Looking for votes!<BR><BR>My husband and I have finally narrowed our choices for Christmas Day in London (actually, in most cases, the choices were narrowed for us!).<BR><BR>We are staying in South Kensington, at the Cranley. We have 2 choices that are open thus far, and I'd love your insight and your opinion as to which you'd choose. For background, we are a 27 year old couple, and we've never been to London (or anywhere in Europe before). We can afford to spend about 65 or 75 pounds a person on Xmas dinner. Nothing too crazy, like the Ritz or Brown's (which are apparently booked, anyway!):<BR><BR>1) Dinner Cruise on the Thames: <BR>Pros-- Get a nice view of the city; it's an &quot;activity&quot; for Christmas day, which is rare, and it will take up a nice amount of the day. Also, if we take the cruise leaving from Embankment Pier, we would still be in the reasonable area of Charles Dickens walking tour, and St. Paul's Cathedral and its christmas mass, both of which are other things going on that day that we have considered doing.<BR>Cons-- Embankment Pier is far enough from S. Kensington that we will have to take a cab both ways. We could make reservations far in advance, so it might not be a huge deal, but still... Also, we're thinking the dinner cruise could be somewhat cheesy. Though I think we're thinking about the Symphony, which is supposedly the best one?<BR><BR>2) Lunch at the Tenth Restaurant at the Royal Garden Hotel, and walking around Kensington Garden and Hyde Park (I'm assuming these are public access parks, and available for walking around on Xmas Day, so correct me if I'm wrong!)<BR><BR>Pros-- Close to our hotel; the restaurant wouldn't be as &quot;touristy&quot;; the food would probably be better<BR><BR>Cons-- It's lunch (not dinner); it's far away from any other activities going on that day, so if we wanted to do any of those, it would be a separate cab ride anyway.<BR><BR>Other thoughts are welcome! (We have put in requests for some other restaurants, but haven't heard back yet.) Also, if anyone has done the cruise or been to the Tenth, we'd love to hear what your experience was!<BR>

Sherry, both those parks are public..so that won't be a problem. And you can walk around the boundries of Kensington Palace, too. <BR> St James is a nice park, too, but you would also need to taxi there and back.)

Thanks for the info.! Good to know! <BR><BR>Okay, please vote everyone! I'm torn.

I'm not a London expert but have stayed in South Kensington and know a bit about classical music, so maybe will comment a bit. First, I don't know that you'd have to take a taxi to that cruise boat, you can take the tube easily enough, can't you? I took a cruise on the Thames and did, but that was from Westminster. I don't know where Embankment Pier is, though, as there isn't one called that on my map, but I'm assuming it is near the Embankment tube stop (although it may be what is called Charing Cross Pier on my map, which is at that stop). Doesn't the tube run in London on Christmas? It does in most cities, with reduced schedules. <BR><BR>As for the Symphony, are you just asking about any classical music performance by a symphony in London? There are many very good orchestras in London, there isn't just one I would pick out as the best. Many have their niches of types of music they most often play or are best at, and it really depends on the conductor to some extent (as well as venue); there are always many guest conductors. I would choose by the program and venue, myself, and then by conductor. Some very good orchestras are: the Royal Philharmonic, any BBC orchestra (there are several), London Symphony, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (they do period instrument), and the City of London Sinfonia. That's just some of them, there are others, as well as many from other cities that will play in London. <BR><BR>However, I doubt if you are going to find any orchestra giving a performance on Christmas Day.

Just so that further posters don't get lead astray, Christina's post, while very well-meaning, missed a couple of key points.<BR><BR>First, the tube will be closed on Christmas Day and taxis will be very expensive (25 pound min charge), which is why Sherry is concerned about walking distances.<BR><BR>Second, the &quot;Symphony&quot; she's referring to is the NAME OF THE BOAT.

LOL!

Just helping... You are right. Thanks anyway, though, Christina! Any opinions from anyone on which one? I think my husband and I are leaning toward the boat cruise and eating the cab fare, so there will be more to do. But we could be convinced otherwise. We just want to have a nice Christmas together. It is our first, and want it to be fun, and special.