I second uhoh's suggestion of a concert at St.Martin in the Field. We saw a lovely concert a couple of days after Christmas there. It is a beautiful church and the group playing was fantastic. I think it was London Concertante. They played a tango piece at the end of a classical concert, just as a promotion for their CD and it was stunning.

I have another question

Has anyone ever bought theire tickets for example Hampton Court or Tower of London?

I meant online, I forgot to add that.

If you want to use the 2for1 discount vouchers, you can't buy tickets in advance.

But if am not mistaken, because I am kind of confused about the 2for1 deal, don't you have to have a train ticket along with the deal? Please correct me if I am wrong. Does train refer to the tube as well?

Also check out (free) lectures at The Royal Society - I attended a very interesting one on climate change and carbon storage, by a fellow Australian as it happened, a few weeks ago - and also the public programs of other institutions such as the London School of Economics - after originally looking for lectures I pre booked (ticket just 5 pounds) the LSE's superb spring concert at St Clement Danes, the church of the RAF (coincidentally just the week after visiting a WWII bomber war grave in eastern France). Also picked up a free ticket to an off season workshop performance at The Globe, but didn't get around to taking a free tour at Somerset House. There's a lot out there which will add another dimension to a visit.

Also check www.ianvisits.co.uk for interesting up and comings.

"<i>But if am not mistaken, because I am kind of confused about the 2for1 deal, don't you have to have a train ticket along with the deal? Please correct me if I am wrong. Does train refer to the tube as well?</i>"

If you pre-purchase your admission tickets you will have already paid for them. So you cannot then get them at 1/2 price w/ the 2for1's. If you pay up front -- you can't use the vouchers/discounts.

Yes, you do need to have a 'train ticket' but if you buy your London transport (tube/buses/trains) ticket/pass in a <u>train</u> station, it qualifies as a 'train' ticket to use w/ the vouchers.

Train stations include Victoria, Waterloo, Kings Cross, Charing Cross, etc. They are all over London.

So the ticket can come from any day. So for example if I do to Hampton Court on Monday, can I use the 2for1 deal and ticket for the Tower of London on Tuesday?

Sorry for all the questions.

Your train ticket has to cover the day(s) you use the voucher(s).

So -- if you are in London for a week, and want to use several vouchers, you could buy a 7 day travel card from a <u>train</u> station. That paper travel card would be for all your transport for the week and it would cover all the days for the 2for1's.

Or -- if you are only using one or two vouchers, you could buy a one-day travel card each of those days.

It seems a little complicated but it really isn't once you are in London.

As long as you have a <u>paper</u> travel card from a train station you can use the 2for1's that day.

(Or - just to complicate things a teensy bit :) IF you happen to land at Gatwick--the round trip train ticket from/to Gatwick would be all you need to use the 2for1's. Unfortunately -- that doesn't work for Heathrow)

Earls Court is reasonably close to the V & A, Science Museum and Natural History Museum. They are all together and all three are free except for some special exhibitions.

South Kensington tube is the closest station.

Thank you Janis for all your help. I think I now understand it, for the most part. So the travel cards will take place of the oyster card, because we planned on buying oyster, but now we will buy the travel cards.

W

Sorry about the false start above.
We bought the paper ticket travelcard for 3 days and used it to visit Hampton Court and the Tower of London. It was no problem to buy and use this ticket and we worked out overall it saved us money to do it this way.

We visited Hampton Court in the morning followed by a walk around South Bank and the Globe Theatre and the Tate and the London Eye. We walked back across the bridge to Big Ben and the through st James Gardens to Buckingham Palace. It was a huge day but we are good walkers and really did not find it too hard.

I have links for all the places you mention and also Denis Sever House which we absolutely loved and lots of my photos on my trip report
http://www.squidoo.com/10-things-to-do-in-london

The only thing to note is that they dont sell 3 day travel cards anymore - just 1 or 7 day ones.

I saw a Hotel called K+K near Earl's Court on the Glouster tube. I friend who lives near London said this was a seedy area. Is this true?

Adrienne
NYC

Earl's court isn't 'seedy'(it used to be much worse than it is now) but it is not the most central area nor nicest. It is not a bad place to stay, but would not be my first choice. If the rates are low enough you could certainly stay in worse neighborhoods (but also in much better places)

If you mean the K+K Hotel George - it is very close to the Earls Court tube station and a couple of blocks from the Exhibition Center.

bookmark :)