ninasdream

LetsGo13- I travel solo all the time, you'll be fine. I once booked a room online for London, safe, but I didn't like the room. Much better results this past Spring using the Fodor's hotel thread good values and locations for Paris, Giverny and Bruxelles. Good luck!

Flanneruk- "Museum Head" I love it! I agree 4 museum hours seems to be the magic number before you hit overload. Museums and cathedrals in England tend to overwhelm. So many, each wonderful in their own way, but tend to meld together after a while. Best remedy is to integrate other sites/activites for balance. I never made it to the V & A, sadly. I really wanted to see the Rosetta Stone, and then discovered the astounding Egyptian and antiquities wings, which made me wonder if there was anything left in Egypt! Visited Tate Modern my very first afternoon, but followed that by walking over to St Paul's, Portobello Road, pubs, Indian restaurants and a trip to Bath & Stonehenge.

Lets_Go13

Hello All,

Thanks to everyone for your input. There are several other museums on my list to visit. This is just the top of my list.

I am a bit of a museum nut too. My father was in the military and we moved many times. My parents took us to many museums and historical sites. Must have rubbed off, even though there were very vocal protests at the time!

At this point I believe I will start with a BM tour on my first day - which is really just a half day. I'll check in to a hotel in that area (still researching) and do as suggested and note areas where I would like to return on another day, or two.

The V&A, Museum of London and the Imperial War Museum are also on the list.

KayB95 - Thank you for the link to the Original Walks - many I would like to do, but 1 week isn't long enough.

I have a feeling that I will have to plan a 2nd trip as soon as I get home to LA. There is no way to see all I would like to see in my short stay. Unless I win the lottery, and can extend the trip, I'll have to be disappointed by missing some wonderful sites.

I welcome all suggestions. Again, many thanks to all of you. Cheers!

Lets_Go13

Oops, meant to ask Ira if there are other hotels, not yet mentioned on this post, that can be recommended in Bloomsbury. Just to add to my ever expanding research list.

Thanks!

KathrynT

We happened to catch a television program while we were in London called something like "Ten Top Treasures of the British Museum." We were surprised to find the list did not include the Rosetta Stone but included other items we would have walked right by. It was a great show and made our visit more enjoyable. I don't know if this program or others like it are available on tape, but they would be a great preview before going.

Lets_Go13

Hello KathrynT,

I did a search on line and found this list of Top Ten Treasures and where they were found:
1. Vindolanda Tablets, Northumberland
2. Sutton Hoo ship burial, Suffolk
3. Hoxne Hoard, Suffolk
4. Snettisham Hoard, Norfolk
5. Lewis Chessmen
6. Mold Gold Cape, north Wales
7. Mildenhall Treasure, Suffolk
8. Fishpool Hoard, Lancashire
9. Cuerdale Hoard, Lancashire
10. The Ringlemere and Rillaton Cups, Kent

Does this seem like the list you saw on the television program?

flanneruk

Let's GO:

Whatever you do, don't follow that Top 10 list, which is very weird.

The BM isn't a museum of British discoveries. It's one of the world's two or three greatest repositories of the world's artefacts (well let's stop being modest about this: THE greatest).

However charming the stuff found in these islands may be, they're pretty second-division compared to the Egyptian, Greek, African, Roman and Indian stuff. Never mind the stuff from the rest of Asia and the Americas.

Cuttle

There are lots of nice, small B&Bs near the British Museum, where skinflint academics like me used to stay to use the British Library when it was in the Museum. I still stay there, since the Library isn't that far away. I've put a list of these, with links, on this page of travel advice:

http://victorianresearch.org/trip.html#stay

(Just scroll down to "B&Bs near the British Library.&quot You might find some other useful tips on this page by scrolling around. I started it for other academics doing research trips, but it's evolved into a collection of advice for budget travellers to the UK generally.

You're going to have a wonderful time!

Lets_Go13

Flanneruk - I thought it was an odd list. For those focusing on UK history, it could be very interesting.

Cuttle - your site is amazing. Thank you so much for the link! You must have done a tremendous amount of work to compile all of that information.

Cheers!