London for 6 days
 

Hi all,

I created an itinerary after consulting trip reports on this board (THANKS!) and Rick Steves' guide (from the library).

Background: Week one of two-week trip. 22 year old female traveling alone. Staying at a hostel near St Pancras station. Love art, cathedrals, and gardens; don't care for shopping or WWII/Churchill stuff. Hoping for food suggestions (10 pounds for lunch, <15 pounds for dinner ideal). Also, let me know if I left out something special or included a tourist trap not worth the $$.

"See" on the itinerary means view from exterior or quick walk-through, "Enter" means spend quality time and/or pay admission fee if not free.

Thanks!!! I really appreciate any help :) Apologies for the verbosity!

TUESDAY
Arrive at LHR at 12:00
Check into Hostel by 14:00, hopefully
Rest/freshen up
Enter Somerset House – Courtauld Art Gallery – closes 18:00, last entry 17:15
Dinner in Chinatown (suggestion??)
See Picadilly Circus

WEDNESDAY
9:00 Enter Tower of London
See Tower Bridge (exhibition worth it??)
See St Stephen Walbrook Church
See St Paul’s Cathedral
Lunch (suggestion??)
Walk across Millennium Bridge
Enter Tate Modern, tour at 14:00 (closes at 18:00)
Dinner (suggestion??)

THURSDAY
See British Library
Lunc (suggestion??)
Enter British Museum
Dinner (suggestion??)
Show or concert (tips for cheap tickets??)

FRIDAY
9:30 Enter Westminster Abbey
See Houses of Parliament/Big Ben
St Martin in the Fields – buy lunch somewhere and enjoy free concert at 13:00
See Trafalgar Square
Enter National Gallery, join 14:30 tour, open until 21:00
See St James’ Palace
See Buckingham Palace
Dinner (suggestion??)
Enter Royal Academy (open until 22:00)

SATURDAY
9:00 Borough Market
Enter Shakespeare’s Globe (worth $9 tour??)
Afternoon tea (suggestion??)
Wellcome collection

SUNDAY
Enter V&A, 11:30 and 12:30 free tours, special Baroque exhibition: $11
Lunch (suggestion??)
See Hyde Park
Enter Kensington Palace (closes 18:00)
Dinner (suggestion??)
London Eye by night (worth it??)
Thames River cruise

MONDAY
Eurostar to Paris... not yet planned :)

Just time for some very quick comments right now - but others will help you and I'll be back later . . .

"See British Library" doesn't make much sense IMO. The outside is nothing all that special. the reasons for going there are all <u>inside</u> the bldg.

Same sort of goes for St Paul's. It is impressive from the outside for sure - but the main bits worth seeing are inside . . . .

Of all your sites - IMO inside Kensington Palace is the least important/impressive. The tour of the Globe is definitely worth it if you are really into Shakespeare/theatre. As for the Tower Bridge Experience - probably not worth the £ since you are going to ride the Eye. Plus make sure the Bridge Experience is re-opened - there was an accident in the elevator while I was in the area last month.

more later . . . . .

You mention that you love gardens - suggest you consider adding Kew Botanical Gardens to your list. It's absolutely wonderful (assuming you'll be there in the summer/fall?). You could put that on your Saturday itinerary after Borough market and the Globe if you go (I think the admission is worth it if you're a Shakespeare fan). Just walk across London Bridge from the market to Monument and take the District line to Kew. Have your afternoon tea here: http://www.theoriginalmaidsofhonour.co.uk/.

On your Friday, for your lunch before or after the concert at St. Martins, there's a Pizza Express right around the corner. Definitely in your price range.

<i>TUESDAY
Arrive at LHR at 12:00
Check into Hostel by 14:00, hopefully
Rest/freshen up
Enter Somerset House – Courtauld Art Gallery – closes 18:00, last entry 17:15
Dinner in Chinatown (suggestion??)
See Picadilly Circus </i>

1) Courtauld is fairly large - I would NOT do this on arrival day unless you can sleep like a log on the plane. My experience is that I'm foggy on arrival day. A small gallery/museum is okay, but not the Courtauld.

Chinatown - I like Hong Kong Diner on Wardour Street (basic Cantonese fare); or BaoZi Inn (newport court)

-----------------------
<i>WEDNESDAY
9:00 Enter Tower of London
See Tower Bridge (exhibition worth it??)
See St Stephen Walbrook Church
See St Paul’s Cathedral
Lunch (suggestion??)
Walk across Millennium Bridge
Enter Tate Modern, tour at 14:00 (closes at 18:00)
Dinner (suggestion??)</i>

There's a cafe at the Modern. Don't miss the Rothko room at the Modern - my most favorite gallery in all of London.

---------------------------
<i>THURSDAY
See British Library
Lunc (suggestion??)
Enter British Museum
Dinner (suggestion??)
Show or concert (tips for cheap tickets??)</i>

I assume when you say "see", you mean go IN to see the collection, right? Don't forget there's Henry VIII exhibitions all over the city this summer, including one at British Library.

You can have lunch at North Sea Fish Company on Leigh Street. It's a lot cheaper to do take-out (right next door to the sit-down restaurnat.)
http://www.timeout.com/london/restau...iews/9402.html

-----------------
<i>FRIDAY
9:30 Enter Westminster Abbey
See Houses of Parliament/Big Ben
St Martin in the Fields – buy lunch somewhere and enjoy free concert at 13:00
See Trafalgar Square
Enter National Gallery, join 14:30 tour, open until 21:00
See St James’ Palace
See Buckingham Palace
Dinner (suggestion??)
Enter Royal Academy (open until 22:00)</i>

Is there something special on view at the Royal Academy of Art? If not, my vote is to skip it. You probably had enough at the National Gallery. Next door is the National Portrait Gallery, good place to go if you're interested in history. (I like the Tudor portraits.)

-------------------------
<i>SATURDAY
9:00 Borough Market
Enter Shakespeare’s Globe (worth $9 tour??)
Afternoon tea (suggestion??)
Wellcome collection</i>

You know the Herb Garret/Old Operating Theatre is right across the street from Borough Market?

Unless you are really intrigued by the Wellcome Collection, I'd skip it and go to the <u>Wallace Collection</u> instead. Mostly French collection - lots of Sevres procelain, Louis XIII & XIV furniture, Roccoco paintings, Boulle furniture etc.
http://www.wallacecollection.org/

[I know I suggested Wellcome Collection, but I really think the Wallace Collection suits your taste better.]

------------------------------
<i>SUNDAY
Enter V&A, 11:30 and 12:30 free tours, special Baroque exhibition: $11
Lunch (suggestion??)
See Hyde Park
Enter Kensington Palace (closes 18:00)
Dinner (suggestion??)
London Eye by night (worth it??)
Thames River cruise</i>

Please please please eat INSIDE the V&A cafe. The 3 dining rooms are artwork itself.
http://www.vam.ac.uk/futureplan/comp...afe/index.html

I would skip the cruise. You can see the buildings just as good by walking along the south bank.

-------------------------------
P.S. since you're traveling alone, here are 2 saving tips:

1) Buy a 7-day travelcard (you can load it electronically on an Oyster card). It'll be cheaper than using Oyster PAYG. You can buy that when you arrive at Heathrow.

2) Discount Britain has some 20% off vouchers for some of the sights you want to visit:
http://www.discountbritain.net/

Also check lastminute.co.uk under "going out". Sometimes there are discount tickets for paid attractions, such as Kensington Palace and a few other things.

I'd skip going inside Kensington Palace... but suggest having tea in the Orangery there.

Also, you might want to check out Dennis Sever's House as an interesting attraction:
www.dennissevershouse.co.uk

Generally for lunch I just pick up a sandwich from Eat, or Pret a Manger, or Marks and Spencers or Sainsbury's or even one of the small food spots in some of the tube stations (there is lots of choice), and find a bench in a park or a square and people watch. That leaves me some money in the budget to have the odd lunch or fancier tea in a nice spot.

Kew is fantastic, but it's BIG - lots of ground to cover so I'd only go if if were planning to spend a few hours.

You might look into the Chelsea Physic Garden if you're interested in medicinal uses of plants.
www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk

And of course check out London Walks to see if any of those interest you... www.walks.com

Have a great trip!

yk: "<i>I assume when you say "see", you mean go IN to see the collection, right?</i>"

I thought that too - but the OP specifically spelled out >>"See" on the itinerary means view from exterior or quick walk-through, "Enter" means spend quality time and/or pay admission fee if not free. <<

There are lots of budget eats suggestions in this thread:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...impossible.cfm

Wow! I really appreciate all the responses, and am making adjustments to my original plan:

-changing to "enter" for St Paul's and British Library
-yes to Globe tour, no to Kensington
-noted all the restaurants and tea places mentioned! when BF and I travel, we eat very well. By myself, I'd rather be on-the-go to see more. Thanks for the suggestions :)
-yk, I think I MEANT to plan for the Old Operating Theatre - I remembered that one of the medicine-related sites was really close and mistook that to be the Wellcome Collection - Thanks for pointing it out. Also, Wallace looks great, added to my list!
-taggie, Dennis Severs' House seems really intriguing but they have pretty limited hours so I will put that on the "if time allows" - thanks for the suggestion
-yk, the Royal Academy is on my agenda because the students' capstone projects are on display - I love that it is so contemporary and a sign of what's to come, as well as the fact that it is the perception/reflection of my own generation.

By "it," i mean the art of students... not the Royal Academy in particular.

I've no idea what a capstone project is, but you're almost certainly confusing the Royal Academy with the Royal College of Art

Yuo don't say when you're visiting, so it's bloody stupid for anyone to say whether the Royal Academy's worth visiting. But it's mostly a place for temporary exhibitions, and - unless you're especially interested in the couple of oddities on permanent display - the only way of telling whether a visit is worthwhile is going to the RA's website and checking its current blockbuster.

For most of most summers, that'll be its Summer Exhibition. There are sometimes a few student projects, but mostly the RA summer do epitomises what most art students would eat their hands off to avoid being connected with. In so thinking, those students are merely showing the arrogance and agesist bigotry that's characterised every student generation in history - except mine, of course. But, justified or not, their prejudices mean you won't find their projects at the RA.

Where you see the current graduate projects (till mid July) is at the Royal College of Art (http://www.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?Co...D=36646&More=1). Here, every year, most pretentious crap masquerading as originality gets wheeled out than anywhere in Britain. Among the trite junk, there's always a good bit that makes wading through the tenth rate worthwhile

If you like contemporary art, you can also consider the Saatchi Gallery
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

BTW, there really is no way to see everything you've listed or wanted in 6 days without running yourself to the ground; or simply just overdosed (no pun intended) on art museums and galleries. It only took me about a dozen or more trips to London to see most of the ones you've listed here.

You are only 22, and even though you're going back to school in August, that doesn't mean you won't have time to visit London again in the next couple of years. So, I'd suggest you visit the places that
1) You are dying to see and
2) have a special exhibition on while you're there

Otherwise, the permanent collection of all these museums and galleries aren't going away anytime soon. They'll still be there on your next trip.

Since I enjoy going to art museums and galleries, there's nothing more annoying than keep checking my watch to see how much time I have before I have to run off to my next destination on the list.

flanneruk - thanks for the clarification, certainly helps - I've crossed it off my list

yk - yeah, I'm being a little bit idealistic with this plan - it's a lot of museums (although for large museums, I normally tackle the only masterpieces and then a couple of wings). I won't really be heartbroken if I accidentally miss or intentionally skip sites; this is more of a guideline. Overdosing is certainly probable and I don't want to get sick of art before I reach Paris :) (Off topic, but last month I went to the Barnes Foundation, Philly Academy of Fine Art, and Philly Museum of Art one weekend, followed by the Phillips Collection (DC), Nat'l Museum of African Art, Freer/Sackler, and the MOMA the following weekend. It was an amazing 10 days!)

The wellcome stuff is very near the British Library (it's on Euston Rd - as is the Library). It would be easy to combine the two.

Hi pons, is there a particular period(s) that you like most? Some of these museums (like National Gallery, Louvre) are so enormous that you may want to just focus on the section(s) that you like most.

OR, you can look into joining the docent-guided tours at these museums. I've taken many "highlights" tours at various museums, esp on my first visit. It helps me to have an idea of what's where and what's interesting to me, and after the tour I then return to those sections. I highly recommend the highlights tour at the V&A which I took 6 months ago.

P.S. why's an art-loving girl like you going into medicine? :? It's not too late to get out of it (medicine) NOW!

Thanks, C_W, all three are also near my hotel - even better!

yk, I saw from one of your previous trip reports that you enjoyed the V&A tour and already noted it :)
In general, most works 1850s + later intrigue me (impressionism, fauvism, ab ex, pop art, etc...also like and Vermeer, Bernini, Turner so that doesn't really say much, I guess). In college I took a couple of courses about Modernist literature, and I love seeing connections between the themes in literature and the visual arts. I also look at curatorial decisions whenever I visit museums (ie the message relayed by the display / the possible political implications) - sometimes more than the art itself.

As for the "why medicine" question... I have a lot of interests; food and art are two primary ones, but biological science and urban health/healthcare access are others :) Sure, some museum experiences have been among my favorites, but they honestly don't compare to the thrill I've felt in the operating room; art doesn't provoke me the same way as interactions with (for example) homeless people unable to afford medication for normally manageable conditions.

Right across the street from the V&A is an excellent little Itaian restaurant. The prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food.

http://www.orsiniristorante.com/

The Chop House Bar has a set menu for £10 (2 courses), £12 (3 courses). It's right by Tower Bridge on the south side of the river. Nearest tube 'Tower Hill' (on the north). The food is lovely, though non-europeans might think portions small (handy hint - fill up on the free bread if you're a greedy guts). Nice views. I eat there a lot. Get there early - it's heaving with suits by 7:00pm.

http://www.chophouse.co.uk/

We managed to see most of what we wanted to see at the British Museum by renting their audio highlights tour; it helped us narrow our choices and we really enjoyed it.

Lee Ann

You do know Tate Britian has the largest collection of Turner in the world, right? I don't think Tate Britain is on your list.

Totally agree with eating in the V&A cafeteria -- lovely rooms. At the V&A, I was blown away by the jewelry room; it's not something I would thought to have visited, but my friend wanted to see it, and WOW are there things of amazing beauty and craftsmanship there.

At the Tower, highly recommend going on the tours led by the Yeoman Warders (no additional fee once you've entered Tower). They leave from near the main entrance every half hour or so, maybe more often, and add to the experience greatly. It's fascinating just to learn about the Warders themselves, who are all experienced soldiers.

For food, Wagamama is within your price range for either lunch or dinner. There are multiple branches, including one almost directly across from the main entrance to the Tower. It's a hip, multiculti noodle restaurant, and it's just now starting to open US restaurants; go to a London branch and you'll be in the know when your friends here want to try it!