOL! Go to 210 Euston Road (Warren Street, Euston, Euston Road or walk) and see the"210 Gallery" at the Wellcome Trust. Its Biological art. "Body Worlds" is on at Brick Lane (Aldgate East).

Star Wars? Hmmm, if you go to the Barbican (Barbican station), they have an art gallery showing "Game On" - the art of computer games. Careful though, its a maze of a place. Also, if you're at the Barbican, find the museum of London, next to the British Museum its one of the best. The shop "Forbidden Planet" is off New Oxford Street (In between Holborn and Tottenham Court Road) for all sorts of Sci-Fi stuff.

TIP - check out the little message board ads on the Tube whilst travelling in the trains - will give you loads of ideas.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 3:39 pm

Originally posted by C Elegans
And give the Elgin marbles back to Greece! The belong to Parthenon, not to a museum in London!

Sorry, CE, here's something I have to disagree with you on. Have you been to Athens lately? Seen the Parthenon? I suspect you have, so think back to all the restoration work they've had to do to the temples, all because of the terrible atmosphere there. True, the Marbles belong to Greece, but by no means should they be put back up onto the Parthenon. The smog in Athens is truly terrible - if I can find a decent quality scanner I will scan in and put up some pictures I took of the smog - sorry, the city

- while I was there last October. The Marbles are beautiful, and they deserve to stay that way, not to be eroded due to the carelessness of the Athenian public.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 4:03 pm

Originally posted by Kameleon

The Marbles are beautiful, and they deserve to stay that way, not to be eroded due to the carelessness of the Athenian public.

I'd rather seen it gone back to sand where it belongs than kept it in a kidnapper's hand.

Sorry, robbers' hands. My mistake.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Sun Aug 18, 2002 4:11 pm

Originally posted by Minerva
I'd rather seen it gone back to sand where it belongs than kept it in a kidnapper's hand.

Sorry, robbers' hands. My mistake.

You have a very valid point, I fully support returning the marbles to Greece if they will house them in a museum, but if they're going to put them back up there, along with their ghastly reconstruction program, I would rather the British government flexed it's muscles and kept them here. It's not 'cos I'm English, I want to see the artifacts kept in as good condition as possible, and if they'd been left up there, little would be left now. I am not condoning what Lord Elgin did by any means, though.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Mon Aug 19, 2002 9:49 am

Originally posted by Kameleon
Sorry, CE, here's something I have to disagree with you on. Have you been to Athens lately? Seen the Parthenon? I suspect you have, so think back to all the restoration work they've had to do to the temples, all because of the terrible atmosphere there. True, the Marbles belong to Greece, but by no means should they be put back up onto the Parthenon.

Truly Kam, I haven't been to Athens since I was 15-16, the smog was horrible then, and I presume it hasn't got better. I however still think the marbles should be given back to Greece, but as you suggest, to a museum rather than to a horrible destruction by pollution.

At the time, I believe Lord Elgin did the right thing to move the marbles, since I understand they were at risk for being shot to pieces and used as building material? Now however, I would prefer to see them back in Greece under safe preservation conditions.

Mysteria · Post by **Mysteria** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:34 pm

Well, I'm back and it was great.

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

We did:
-changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace
-look at Big Ben and Westminster Abbey
-go to Camden
-visit the Speaker's corner
-stroll through Hyde Park and go on a pedal boat
-eat at the Hard Rock Café
-visit Picadilly Circus
-the British Museum: Egypt, Near East and Europe
-go to Notting Hill
-look around at Harrod's
-watch the Mousetrap
-go to trocadero
-try to visit the MOMI but found it closed
-looked at the Tower
-take a tour through Tower Bridge
-visit the Docklands
-go to Greenwich
-shopping at Oxford street
-shop at Foyles, a big Virgin megastore and Forbidden Planet
-got sore feet

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:38 pm

Welcome back Mysteria, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. What did you personally enjoy the most?

Mysteria · Post by **Mysteria** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:44 pm

lol!

I just knew I should have expanded.
I liked the British Museum best. It's just huge, impressive, astonishing ... wow. I think we spent about 4 hours in there and it was time very well spent.

After that, the tower bridge was good, especially as the weather was fine and the view was great.

After that, I liked Greenwich very well too, and the Mousetrap was very, very enjoyable and I won't tell you whodunnit

.

The worst were the Docklands and Notting Hill. Incidentially, two things I think no SYMer recommended.

edit: I almost forget to mention: prices are just too high! It was 'find an interesting item' 'look at price' 'realize it's pounds, not euros' 'put item back'.

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 3:39 pm

Originally posted by Mysteria

edit: I almost forget to mention: prices are just too high! It was 'find an interesting item' 'look at price' 'realize it's pounds, not euros' 'put item back'.

LOL! You should try it on the New Zealand dollar. It's 3 to the pound. Big ouch.

Nippy · Post by **Nippy** » Sat Aug 24, 2002 3:17 am

I'm glad you enjoyed it Mysty, it can be very nice.

Ode to a Grasshopper · Sun Aug 25, 2002 1:21 am

Welcome back Mysty! *hug*
Glad you enjoyed it, even if you didn't do a Monopoly board pub crawl.