London
 

My wife and I are going to London on the 24th of March 04 for two weeks. We are staying in Paddington and are looking for some exciting ideas other than Big Ben and the Tower Bridge. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Shame. David Blaine will have gone by then, so that's a good day's egg throwing finished.
What are your interests? Go and see a football match, visit the Tate Modern, ride the London Eye, visit the House of Lords, climb to the top of St Pauls Cathedral, get outside London to somewhere other than Bath, the Cotswolds or Stratford, go to the races (horse), watch "We will rock you" at the theatre.
Shame about David Blaine though. I hear throwing tomatoes is pretty good, or you might have been able to pick a fight with Paul McCartney there.

the war rooms, harrods, a day at widnsor castle, go to the theatre, london I, parliament tour, walking the neighborhoods, ....

get yourself a good guidbook.;..we like access guide of london---takes you street by street

I was in london in may and one of the cool things I did was go to the hard rock cafe vault room tour.Beside the cafe is the gift shop,and several times a night they have tours of this tiny room downstairs with artifacts from legends like lennon,hendrix etc.And the really cool thing is if you wait for the tour to end,most of the people will leave and the host lets you pick up a guitar that hendrix used!I also got to hold a kurt kobain guitar!I got my pictures with these items,it was really cool,and it doesnt cost anything.You would need to take the tube to hyde park corner on the picadilly line.Madame tussards was museum is supposed to be very good.I also recommend the tower of london,walking around picadilly circus and leicester square at night,enjoy!

If you go to Westminster Abbey, get the audio tour. I did this on my second visit there and got so much more out of the visit.

Go to the National Gallery, even if for a quick visit while you'r e at Trafalgar Square. No entance fee. Have lunch at Cafe-in-the-Crypt below St. Martin-in-the-Fields church, also right there. As the name implies, it is in the old church crypt so it is a unique setting and the food is actually good, especially the bread pudding.

I'd do a bit of background research to see what appeals to you.

There are lots of London websites at http://www.sylviamilne.btinternet.co...our.htm#London

In two weeks you can spare some time for sidetrips to Windsor Castle or Hampton Court or Bath or Oxford or Cambridge...

I have a long file on London; if you'd like to see it, email me at
[email protected]

We went last March and enjoyed going to Greenwich to the Royal Observatory. Pick a sunny day and enjoy the walk up the hill to the Observatory. There were daffodils in bloom and it was quite pretty.

One word: Leave! Seriously, get out of town. I am admittedly not a huge London fan, but I am not alone. Unless you know you are a London fan (and, let's face it, you don't even know what to do in London, hence your post) start making contingency plans now! Perhaps plan to spend 2-3 days on each end of your trip in London, but then go, go, go. You have time to spend in Paris, Bath, or anywhere else.

Be sure to walk through all or some of the beautiful parks in London. My favorite is Regents Park and from here, you should head to Primrose Hill. The views of London from the top of the hill are amazing! This was one of my favorite activities on my last trip to London.

I also highly recommend (as others have) taking day trips to Windsor Palace, Hampton Court Palace, and Greenwich. The palaces are so interesting and the grounds are lovely. The town of Windsor itself is so charming! Eat at the Drury Inn--delicious scones and clotted cream! Have a wonderful trip.

If this is a serious question I suggest you get yourself some good guidebooks (go to any library and check some out if you do not want to buy them) and then start reading up on London/UK. There are a million things to see/do in London and you need to be a little more specific about your likes and interests. Trust me, there is a lot more then Big Ben and the Tower Bridge.

If you'd like I can send you my first week in London wherein I saw a lot. I then went back later in the year for 2 weeks and filled in a lot of blanks. Don't know what "exciting" means to you but look up Ben Haines in TravelTalk as Ben has tons of info on out of the way places. [email protected]

We went to London last March and the weather was fantastic. Sunny every day (not the norm, I know), really enjoyable for outdoor activities. We sat at an outdoor cafe and had a leisurely breakfast. Check out London Walks, they offer several walking tours that are interesting. Take side trips to Bath, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, Stonehenge, etc. As others have advised, buy some travel guide books for London. I've found it best to have some sort of itinerary planned out before departure.