Renee

My mom (58) and her friend (72) are going abroad for the first time this November to London. I've arranged for a couple of tours for them, like a day in Bath, Thames river cruise and tours of Westminster Abbey, Buckingham palace etc. Does anyone have any suggestions for the rest of their time? They're staying at the York Hotel in Bayswater, so any advice on attractions, things to do near their hotel or near a Tube station would be great.

Ben Haines

London has such a range of things that you can often meet special or personal interests. What paid or unpaid work did or does each do, have they hobbies or activities (beyond watching television). What are their tastes in food, music, art, theatre and reading ? If you will ask them, or report from yourown knowledge, we can advise better.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>

Renee

They both enjoy the outdoors, so suggestions on gardens or arboretums and the like would be appreciated. As for cultural tastes, they're pretty pedestrian. Any gallery featuring the works of artists they might actually have heard of would probably be worth their visit. My mom loves to shop and her friend likes organ music. They would also like to take in a show, but I don't know what would appeal to the over 50 crowd! They're definitely budget travelers, so advice on affordable places to eat will be most appreciated.

nancy

Senior discounts begin at age 60 so be sure to tell your Mom's friend to ask for the discount. Along with the Thames river cruise they might enjoy walking thru Kew Gardens - I spent a whole day there - took the cruise down and the tube back. The tube is so efficient that it doesn't really matter where they are staying. I also like going to Greenwich for a day. Don't know how long they'll be staying so it's hard to add too many things. There's also Hampton Court.

Ben Haines

Renee: Many thanks for you addendum. I am afraid our arboreta and our best gardens are out of town, are probably worse than you have in the States and are dull in November. But as Nancy says Kew is good any season. <BR><BR>Galleries for heard-of artists are the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square and the nineteenth century French in the Courtauld gallery on the Strand. If the Queen s Gallery at the north end of Buckingham Palace has a show on those dates it is likely to be understandable, as the royal family have the same tastes as the people. The only difference is we have reproductions: they have the originals.<BR><BR>There is good window-shopping in the Burlington Arcade and in other arcades that run north and south from Piccadilly, and also along Jermyn Street. I imagine they will like Harrods.<BR><BR>If you e-mail Martin Sargeant at [email protected] in late October he will gladly send you the city events list for November, with plenty of organ recitals at lunch time in beautiful seventeenth century churches.<BR><BR>You do not need to know their tastes in theatre, but can suggest that in a newsagents in the concourse of their arrival airport they buy the listings magazine What?s On in London, to read on the boring train to their hotel. Then they can book with a credit card by phoning the theatre ? cheaper from a phone box than from their hotel. I am 65, and when it is on I enjoy Return to the Forbidden Planet, full of hits of early rock, and most Shakespeare, which is always on somewhere, especially the Fringe. The same magazine lists street markets, where prices are often reasonable (though they are high in Convent Garden, St Martin in the Fields, and St James Piccadilly)<BR><BR>I have on disc a note on cheap places to eat well in pubs and elsewhere, and shall gladly copy it to you by e-mail if you so ask. Ladies are welcome to lunch in any pub on my list, and in many of them the cook welcomes ideas for improved recipes, if given with courtesy.<BR><BR>Nothing yet about unpaid work. Did they have children (and if they didn t you have some explaining to do), did they and do they cook, did they knit for soldiers during Hitler?s war, or for displaced people after it ? You say nothing about paid work: did they do none ? Any replies you can give are likely to lead to more ideas on activities.<BR><BR>Or better, any replies they can give. If you will kindly put my last note to them they may well turn up ideas that we haven t had yet.<BR><BR>Ben Haines<BR>

Renee

Ben-Thanks for the lovely feedback! If you would email me the dining suggestions, I would very much appreciate it. Mom was a toddler and her friend a teenager during WWII. Her friend did serve in the US Navy post-war. After his military service he worked in manufacturing. Mom didn't work out of the home. Thanks for whatever additional suggestions you have!

Virginia

Renee:<BR><BR>Many of the London Churches offer free lunchtime concerts. St. Martin in the Fields has them on Mondays, Tuesdays and either Thursday or Friday, I don't remember which offhand. What's On London, a weekly guide to what's being offered, will give a full schedule not only for St. Martin's but other churches that offer similar programs. A donation is solicited but not required.<BR><BR>A great day out would be to tube to Westminster, walk over to St. Martin's via Whitehall Street past the entrance to 10 Downing Street and the Horse Guards to Trafalgar Square and St. Martins. Enjoy the concert, then lunch in the church's Crypt. Next, cross the street to the National Gallery and visit the many famous people depicted by famous artists.<BR><BR>The Westminster to Trafalgar Square walk may look long on the map, but there's so much to see it's a walk you'd want to take slowly anyway. My husband and I do it regularly and we're 63 and 71.<BR><BR>Covent Garden Market is another delightful area to wander, with lots of shops to look at, plenty of free entertainment from the buskers who concentrate there, two nifty museums -- London Transport and a Theater museum, and St. Paul's Covent Garden, an Inigo Jones church filled with memorials to actors and actresses your mother and her friend will remember fondly. Again, the walking is not too strenuous.<BR>Jubilee Market, next to Covent Garden, offers a wide range of inexpensive items that can make good souvenirs. There are also lots of restaurants in the area and plenty of stalls selling Jacket Potatoes -- which seem to be the equivalent of our Sabrett carts.<BR><BR>Ben's windowshopping tips are also excellent. Fortnum and Mason on Picadilly is also a great place to shop for such souvenirs as fancy teas and cookies. Harrods also has a wide range of merchandise with its famous label.<BR><BR>Since your Mom's friend is a navy man, they might enjoy a day's outing to Portsmouth where Nelson's flagship Victory is berthed along with other sailing ships and military vessles. And I've yet to meet a man who hasn't considered a visit to Churchill's wartime headquarters in Whitehall a highlight of a London visit.<BR><BR>I know they'll have a wonderful time.<BR><BR>Virginia<BR><BR>

bettyk

My husband and I really enjoyed the self-guided tour of the Cabinet War Rooms. Very fascinating even for those of us born after the end of WW2! Also would suggest lunch at the Red Lion Pub (upstairs) nearby on Parliament Street. We had a lovely meal there for about 8 pounds each.<BR><BR>Another enjoyable outing was Hampton Court Palace. The train from Waterloo takes about 30 minutes and costs around 7 pounds for a round trip ticket. The Palace is lovely, but unfortunately the gardens won't be in bloom in November. There is a little cafe at the Palace where you can get a light lunch or snack. We arrived around 10:30 AM and returned back to London mid-afternoon.<BR><BR>Didn't know there were any tours of Buckingham Palace in November?? <BR><BR>If the weather permits, they should definitely see the Changing of the Royal Horseguards at 11:00 AM. It lasts about 30 minutes but it's a very colorful ceremony and provided some great pictures!<BR><BR>I'm sure they will have a wonderful time.

Ben Haines

Through your kind intervention, I have e-mailed the note on pub meals straight to your mother. If her friend enjoyed military service (as I did not) he might like to see the Imperial War Museum, HMS Belfast, or as Virginia rightly says the Cabinet War Rooms: the website for all is at http://www.iwm.org.uk/. Portsmouth, too, is a good idea.<BR><BR>For a homebody (which I need not tell you is itself a profession) the Geffrye Museum in thec East End is attractive: the site is http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/<BR><BR>Virginia is right that there are many lunchtime revitals in churches, but I am afraid that no magazine lists them all. Almost the full list for the City (but not the West End) will be on the web site I quoted, or from late in the previous month from the tourist information kiosk just south of St Paul?s. St Martin in the Fields has good lunchtime recitals and poor evening concerts, but no organ recitals. The food in the crypt is a little cheaper than that 300 yards away at Gordon?s Wine Bar on Villiers Street, and a lot poorer in quality. The pictures of famous people are in the National Portrait Gallery, which I agree is good.<BR><BR>I must go and try the Red Lion.<BR><BR>I am copying this to your mother.

Jean

I'm sorry but some one on their 50's is not a "Senior" unless they want to be. And being over 50 doesn't mean that someone has diffferent tastes in music, art or theatre than someone under 50.

Jc

For free organ music, on Londonorgan.co.uk site,there are concerts almost every weekday(except monday)in City churches.

Sandy

Yayyy Jean!! I'm well over 50 and don't feel that I have any particularly 'senior' interests either.

Elizabeth

Are we right that Mom is kind of a non-rocker? Mick Jagger is 59 (as am I).<BR><BR> Has someone already recommended London Walks? They've got a website. Everybody always loves them. They have day trips too.<BR><BR> Would they like a play about Van Gogh? Vincent at Brixton is really great I thought, Van Gogh is played by a wonderful young Dutch actor, in a story about a few years he spent in London when he was young. It is a serious drama but not in the "over your head" category, it's not hard work to understand (as it is--for me anyhow!! -- to get Tom Stoppard for example).<BR><BR>

PatrickW

not wanting to suggest that seniors want to (or should) live in the past, nevertheless as a child of the early 50s, I think they might be interested in the 1940s house in the Imperial War Museum - what daily life was like for civilians.<BR><BR>On the art front, there is also the Wallace Collection in Manchester Square.<BR>

Bob

In the past three weeks I have flown through London Stansted Airport four times so this is current information for disabled travelers.If you require a wheelchair to get from the terminal to your plane which can be some distance at Stansted you will be required to pay 18 British pounds( converts to $27.96 US) and of course another 18 pounds if you return through Stansted. It cost more to rent a wheelchair than buy an airline ticket from London to Nimes, France. I understand this is a charge levied by Ryan Air but collected by Travelex UK Limited. <BR>

dan

Both St Pauls and Westminster Abbey have Organ recitals (45minutes) on sunday afternoons. I have attended twice at Westminster: Awesome!

Sylvia

Renee, may I suggest investing about six dollars in a copy of "Time Out", which should be able to find at Barnes and Noble or Borders. It's a weekly magazine that describes shows and several other things that London has to offer. Be sure to get the weekly edition (it's an import.) Your mom and her friend can look it over and decide what they'dl like to do. Also, if you visit your local library, you can browse through the arts section of the Sunday London Times, which will be filled with theatre, music, and dance offerings they might enjoy.