critique 2 day london trip
 

First of all we won't be jetlagged, this is an add on from Paris trip.

Have at it!



Monday Feb 23
We could walk to Kensington Palace from our hotel, tour the palace and maybe have a glass of champagne in the L'Orangerie that is in the Kensington Gardens.
Walk to Notting hill tube, close, and take the the tube directly to Westminster Abbey, There is a London Walk tour there, it starts at 1:45. They usually last 2 hours. The good thing about London walks tours, the guides are usually very animated and there is no waiting in line [my pet peeve!}

Big Ben, The Parliament, are all right in this area
Winston Churchill cabinet rooms are also in the area, I definitely want to go there


Monday night....Jack the Ripper tour?? Theater??


Tuesday feb 24
Tuesday there is a Beatle walk at 11:20 check out the official londonwalks.com website for the details

There is also a Secret London walk at 10:45, it is close to St. Pauls Cathedral
Looks cool too it is another londonwalks tour

Some afternoon suggestion,

There is a Old London walk right by Tower of London, looks interesting it is at 2

Tower of London last admission 5

Tuesday night....? more theater!?

I'd suggest no more than one of the walks each day.
Is this your first visit to London (or have you already tried London Walks)?

The Cabinet Rooms are definitely worth a visit.

Hi, I am going with 3 other ladies, this is my 10th trip, so I was trying to hit the biggies for them. I have never done a tour at westminster abbey, so maybe the verger tour and not london walks.

yes i have done the london walks and I do like them.

I would definitely recommend the verger tour; it was a highlight of our trip. If you can manage to get to Westminster Abbey when it opens, you can take the first verger tour of the day, and won't have to wait in any lines.

We also went to the Tower first thing in the morning to avoid lines. If that is your intention, I'm not sure a late afternoon visit would work for you.

The Westminster Abbey Walk looks not bad, esp you can get discounted entrance fee and can skip the line (though maybe not too much of a line in Feb).

Churchill Museum closes at 6pm. You'd need at least a couple of hours there. So if you take the 1:45pm London Walks for the Westminster tour, you pretty much have to hurry on over to the Churchill Museum as soon as the Walk is over.

For Monday night, it's worth considering the Dennis Severs House. They offer candlelight tours, and you have to pre-book. Do a search here and you can read other Fodorites' positive comments.
http://www.dennissevershouse.co.uk/#

I'm thinking of taking the Tues AM Secret London walk. But it doesn't visit the must-sees for 1st time London visitors.

Dennis Severs, I have done, but it was so cool, maybe I could convince the ladies!

Ya know - you have been to London many times and have pretty much seen it all and done it all. Your friends haven't. I'd look at it through their eyes - the Verger tour or LW tour of Westminster Abbey would be great.

But for the rest of your plan, w/ only 2 days - they won't be seeing much but a lot of LW tour guides and interesting neighborhoods. They won't be seeing many of the "biggies". Will they be disappointed that they went to London and only saw a teensy bit? Kensington Palace isn't one of the top-tier "musts" for most first-time visitors.

Maybe instead of so many LWs, why not take one of the H-o-H-o tours and let them see more of London's major sights.

Hi pp,

well, you've improved my knowledge of London, thank you.

my initial reaction was that no way could you tour Kensington Palace, that is was private, etc.etc. WRONG. it's open every day except DEc 24-26.

I'll try to fit it in next time I'm in london, sight-seeing. [probably sometime within the next 10 years - it's a long way from deepest Cornwall!].

regards, ann

Hi, thank you for all the insight, I definitely have suggested the hop on hop off bus, we are getting together as a group to discuss expectations. Two of the ladies it is their first trip abroad. My other friend we have traveled to europe together before.

Everyone on the trip are very pleasant, tolerant people.

I am getting a itinerary together to help them understand we can't see it all, and they need to write down sights that are on their top ten list. So that is is, they all know I am not the tour guide, but I will be very helpful too.

Thanks again, and any ideas on food at pubs, gladly love to read them!