Brenkjtravel

Headed to London in late September, first time for me third for MOH. Hoping to do 4 days in London (not counting arrival day, then 1 travel day Portsmouth to St Malo 3 days in Normandy and 2 in Paris ( not counting travel day, and we have both been to Paris)

Help with Rough Itinerary

Day 1
Arrive London morning, get settled and possibly see one site. Eat a great dinner and get good rest.
Day 2
Tower of London then Thames cruise
Lunch recommendations?
Tour Westminster, stay for Evensong
Maybe Harrods in the evening Hours?
Day 3
Side trip to Stratford and Warwick Castle, doable? Worth it? Better day trip?
Day 4
Tower Bridge
Globe theatre
Tate Museum
Day 5
British Museum or National Gallery? thoughts
tea somewhere fun?
Buckingham Palace - but not interested in changing of the guard
See a show?
Day 6
Travel Kensington Gardens and or Stonehenge on the way to Portsmouth. Sleep Portsmouth or night ferry, thoughts?
Day 7 Ferry to St Malo- pick up car
Mont Saint Michel
Drive to Bayeux - sleep Bayeux
Day 8 Normandy - D-day sites sleep Bayeux again. Possibly see Tapestry's one of the days. Mildly considering driving to and sleeping in Rouen this night, but probably will just stay in Bayeux again?
Day 9 Rouen and or Giverny on way to Paris. Best place to drop car and train into Paris?
Day 10 Paris- a few sites we missed on last trip
Day 11 More Paris sites, still unplanned.
Day 12 Fly out afternoon
Other sites interested in, Highclere Castle, and Bath. Would be interested in seeing a play at the Globe possibly. Any other must see sites I am missing?
Not really interested in London Eye, or Churchill War museum ( hubby has been there)

Tulips

See Tower Bridge when you go to the Tower. Same for Globe, Tate. Start at the Tower, walk through Borough Market, have lunch there (depending on what day it is), walk on towards the Globe, Tate Modern (or did you mean Tate Britain?) - cross the Thames to St Pauls over Millennium Bridge, OR continue to Westminster and cross the Thames there. Skip the cruise.

British Museum; have tea there. Or go to the Wallace Collection for tea. It's a fabulous small museum.
The British Museum and National Gallery are completely different; it depends on your interests, impossible to recommend one over the other.

Buckingham Palace; is it open? Otherwise it's just a walk-by.

Day 6 doesn't make sense. Kensington Gardens is in London.

Brenkjtravel

Ahh yes. For day six I meant Hampton Court. Mistake

Brenkjtravel

Also, Tulips, I am interested in both the National Gallery for its painting and the British Museum for it's artifacts, but I don't want to overload on museum time, as we only have 4 full days :/ And I think I would prefer the Tate Modern over the Take Britain, but that is just a guess from what I know of the two. I am sure they are both lovely.

Tulips

Have a look at a map and group things together.
I cannot tell you to choose between the British Museum and the National Gallery, that's up to you. Same for the Tate. I only go to Tate Modern for the view and for the building - sometimes there's an interesting exhibition, but mostly it doesn't interest me.
Hampton Court will take up a large part of the day. It doesn't make sense to visit that and then go on to Portsmouth. You'd have to leave your luggage at Waterloo, if you want to do that.
I also wouldn't take a full-day trip if you only have 4 days in London.
But it's your trip!

Brenkjtravel

Now may need to add Dublin into the mix for business. Would it work better at the beginning or end of our trip? Flights as of now are into London and out of Paris, but may need to change. Maybe we will take a flight from Paris to Dublin, then home from there. I do have a good friend in Dublin that I haven't seen in a few years so maybe it's not the worst thing. It is messing up the plans though. Will end up taking a bigger hit financially changing our flights there than our flights home. Suggestions?

PalenQ

Travel Kensington Gardens and or Stonehenge on the way to Portsmouth. Sleep Portsmouth or night ferry, thoughts?>

I took a night ferry Oustreham (Caen) to Portsmouth and slept in regular 'pullman' seats that barely reclined -pay for the best cabin possible and it should be fine though seas can always be rough.

Most I think would prefer Tate Modern over older Tate - especially with renovations:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-better.cfm

laverendrye

<<Most I think would prefer Tate Modern over older Tate - especially with renovations>>

Sorry, but I'll take the Tate Britain over the Modern any day.

janisj

laverendrye: PQ is blowing smoke once again (or is that inhaling)

The question has moved on . . . to how to change the flights.

Brenkjtravel: It probably doesn't make any difference which order you do things. I'd take the one that gives you the best schedules and/or least financial hit.

Will the change mean you need to cut some time from Paris or London or is Dublin extra/added days?

kja

> Day 9 Rouen and or Giverny on way to Paris. Best place to drop car and train into Paris? <

Rouen for returning your car -- not an option (to my knowledge) in Giverny. AND you can travel from Rouen to Paris by train.

But Rouen has a wealth of options -- be sure you think through what you hope to do there (if anything) in advance.

Good luck!

Hooameye

"Travel Kensington Gardens and or Stonehenge on the way to Portsmouth."

Stonehenge isn't really "on the way" to Portsmouth, it's a bit of a detour.

BigRuss

You need a map. Why would you do the Tower Bridge and Globe Theatre on a different day from the Tower?

Which Tate? The one with actual art or the one with the random arrangements of items that the arrangers claim is modern art?
There is a British Museum, there is no "Tate Museum."

If you decide to go to the National Gallery or National Portrait Gallery, you can easily do that the same day as Westminster Abbey because they are within walking distance.

Hampton Court Palace is a full day trip and it's not really "on the way" to Portsmouth. How are you getting from London to HCP and Portsmouth? If by train, the routes diverge - HCP is not a stop on the line to Portsmouth.

Dumping the car en route to Paris is a good idea - bloody mess driving in that city.

PalenQ

<<Most I think would prefer Tate Modern over older Tate - especially with renovations>>

I'm talking about the average tourist not really into museums - the Tate Modern is one of London's top sights now. Janis seems to favor the old Tate but the average traveler IMO certainly will find the Tate Modern as an experience as well as a renown art emporium. And the Tate Modern is nicely situated on the South Bank Walk - lovely walk that IMO is a must - from the London Eye to Tate Modern, Globe and Tower Bridge:

https://www.southbanklondon.com/sout...-walking-guide

Day 4
Tower Bridge
Globe theatre
Tate Museum - you mean Tate Modern probably

All these are on the South Bank Walk

If time allows cross the Millenium pedestrian bridge to St Paul's Cathedral.

A real fun day along the South Bank Walk! Stop at a riverside pub for refreshments.

PalenQ

Hampton Court Palace is a full day trip and it's not really "on the way" to Portsmouth>

Yes as tulips says you could leave luggage at Waterloo - take train from there to HCourt and back and then take direct trains Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour.

Sounds to me like a practical plan since you do not have to be on boat until evening - but Portsmouth also has the awesome Portsmouth Historic Naval Dock to visit if you go there during the day - not sure station there has luggage storage though:

http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/

Anyway a resounding yes to Hampton Court.

Brenkjtravel

Ok, some great thoughts here! I like the suggestion to drop luggage at Waterloo, and then return for the train to Portsmouth, Tulips.
Yes, was planning to train to Hampton Court and then continue on to Portsmouth. I would like to see Stonehenge, but Hampton Court is the priority. If need be, we will cut Stonehenge that day.

Will get the sleeping quarters for sure PalenQ, seems very affordable, and
good way to utilize our time.

Day 4 needs to be totally reworked BigRuss We are planning to see a show at the Globe so don't need to group it that way, and could put Tower and Tower bridge together whenever it fits.

I do think I would like to see the Tate Modern, I enjoy modern art and have seen so much classical in other cities that it would be a nice change. MOMA in NY is one of my favorites, so I thought I would give the Tate a try. I love art but have to be careful to pick and choose or the whole trip can get taken up inside museums. I am sure they are all lovely and hope to see them all eventually. More reasons to return. Will try and hit the National Gallery when over by Westminster, Thanks Bigruss

The days in Dublin will be in addition to the plan, so we can add them on at the beginning or at the end. It makes more sense logistically to get business done first, but financially it works better to add the days at the end. I'm torn. I will be glad to see my dear friend in Dublin!

Kja I like the suggestion to drop the car in Rouen and train to Giverny. Sounds like Rouen has a lot to see and unfortunately we won't have time to see very much. I was thinking of hitting the city center, getting lunch and seeing Joan of Arc sites. Will need to spare enough time for Giverny. Suggestions on time of day we need to get to Giverny by? Do things close up? Is it prettiest at a certain time of day?

PalenQ

If need be, we will cut Stonehenge that day.>

Totally impossible without a car -the same day - with HCourt.

I do think I would like to see the Tate Modern, I enjoy modern art and have seen so much classical in other cities that it would be a nice change. MOMA in NY is one of my favorites, so I thought I would give the Tate a try.>

<PQ is blowing smoke once again (or is that inhaling)> Even though janis thinks this because I thought you'd-with a penchant for modern art- like the Tate Modern better than the more classical-oriented Tate Britain, I stand by that - Tate Modern calls itself the most visited modern art gallery in the world so for modern art (which contrary to comments above does have a stellar collection of modern and contemporary art) it's a no-brainer. Tate Britain has only British art throughout the ages.

The Victoria and Albert (V & A) is also delightful even if not into 'art' - eclectic collection of all types of are - I especially liked the many copies of famous statues from classical antiquity:

https://www.vam.ac.uk/

Best thing about London museums - they are free so you can pop in take a look and linger or leave without costing a pence.

BigRuss

<<I enjoy modern art and have seen so much classical in other cities that it would be a nice change>>

The National Portrait Gallery is right next to the National Gallery and has ... wait for it ... portraits. This may be interesting more to see who was worthy of the portrait artist's time (and whatever stylistic changes occurred over time) and, if you've a good size interest in history, the portraits of various IMPORTANT PEOPLE. The head of household herself loved it when we went when junior was a wee bugger.

PalenQ

https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/...-london-030117

Banksy is more my cup of chai for contemporary art and there are still a lot extent around central London. Open 24-7!

Brenkjtravel

Love Banksy!! Have seen some of his work around. Thanks for the map. PalenQ

We found a few of the space invader tags as well when we were in Paris a while back. That was cool.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...art-180956906/

PalenQ

Maybe Harrods in the evening Hours?>

Yes, if only to check out the famous Egyptian Escaltor Staircase:

https://www.google.com/search?q=harr...w=1745&bih=864